On the latest episode of "The Bill Simmons Podcast," the host predicted that the Los Angeles Lakers will make it to the play-in tournament, where their season will end. His reasoning? "I don't think they're going to be able to guard anybody."
Joe House, a guest on the podcast, added, "The Lakers aren't good enough. They don't have enough talent."
These aren't merely overreactions to Los Angeles' first game of the season, a 119-109 loss against Golden State. It's deeper than that. Simmons acknowledged that the Lakers were without LeBron James, and will be for a few weeks, but that his shaky regular-season availability in his 23rd NBA season won't save the Lakers.