PTI said Celtics won't repeat because they are too old, but the Lakers will.

[Mean Gerald Green]

Funny because before the 07-08 season they were saying our best chance to win would be 08-09 when the Chemistry would be there. I don't see what's changed between then and now aside from us winning it in 08. The Chemistry will only be better next year, the championship experience is there, and Perk & Rondo are battled tested/proven.

Laker's will be the same soft team that we beat up on. I don't see them making it back to the Finals. To be honest seeing them play makes it hard to believe they were the best in the west.

Great point, doesn't seem to make sense. Aside from adding Bynum back to their lineup and the Celtics losing Posey, not much has changed. They won't make the finals...Celtics-Jazz or Celtics-Hornets.

[iowa plowboy]

Let's just hope that steven i smith doesn't predict us to win it all....We'll be screwed then.

All of the other ESPN pundits are right about half the time.  smith is wrong 100% of the time.  Easy to base accurate predictions on what smith thinks.

If the C's stay healthy they have as good a chance of repeating as anybody who has repeated has....unless smith predicts us to win.

[Roy Hobbs]

Aside from adding Bynum back to their lineup and the Celtics losing Posey, not much has changed.

Well...  right.  But aren't those two fairly large changes?

I'm all gung-ho about the Celtics chances myself, but the Lakers got better, and there's a strong chance that we got worse.

[Norcalceltic]

I didn't watch Bynum that much but on paper he's a beast for a 20 year old!

29 MPG     13 PPG     10 RB     62% FG     

I think Bynum is better or will be better than Perkins!

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200711230BOS.html

http://www.basketball-reference.com/boxscores/200712300LAL.html

Last year "Wilt" Bynum had 2 mediocre Games against Perk. I'm not saying Bynum won't live up to the hype one day. But, right now he is a pretty good player who has his best games against teams with no size. He is still also very young.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/fc/psplit.cgi?player=bynuman01&year=2008

The trouble with having Bynum, Gasol, and Odom on the floor at the same time, is they are not a good outside shooting team. they can't spread the floor and create space for Kobe. Defensively Pau can't gaurd KG, Lamar can't gaurd Paul, and Perk does'nt shoot the ball much anyway. The Lakers best lineup is still the one with Vlad Rad at the 3. I think Bynum might come off the bench next year. Also, the Lakers need to worry about the Rockets, Hornets, and maybe the Spurs, before they start thinking about the Finals.

There can only be one Beast.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXdbBQ-3Rxs

[BballTim]

Aside from adding Bynum back to their lineup and the Celtics losing Posey, not much has changed.

Well...  right.  But aren't those two fairly large changes?

I'm all gung-ho about the Celtics chances myself, but the Lakers got better, and there's a strong chance that we got worse.

  I think it's a little early to bank on Bynum dominating next year. These guys always take a while to get all the way back from a knee injury.

[Roy Hobbs]

Aside from adding Bynum back to their lineup and the Celtics losing Posey, not much has changed.

Well...  right.  But aren't those two fairly large changes?

I'm all gung-ho about the Celtics chances myself, but the Lakers got better, and there's a strong chance that we got worse.

  I think it's a little early to bank on Bynum dominating next year. These guys always take a while to get all the way back from a knee injury.

Who said he was going to "dominate"?  However, for the Lakers to have gotten better, Bynum has to be better than Turiaf.  I think there's a fairly good chance that he can accomplish that rather modest goal, especially by the time the playoffs roll around.

Thus, the Lakers got better.  We'll see how the Celtics do in relation to last season, but I wouldn't disagree too vigorously if somebody suggested that they downgraded their talent.

[billysan]

The Lakers will be a lot stronger with Bynum playing Center and Gasol at PF. (Just like we are with Perk at Center and KG at PF) I am not convinced they will be a better off without the depth provided by Turiaf, he was their best big off the bench IMO. Mihm is the only choice now. I think the best lineup for the Lakers now is with Vlad Rad at the SF and Odom as the 6th man.

I think we see a lot more of Jordan Farmar and less of Fisher. Derek is not that good on defense and Rondo hurt him in the finals. Fisher may also be better as a 6th man at this stage.

Anyway you slice it, we are still the team to beat and losing Posey doesnt change that regardless of what PTI or Stephen A. say on TV. We will be much more young and athletic on the wings. O'Bryant will be an asset or be beaten to death by KG, Powe and Perk.

Number 18 is not unrealistic this season, we have the pieces.

[ManchesterCelticsFan]

"Experts" always seem to pick the Lakers over the Celtics. Everyone always gets blinded by flashy scoring, as we can remember from this years finals. I think even in the 50's and 60's Russell era everyone would come back after the Celtics win a Championship and say this year is the Lakers year. But that year never came. Not for a while atleast. So I like to think of the experts as lemmings just running off cliffs, makes me happy.

It's also more fun for the 'experts' to pronounce "Lakers" than "Celtics".