Only in dreams can these Lakers screw up a plum roster, a legendary coach, and maybe the surest path to a top seed in the past four, five years. Not since the Lakers of 2001-02 has a team looked so unstoppable on paper. (You could make an argument for the 2003-04 Lakers, though many rightfully doubted the impact of the Payton and Malone acquisitions.) With a core that just ripped through the Western Conference playoffs before bowing out against a sterling defensive juggernaut, the current Lakers are heavy conference favorites. Adding to that core a complete man-child hitting his physical stride, a cat who'd be the best player on about 12 NBA rosters ... this team's potential for devastation is immeasurable. The only dudes who can screw it up are the dudes themselves.

Lamar Odom already bristled at the suggestion he'd come off the bench in a prospective altered line-up amid Andrew Bynum's return. Instead, Phil Jackson set up Odom as the offensive initiator, a point guard in gazelle's clothing. As a form of discipline but amid reports Bynum and Pau Gasol have been incompatible as a duo, Young Drew came off the bench for two preseason games. I wonder what his completely matured and enlightened opinion will be. Get us an answer, Kevin Ding of the Orange County Register (via TrueHoop).

Bynum ... oozed petulance when asked by a TV reporter late Thursday night if he liked coming off the bench. He slowly rolled his eyes and then said: "Not at all."

Fourteen Western Conference fan bases are absolutely loving this. You're doing it right, Drew. Make your money. You should be starting. You should be starting and taking 20 shots a night.

One of the most amusing compelling stories of the offseason has been the wait for Andrew Bynum to return to the lineup and destroy everything in his path in pursuit of his destiny as the best center in the NBA. Well, okay, the most recent wait . Ask anyone that's big on statistics, as most of the NBA scribes are, and they'll tell you that Bynum was on pace to produce simply devastating numbers last season based on his thirty five games of action, and his projected path of development through his early years. Of course, then he suffered a severe knee injury. But it's no big deal, because he definitely made his estimated return of March. Well, okay, April. Well, okay, the second round. Okay, no, he had surgery again and was out until this season. But seriously! When he gets back, you're all on notice!

Unfortunately, based on the word coming out of Lakers camp via the OC Register's Kevin Ding, Bynum's a little behind schedule on that whole "next Kareem" thing. As in, he may not start. The wunderkind is apparently having issues meshing with Pau Gasol, and Lamar Odom has outworked him in training camp. The issue, at least according to Tex Winter, is one of effort.

"He's just not exerting himself, maybe," Winter said. "And most of the other guys are. I think he just needs to play a little harder."

Bynum has said himself that practice work hasn't had him completely riveted.

"This is the first year where it's kind of a little bit boring just because we have to run through the same stuff we already know," he said.

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A season ago, the Pacific Division was able to send just two of its teams to the playoffs, but one of them went all the way to the Finals. And while that's not likely to change this season -- at least the part about the two playoff teams -- each club definitely has its share of intriguing story lines.

Let's start off in Los Angeles, where the Lakers' playoff run last season took place with one of the team's key components on the sidelines. There are always many stories in Laker-land, but a lot of the team's fans seem to be most interested in this one: With the return of Andrew Bynum, do the Lakers have a shot to win 70 games?

Despite the recent flood of positive Andrew Bynum stories hitting the L.A. papers lately (seriously, his P.R. machine is working overtime), I'm not convinced that his addition to the lineup automatically makes the Lakers unstoppable. There's the whole thing about figuring out how to co-exist with Pau Gasol, and how Lamar Odom will perform (likely) playing further away from the basket. When you add in the fact that even if the team was capable of winning 70 games, there's really no motivation to do so, unless someone else is on the same ridiculous pace and it would mean home court advantage.

There was a little bit of talk over the summer about the idea of Lamar Odom coming off the bench this season. With Andrew Bynum back in the mix, it seemed like a delightful possibility; one that would especially help the Lakers offensively when their second unit was on the floor. But you can forget all that. Odom was asked about it at the Lakers' Media Day yesterday, and hinted that Phil Jackson might have a screw loose if that's what he was thinking:

"He must have woke up and bumped his head. He probably hit his head on something -- boom," Odom said about Jackson. "To start off like that, you've got to be out of your . . . mind."

I have no proof of this, but having heard athletes speak for many years now, I'm guessing that the ellipsis between the words "your" and "mind" might just have been an expletive. And while I'm sure Odom was speaking in a lighthearted tone when he said this, it's still kind of disrespectful to Phil Jackson, isn't it?

We're not exactly sure how serious Phil was about moving Lamar to a sixth man role, or how serious Odom is about having no desire to go there. But it's definitely something to keep an eye on, as Odom is due for a new contract next season. If things go south between Lamar and his coach, Odom may very well find himself in another uniform before February's trade deadline.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Dallas Morning News. Josh Howard loves this country. In case you thought otherwise.

2. South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Pat Riley turns his evil sights on the Miami front office; Randy Pfund retires.

3. NBA.com. Gilbert Arenas may have gotten engaged, but he wasn't the one on his knee.

4. Bergen Record. Eddy Curry shows up to media day dressed like a pregnant woman, apparently not in good shape (even by Eddy Curry standards).

