Welcome to the inaugural edition of eDraft’s NBA Season Preview. We turn our attention to the Pacific Division, covering everyone from the pretenders to the contenders. Today we take a look at the Lakers. This is a star-studded club, but do they have the depth to win it all?

Key Additions: Dwight Howard (C), Steve Nash (G), Antawn Jamison (F), Chris Duhon (G)

The Los Angeles Lakers have the weakest bench in the NBA, a new offense which is proving difficult to learn, a churlish star shooting guard on the decline, and the best odds to win the Western conference and perhaps the NBA championship itself. The enigmatic Lakers have glaring weaknesses to be sure, but their starting five might rank among the most dominant in league history and it will be hard to stop this team once they find their groove.

When the Lakers acquired both Steve Nash ( 2011-’12 12.5 PPG-10.7 APG-39 3P%) and Dwight Howard (23.3 PPG-9.8RPG-2.5 BPG-19.7 PER) this summer, Pau Gasol (15.8 PPG-10.3 RPG-1.5 BPG- 16.74 PER) was surely smiling somewhere in Catalonia. There are not two other players in the NBA who so perfectly complement the skills of the eminently talented Spaniard. In Howard, Gasol finally has a partner on the blocks who loves to crash the boards and is an elite defender. While shorter than even the average power forward, Howard is the most dominant  defensive center in the game today. Howard has also improved his back to the basket offensive game and will be difficult to defend off the pick and roll.

Gasol, meanwhile, will be free to operate from the foul line where he can stick the jumper or conduct the offense as a sort of point-center. There are few big men in the league who are better at finding open teammates than Gasol, and he should lead his position in assists this year (no small number will come off lobs to Howard). Of course, Nash may lead the entire league in that statistical category if he can stay healthy this year.

While it is clear that Nash’s career is nearing its conclusion, he is still one of the best 25 players in the league and is perhaps the only point guard outside of Jason Kidd who could be trusted to lead this current Lakers squad. Nash has the basketball knowledge and veteran leadership to manage the egos, personalities, and skill sets of this particular team. The Lakers locker room would make an interesting field-study site for UCLA students of psychology, and Nash will have his hands full negotiating the emotional landmines that are Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, Dwight Howard and Pau Gasol. Among his duties, Nash will have to: learn the Princeton offense while making his teammates feel comfortable in it, hit a high percentage of his threes to open the floor, run the show without dominating the ball (he’s never done this before), and perhaps most importantly, get Bryant (26.8 PPG-3 APG-5 RPG-21.48 PER) the shots he needs to keep him happy.

Bryant is probably the second best shooting guard in NBA history behind Michael Jordan, and one of the ten best players to ever play the game. By any measure Bryant has had an outstanding career: he was the youngest player to reach 27,000 points, made 12 All-Defensive teams, 14 All-NBA teams, is fifth on the all time scoring list, is a five-time NBA champion, a winner of the MVP award, and a two time scoring champ. Still, two goals remain unachieved: a sixth championship, which would put him in Jordan territory and the all-time career scoring record. Both targets remain in reach for Bryant, and if he were to attain them he would force his way into the “Greatest” conversation.

But the window is closing: this Lakers team is built for two seasons, after which management will have to rebuild once more. But with James Harden gone, OKC looks slightly diminished and L.A. seems to be the clear favorite coming out of the West. Still, many things have to fall in place for the Lakers to take the championship and Kobe to achieve immortality. To start, the uninspiring bench will have to be improved upon through trades, though its not clear who would take this cast. Antawn Jamison is the best player on the second unit, and he looks like a shell of his former self. Jordan Hill, Jodie Meeks, Steve Blake and Chris Duhon are all decent players but if any should find themselves playing more than 20 minutes a game the Lakers are in trouble. Still, there are many great players on this team and a date with the Heat in June seems probable.

Reason for optimism: Howard will be defensive player of the year and should put to rest any further talk about Bynum being his equal.

Reason for despair: The Heat demonstrated that it can take a while for supremely talented players to gel, but unfortunately time is not on L.A.’s side

Projected record: 55-27