I grew up watching the great Lakers and Kings teams battle it out, year after year, and as a Kings fan, this obviously never ended well for me. But now, as the Kobe era ends, and Cousins continues his ascent, I think I can safely say that the Kings have a better roster than the Lakers going into 2015/16. Here’s why:

Point Guards

Let me start by saying that I am a Jordan Clarkson fan, and I don’t think that D’Angelo Russell’s struggles in Summer League are an indicator of his long-term future. That said, I think Russell will take some time to adjust, not breaking any news there, but he definitely showed flashes of something special this summer. I’d have to think that the Lakers are thrilled with Clarkson’s development because now, rather than immediately throwing Russell to the wolves, timber and otherwise, like a untested rookie quarterback, they can work him in at a comfortable and constructive rate.

Having said that, I think you have to give the PG edge to the Kings. They have Rondo who has some great abilities when he chooses to utilize them, and if he doesn’t work out, Darren Collison will be more than happy to step in and play at a level similar to what I anticipate Jordan Clarkson will reach this year. Seth Curry and David Stockton give them some interesting and varied options should an injury hit.

Shooting Guards

I’m pretty sure I like/respect Kobe more than the average Kings fan, but even still, I think a lot of Kings fans would admit this position favors the Lakers.

As much as I like Kobe, I did not buy into the whole, “Come on, he’s Kobe” argument when people talked optimistically about his return from the Achilles injury. Regardless of whether or not you are indeed Kobe, the human body has its limitations and I was not at all surprised when he was reinjured. This most recent injury likely won’t have taken such a big toll on his body, but I would be cautious about projecting Kobe’s performance this year. He’s a year older, his body has sustained another injury, but he’s still going to wow us at times, and overall, put up more numbers than Ben McLemore. No surprise there. That said, putting up 25–30 points per game isn’t much of a positive if no one else on the team can score consistently. In that scenario you will lose most games.

Moving down the depth chart, I love Lou Williams, and though I’m not 100% sure how he fits with the Lakers roster, I think he has proven that he can find a way to be successful in a variety of different situations. Furthermore, I loved watching Jabari Brown in Summer League, really hope he gets minutes, even if they are few and far between.

Kobe>Ben, Lou>Marco…Advantage: Lakers

Small Forwards

Nick Young is a player that I really want to like, but he just won’t let me do it. Regardless of how likable he is, I truly believe a good chunk of the outcomes Lakers games will depend on whether Swaggy P’s career low shooting percentage last year was just a fluke, or if it’s the beginning of the end. To be fair, without any offensive weapons around him for the majority of last year, Swaggy was the focal point of the majority of NBA defenses. I may be reaching a bit there, but that could definitely be an explanation for the shooting woes. My real complaint with Mr. P is that at 6'7" he only grabs 2 rebounds a game and, though he touches the ball often, averages 1 assist! That is not ok.

I like Ryan Kelly, who is really more of a stretch 4 than a 3. The first hurdle for Kelly this year is going to be staying healthy. In two seasons, he hasn’t played more than 60 games in one year yet. Also, I know he’s 6'11" and everything, but isn’t a stretch 4 supposed to shoot better than 33.7% from the field and 33.6% from three? Yikes…

Being a Stanford fan, I really hope Anthony Brown works out. When you hear people talk about Brown, they’re inevitably going to say, “3 and D.” He shot 44% from three at Stanford last year, we’ll see how that translates to the pro game, but he’s a lanky kid with a lot of potential.

I certainly prefer the Kings small forwards in comparison. I think it’s safe to say that the majority of GMs would take Gay over Swaggy, Casspi over Kelly, and, at least for the coming season, Caron Butler over Anthony Brown, though none are necessarily runaways.

Power Forwards

This matchup is a little bit tricky because I have no idea what Randle is going to do this year, and I don’t think I’m alone in that. He seems to basically have one go-to move, which is to catch the ball about 15 or 16 feet out and then sort of lower his head and drive. From what I saw of him in Summer League, it looked like he was either cautious or had a full head of steam, with little occurring between those extremes and neither of them working out particularly well. Most likely he was just feeling out what he could do since his injury, but he just didn’t look entirely comfortable. I’ll be very interested to see how he performs this year. The Lakers definitely have big man depth going for them with three guys behind Randle.

I haven’t seen a ton of Brandon Bass, but from what I can tell he should be an extremely solid backup to Randle. Plenty of NBA experience (10 years), efficient shooter (50.4% last year), and a good free thrower, though he had a slightly down year last year (79.0%).

Tarik Black and Larry Nance, Jr. round out the group. Black is a scrappy dude who is going to grab rebounds and be efficient when he shoots, not unlike Quincy Acy. Larry Nance, Jr. really didn’t impress me in Summer League. I watched the full game against the Mavs, and couldn’t recall him making any impact at any point.

I’m very interested to see the distribution of minutes among these guys, and I know Lakers fans are a bit nervous about Randle’s performance this year, and justifiably so. He’s going to be a big factor in the Laker success or failure this season. Sacramento has this advantage here because it’s where I’m guessing Cousins will play the majority of his minutes.

Centers

Roy Hibbert has his shortcomings, but he still has the potential to change games. In a basketball world that is increasingly into small ball, you can’t take away from the effect Hibbert has on a player driving the lane. The guy gets a good number of rebounds and can shoot free throws extremely well for a 7-footer (82.4% last year). You can bet that with Swaggy P and Kobe on his team, he is going to have many more opportunities to rebound the ball. In terms of his own offense, he’s not going to blow anyone’s socks off, but when things are getting out of control, it’s very valuable to be able to slow things down, hit Hibbert with an entry pass, and watch him hit a baby hook over someone like Kosta Koufos.

That said, if Willie Cauley-Stein can be on the DeAndre Jordan end of a good number of lobs this year, and absolutely kills it on the defensive end, I might give the advantage to Sacramento in 2016/17, but those are some decently big “ifs” so I think it’s clear that Los Angeles gets the nod at the center position.

I didn’t even mention the reliable Robert Sacre, who I see as Carlos Boozer without the vague douchey factor, and Robert Upshaw who has real talent and could contribute if he gets in shape and stays in line.