5. LA Times. Great read on the development of Andrew Bynum.

6. The Sporting Blog. The situation in Golden State is becoming unstable, as Chris Mullin looks to be on his way out.

Phil Jackson has put a temporary kibosh on the suggestion Lamar Odom may come out of the gate as L.A.'s sixth man, telling the assembled media in El Segundo Friday Odom will be the team's starting small forward. Jackson does leave open the possibility of a switch to Trevor Ariza at some point, should the combination need a tweak. Odom is the superior offensive player -- a talented scorer and distributor who knows the Triangle and is deferential enough to play with Kobe and Pau Gasol. Forum Blue & Gold seems on board with the "start the five best players" philosophy, and I tend to trust them on all matters Lakers.

But we know L.A.'s offense will be extraordinary with or without Odom. The Lakers -- with a Kobe, Pau, Odom troika -- racked up amazing numbers in last season's stretch run and through three rounds of playoff basketball. Andrew Bynum will come in. He's a fantastic offensive weapon -- he's still learning, but few Western bigs will be able to keep him off the offensive glass or kill his half-hook and baseline spins. He's not Hakeem, but he might already be one of top five low-post threats in the conference.

If Odom starts, will Bynum get any opportunities? I'm of the mind L.A.'s offense would be just fine with Kobe and Gasol handling most of the duties: Derek Fisher can hit shots, Ariza can sprint in transition, and again, Bynum's good. If you can be assured your starting five offense will be dominant and bolster the starting defense (with Ariza over Odom) and the bench offense, isn't that a better use of your weapons? I think the opportunity cost of starting Odom is greater than what you'd give up making the switch.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Bend It Like Bennett. The Thunder are selling "rivalry packs" of tickets focused on the old war with Portland: "The Portland Trailblazers and Oklahoma City Thunder will continue to duke it out for Northwest* supremacy, but perhaps we need to give this series a new name. We could call it the 'I-84 to I-80 to I-25 to I-70 to I-35' Rivalry."

2. Blog-a-Bull. On the chances Ben Gordon can get paid in '09.

3. The Bratwurst. Milwaukee has some saucy looking alternate jerserys this season.

4. True Hoop. Abbott doesn't understand why people think Stephon Marbury can help anyone.

5. Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Salim Stoudamire has the 'fro going, and is read to hit Texas.

6. Orange County Register. Good news Lakers fans: "Andrew Bynum lay on the floor, his feet having been knocked out from beneath him on an alley oop pass during a recent pick up game. He got up immediately. No hesitation. No second thoughts. More importantly, no pain."

And one bad story of the day: The Big Lead. TBL writes about the retirement of the "reliable yet oft-injured" Shareef Abdur-Rahim. Reliable. Oft-injured. Reliable. Oft-injured. Something. Doesn't. Add. Up. (It's the "oft-injured" part. And the part where he blames Reef for not getting enough wins, man. Damn you, Shareef! Why didn't you ever want to win?! Can't you for once help your team try to win?!?!) For the record, until last season, Abdur-Rahim played in 94% of all possible regular season games.

While we imagine a Lakers frontline that can actually rebound, it appears the decision-makers in Los Angeles have other ideas. Instead of slipping big Lamar Odom into the small forward slot, the Orange County Register's Art Thompson III (via TH) reports Trevor Ariza and Luke Walton will battle for the gig while Odom will apparently move into a sixth-man role. Odom seems to be on board.

Odom has discussed with the basketball staff the possibility of accepting a sixth-man role, which has all sorts of delightful possibilities to it, due to the 6-foot-10 Odom's versatility.

He could come off the bench to play small forward or play the two position (shooting guard) or power forward. The Lakers' staff even has discussed with Odom the possibility of him being a hybrid point forward and initiating the offense in that role.

This set-up does have some delightful possibilities. (That should be the L.A.'s 2008-09 motto: "The Los Angeles Lakers. Delightful Possibilities.") With Odom as a starter, you basically stick a poor man's Shawn Marion with less opportunity into the mix. Kobe and Pau Gasol will handle most of the offense (extremely well), and even Andrew Bynum will take priority over Odom. You assert yourself as one of the dominant rebounding teams in the league (probably top six), but the bench suddenly looks a bit offensively anemic.

Ariza's a damn fine rebounder in his own right, and a better "explosive" defender than Odom. Ariza can even trade down and help Kobe defend the Wades and Martins and Manus -- something Odom can't do. And suddenly, Odom running the second unit when Kobe sits ... that's some sort of beautiful, assuming he's locked in (hardly assumable) and prepared.

So long as L.A. has Bynum (an elite rebounder) manning the pivot, I think the team can afford to go smaller at the three. It will interesting to watch, if nothing else.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

At just 20 years old, Lakers star Andrew Bynum is already one of most talented centers in the NBA, and he may even be a future Hall of Famer. But one of his close friends tells us that away from the court, "Drew" takes on another identity: that of being the biggest tech-nerd you can imagine. In this video we hang out at Maurice Evans' home, where Bynum's former Lakers teammate tells us all about his good friend. Mo also reveals why he will never play himself when he's playing an NBA video game.

Watch the behind-the-scenes video after the jump.

FanHouse's Tom Ziller argues his ranking of the top 50 players in the NBA.

If Andrew Bynum is real, you're looking at the only lizard in the league who can crash the Dwight Howard-Greg Oden party of Best Beasts of Tomorrow.

Before February's cruel injury, Bynum lit the galaxy ablaze. The numbers were unspeakable for a 20-year-old: a double-double with two blocks in less than 30 minutes of work. If he's still learning the game and finding his body, the rest of the league is in immense trouble.