Not that you'd expect otherwise, but Darvin Ham was talking up the Lakers roster earlier this week with Mark Medina of The Sporting Tribune. Ham says the Lakers absolutely have a roster capable of winning an NBA championship. Not that he was saying the Lakers should be prohibitive favorites or anything, but that they've got the pieces to get it done.

So is he right? Or is this just a coach delivering the normal platitudes you get in July?

It's hard to argue with his premise. The Lakers, after all, are coming off a Western Conference Finals appearance, and even if you don't think they radically improved this offseason, they certainly didn't get any worse. (And realistically, while the improvement wasn't massive - that sort of transformative thing wasn't really available to them - they enter the season with a more balanced roster than last season and the opportunity to build with continuity.

That continuity thing? Ham is a big proponent, calling it a major reason the Nuggets won a title, and noting that it's becoming a bigger trend across the league. The Lakers might have a history of chasing stars, but this year they are trying a different path. (And, for what it's worth, a better one.)

So what does the rest of the conference look like? Denver took a small step back, losing Bruce Brown and Jeff Green. What about Memphis? Phoenix? How many known, or even semi-known quantities are there in the West? After Denver, and probably Sacramento, you've got the Lakers. Is that it?

And finally, Kobe Bryant became a Laker on July 11, 1996. It feels like a long time ago, in so many ways (because it is) and at the same time, it doesn't. Perhaps because Bryant, because he died so suddenly and so prematurely, feels frozen in time. Looking back to that day in '96, it's interesting to think what would have happened if the Nets hadn't been scared away from drafting Bryant. The "Sliding Doors" scenarios are infinite.

HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky

SEGMENT 1: Darvin Ham says the Lakers have a championship roster. Is he blowing smoke?

SEGMENT 2: Remembering Kobe Bryant's arrival in LA, back in 1996.

SEGMENT 3: Looking at the rest of the West. Because how the conference shapes up has a lot to do with the accuracy of Ham's statement.

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