ESPN Writers Pick Lakers As Best In West

A panel of ESPN basketball minds got together to take a vote on just who is going to be the best in the West for the 2012-13 NBA season. According to the brightest hoops brains at Disney the Lake Show is the favorite to unseat defending Western champions the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Consider this to be one Laker fan in disagreement with the evil four letter.

I’m not doubting L.A.’s title chances now. I just don’t see the Lakers being in harmony for the entire regular season. For my money I’ll take the Thunder to earn the top spot in the West but the Lakers to come out as Western Champions.

OKC has a Finals trip under the belt and they’re returning pretty much the entire roster. So long as Scott Brooks has his troops motivated the Thunder should tear through the regular season. However once the playoffs start it will be the Lakers’ battle tested and improved roster that should overtake OKC.

Of course this is all fine and dandy to discuss in August when we’re not even to camp yet. Injuries, indifference and any other number of factors can derail the best of teams. As we’ve seen in the past, the best regular season team is often not the best playoff team come title time. At times the exact opposite is true too.