This is an unprecedented year for the Lakers.  No matter what new acquisitions they make, they’re almost always the favorite in the Western Conference.  Usually if you pick against them, they generally prove you wrong.  However their aging was evident last year in a bad loss to the Mavs in the playoffs that ended up with a Nyjer Morgan-like display of masculinity by pseudo-gladiator, Andrew Bynum, it left a bad taste in the Lakers’ mouths.  The end result – a completely new team.  The personnel changes to the lineup are a small factor, but the larger impact is the absence of Phil Jackson.  The Lakers new coach, Mike Brown, is the opposite of Jackson.  He’s energetic, controlling, and unproven.  Jackson is infinitely accomplished, serene, and completely willing to give control to his players.  Imagine Red Auerbach in “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” but this doesn’t mean Brown’s a bad coach.

Mike Brown’s time in Cleveland was a weird kind of success, regular season was his specialty.  The problem with Brown is the enormous and drastic change that the players feel.  He practices them harder, calls plays almost every possession and uses numbers as a tactic.  Andrew Bynum and Metta World Peace didn’t hide their displeasure early on.  In addition to the chaos that is a new coach, Pau Gasol’s potential trade looms over the Lakers.  It’s the most recent in a string of public debacles that distracted Los Angeles.  Kobe Bryant, who almost always sounds arrogant and just generally not like a good person, voiced his desire for Pau to stay, or at least for management to let the team know.  The problem is the Lakers management is simply trying to build for the future.  Nobody is to blame, but it’s certainly problematic.  A weird feeling is developing here.

After a beating over the Blazers last night that wasn’t truly reflected in the final score, they now have some momentum.  This is a team that fights against the public’s opinion nearly every year.  It almost always feels like there is a reason to doubt this team, yet they always come through, they thrive on the criticism.  Gasol has had a double-double for ten straight games.  Bynum is finally carrying his share of the load and performing at the level that made him so alluring coming into the NBA.  Kobe is well, being Kobe.  Brown is also loosening up, he canceled the shoot around before Sunday’s game, which was previously an area of contention for players with their new coach.  Brown is also giving them more freedom to read defenses and make spontaneous plays.  Just watch, by May, the Lakers will be as dangerous as any team, not only because of Kobe’s supernatural clutch ability, but because they have length that no other team in the NBA does.  The Thunder, Spurs, Mavs and Clippers are all ahead of the Lakers in the standings, but I can guarantee nobody wants to face a Lakers team that will be in full swing when it matters most.

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