It isn’t IMPOSSIBLE.
It will just take a lot of things to fall perfectly into place. Kobe for one has to stay healthy and really focus on getting the young kids and vets all on the same page. It would be in the Lakers best interest if he was more of a facilitator and less of a scorer.
In this Q&A with Yahoo Sports he explains how that would work.
Q: Can this Lakers team make the playoffs?
Kobe: “Of course it can. Absolutely. We have talented players in their respective positions. We have some really young players. How exactly will the pieces of the puzzle fit? We really don’t know. We are going to [training] camp trying to piece this together just like every other team does. We have to figure out what our strengths are, figure out what our weaknesses are. And every time we step on the court we are going to try to hide our weaknesses and step up to our strengths.”
Q: What do you think about playing small forward?
Kobe: “I don’t see what the big deal is about it, honestly. What does that even mean anyway? Everyone plays [expletive] small ball anyway. You got forwards that play like [guards]. [Centers] that play like [small forwards]. What’s the difference? Find me some actual [small forwards] and [power forwards] that actually post up now and then. …
“What difference does it make? Everyone is spreading the floor anyways unless you’re the Memphis Grizzlies.”
In the Western Conference they won’t have a lot of time to figure it out, they will need a strong start out of the gate and then hope they can fight for a 7th or 8th seed.