 Opposing teams all have their sites set on LA. The Laker's have a big target on their collective backs. No surprises there. So, I asked a few opposing team fans to assess how they see the LA Lakers this coming NBA season. Here's a collection from an assortment of fans from across the NBA.
Perspectives...
From College Wolf, a Minnesota fan...
As a rival Minnesota Timberwolves fan, the Lakers are the team that we look up at with jealousy and (some) anger. They seem like they are always relevant, always the best, and always winning. Maybe if Wolves fans had a taste of winning, we wouldn't be so collectively jealous, but sometimes it just doesn't seem fair when the same teams keep winning over, and over... and over again.
In regards to their talent, they are second to none again this season.
There is a reason that Vegas has them as the hands down favorite to win the NBA Finals (again) this season. How do you attack a front line of Pau Gasol, Bynum, Odom, and Ron Artest?
You can't, there is no weak link.
On top of that, they have some guy named Kobe. What we wouldn't give to have a squad like that, if only for even just one season.
No matter how much opposing fans may dislike the Lakers, one has to admit they are damn good. They are simply the team that a lot of fans, ours included, love to hate.
And can you blame us?
From Rob, a Boston Fan...
(sometime-writer at With Malice)
If you want to be the man, you have to beat the man. Right about now the Lakers are the man and everyone else is playing catch up.
Not a lot of change in Lakerland over the break, apart from the almost-swap of Trevor Ariza for Ron Artest. But the biggest move in LA was a non-move. Lamar Odom was a "must sign" and Mitch Kupchak got the deal done.
In a straight up look at Ariza/Artest you have to think that the Lakers have made a talent upgrade, but Ron Artest has always been more than just about talent. The most combustible guy in the NBA, the guy with more baggage than Samsonite, the man fans love to hate and hate to see  coming into the stands could add an extra dimension to the Lakers or he could be the man who breaks them. Phil Jackson handled Dennis Rodman, so if anyone can harness Artest, it's him.
How Artest is managed, or how he manages himself, is going to be key to the Lakers season. If he starts to worry about his touches (and with Kobe and the Spaniard he's going to have to play nicely with others) then this could all head south in a hurry. If he's able to defer to his ego-ness (Kobe for anyone who didn't catch that) then the Lakers are going to be very, very hard to beat.
For me, it's most important to consider how the good guys in green are going to match up against the evil empire from out west. I'll use Don's starting projections and bench against what everyone knows will be the Celtic's rotation. Here's my take on the matchups:
PG
Fisher v Rondo - Rondo owns Fisher. Farmar and Brown are decent back-ups, House plays some important minutes for Boston and his 3-point shooting is a huge factor.
Advantage Celtics
SG
Kobe v Ray Allen - Count on Kobe for his 25 - 30 points every game. Unfortunately, he saves some of his biggest games for the best opposition and could be looking at more like 40ppg against the C's. Ray Allen has one of the sweetest stokes in the league, but he doesn't slash to the basket and create as many options as Kobe. How well The Truth can defend Kobe is a huge factor, but try as I might, I can't get past #24.
Advantage Lakers
SF
Artest v Pierce - Paul Pierce version 2.0 (the guy who has been playing since Kevin Garnett arrived) has added extra dimensions to his game and doesn't have to throw up 30+ shots to keep his team in the game. Artest is a great defender who will hustle and harass all night long, but The Truth has been dealing with that for 11 years and will find a way to contribute.
Advantage Celtics
PF
 Gasol v Garnett - Gasol has come of age since the trade from Memphis. When he doesn't have to carry the team he is able to be extremely effective. He's also a lot tougher than he looks, but that ain't going to amount to a hill of beans when he gets on the floor with KG. They don't come much tougher than Garnett and he will continue to own Gasol and force to take 15 foot jumpers because he won't be looking to get in the paint.
Advantage Celtics
C
Bynum v Perkins/Wallace - Andrew Bynum is developing into a very, very good big man. The Lakers have done a good job covering him during his absences in past seasons, but they are a much better team with him on the floor. Perkins is a solid performer who is capable of playing some solid minutes. Sheed provides a solid upgrade in this position for the Celtics, but Bynum provides a bigger threat.
Advantage Lakers
Bench
Farmar, Vujacic, Walton, Odom, Mbenga v House, Tony Allen, Daniels, Davis, Sheed - Kinda depends on who shows up to play on Any Given Sunday. Walton and Odom are the key guys off the bench for the Lakers. They need some good minutes at PG off the bench; Mbenga isn't going to see significant time in big games and being #2 on the depth chart behind Kobe has to be a pretty soul destroying job! Eddie House plays significant minutes in most games and if his hand is hot he brings an extra dimension to the floor. Expect to see Perkins/Garnett/Sheed/Davis splitting the PF/C minutes most nights in an effort to preserve some aging bodies. Tony Allen has been mostly disappointing and I'm not expecting too much from Daniels. Advantage ??????? Depends on the night, depends on the city, depends on the alignment of the stars, depends on how many minutes Sheed can log without being T'ed.
Coach
Jackson v Rivers. Doc is proving to be a pretty astute manager of players and their egos, but Dr. Phil has 10 titles, so unless Doc is getting paranormal visits from Red Auerbach .....
Advantage Lakers
The Final Score
3-3, the bench is the tie breaker.
Can the Celtics take out the Lakers during the regular season? Totally.
Can the Celtics take out the Lakers in a best of 7 NBA final series? Yes.
Will the Celtics take out the Lakers in a best of 7 NBA final series? Ask me in about 6 months and let's see who is still standing! The key for the Celtics is that KG has to be standing, running, jumping and generally getting in people's faces for them to have any chance at all of even getting out of the conference, let alone thinking about 18. The other key is the health and continued production of Ray Allen. Without him the C's look awfully thin on the ground and the increased workload that would throw on Pierce would not help at all.
