They’re the Vegas favorites to win the title. Andrew Bynum is healthy. On paper, it is difficult to argue this isn’t the best team in the NBA. Basically, the exact same squad is back, minus Ronny Turiaf, but that’s not really a loss because of the return of Bynum. Other than shaky defense, which was exposed by the Celtics, what glaring flaws does this team have? They’re still relatively young across the board, the bench is deep, and Phil Jackson remains one of the best coaches in the league.

The days of calling Kobe a ballhog are over, and Vlad Rad won’t be snowboarding anytime soon. What’s not to like?

We’ll say that the Lakers are the team most likely to win 60 games. And since we’re not nearly as enamored with Boston this year as we were last year … how can we project anything less than a title?

But you know what this has the feel of? Picking the Red Sox to win the World Series. The Patriots to win the Super Bowl. And the Spurs to win last year’s title. They all went into the season as favorites, and none of them were able to pull it off. Just food for thought.

And that concludes 30 NBA teams in about two weeks. Whew. Monday we’ll ask/beg you for predictions on the season. And Tuesday-Friday, you won’t be going to sleep early because the league will be rolling out exciting games each night to open the season: Boston vs. Cleveland and Kobe vs. Oden on opening night; Beasley in MSG on Wednesday, Ron Artest vs. Mark Cuban on Thursday, and the ultimate old vs. new battle on Halloween: Duncan vs. Oden.