From Scott, a Spurs fan...
Many would argue, and argue well, that the Lakers are a large reason for the Spurs making such bold moves this off-season. Moves, that historically speaking, are not usually associated with the San Antonio franchise.
But when a team wins a ring without a healthy Andrew Bynum, and then casts a transfiguration spell to turn Trevor Ariza into Ron Artest, you have to make a decision: get busy living or get busy dying. Because arguably - at least on paper - the Lakers have one of the best teams assembled for quite a while.
So the Spurs decided to live by adding no less than Richard Jefferson, Antonio McDyess, Theo Ratliff, Keith Bogans and DeJuan Blair.
All of a sudden the front line isn't so thin, the major problem in the last 3 seasons.
All of a sudden the wings are full of shooters with a healthy Manu returning, the big issue last year when TD kicked out his passes to Udoka?
All of a sudden the Lakers can see the Spurs in their rear vision mirror, and old rivalries shall become renewed in April (that's code for I think they'll be in the West Finals in April) because although the Spurs know they're good, they also know the Lakers are the real deal as well.
From Mookie, a Blazers Fan...
As a Blazers fan, the fortunes of the Lakers is a constant source of interest -- from a sinister perspective. Of course, part of the whole Lakers thing, is that you can't help but respect them, as they really are a great team -- with a top-notch coach and a dominant superstar at the helm.
Here is where it gets murky for me. There are aspects to the Lakers that I really like and there are those that I wouldn't stop to pick up from the side of the road after an accident.
 Kobe Bryant is a polarizing personality. You either despise him, or you're a Lakers fan. He really garners a large percentage of hatred points across NBA fandom. Maybe it's that whole thing that happened in the hotel room in Colorado, maybe it's that all-star game back in the day when he foolishly tried to outplay Air Jordan, jacking up a bunch of ill-advised shots, or maybe it's just his bravado and cock-sure nature. Whatever it is, a lot of people are rubeed the wrong way by KB24.
Here's the problem though, as much as I have been brought to disgust by him in the past, I can't help but respect the game the guy plays. Sure, he used to try to run a one-man show, throwing up shot after shot. But finally he seems to have matured to the point that he trusts his teammates and knows how to defer to them when necessary. He's THE guy that most would want to take the final shot for their team if the need arose and on top of all that, he's got a pretty smooth public demeanor too. The guy knows how to talk to the media with the best of them -- something his younger rival LeBron needs to brush up on.
Enough about Kobe and his duality.
There's Phil Jackson -- the Zen Master.
Reading his books, hearing about his strategies and seeing his calm success over the years, I can't help but have a lot of respect for the man. And boy, do I enjoy watching his triangle offence in action, being a basketball purist.
Pau Gasol... another personality that cops the flak of fans. Being a big fan of European players, I like the guy. Sure, he's not athletic or pretty, but he shows what can be done as a player with the God-given talents that a player has.
I could go on with the rest of the supporting cast, but the point of it all is, when your team plays the Lakers you can't help but be a bit fearful. My Portland Trail Blazers are in a position where they have their sights set on the Lakers -- they are where the young Blazers want to be. And they want to be there soon. From that perspective, the Lakers remain the enemy, as they always have been. Approach them with respect -- and disdain.
From Usher, a Nuggets fan...
(With Malice guest-writer)
Lets recap the off-season for the contenders. The Mavs, Magic, Spurs and Celtics broke the bank getting deeper, Orlando in particular. Vinsanity to the Magic, Jefferson to the Spurs, Rasheed Wallace to the Celtics (and a new knee for KG), Marion to the Mavs. The Nuggets have gotten better in other ways -- They are healthier, more experienced, and more confident. Ditto with the Blazers.
Now lets look at the Lakers, who weren't exactly dominant champions last season. (If George Karl had taught his team how to inbound a ball, the Nuggets could have won the WCF. And if Courtney Lee learnt how to convert alley-oops, the Magic would have been the ones going to Disneyland last year (do they do that in the NBA?)...
All off-season we've been hearing about how the NBA Champions LA Lakers got better over the off-season by basically swapping Trevor Ariza with Ron Artest. Well I don't buy it. They let go of a 24 year-old guy who knew the system and players, had plenty of upside, and was a role player who KNEW he was a role player. And they replaced him with a 30 year old nutcase who has never fitted in to a system, has been deteriorating for the past couple seasons, and is perhaps the 2nd biggest alpha-male in the league behind Kobe Bryant. And to top it off, the Lakers give him a FIVE year deal...FIVE YEARS!
 The Lakers have always been Kobes team. He's the man, and everyone knows that. (And if you don't, he'll tell you). Even after they stole Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies, who's one of the best low post players in the league, 90% of the Lakers playbook still revolves around KB24. Yet now they've brought in a guy who's not exactly known for his unselfishness, and paired him up with Kobe, who has absolutely ZERO tolerance for team-mates who don't do what he wants. How long into the season will it be until we see Kobe stare down Artest after he dribbles the ball for 18 seconds and then throws up a 28 foot fadeaway? My guess is halfway through the first game. They say the only team that can beat the Lakers is the Lakers...Well, I feel a lot more confident of that happening with Artest there then with Ariza.
Factor in the unwarranted man-crush Phil Jackson has for Derek Fisher (and the 35+ minutes that he'll get with it), the season-ending knee/ankle/back injury to Bynum, the .250 FG% from The Machine, and Luke Walton, and it's not all that rosy in LA this upcoming season.
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