Steve Nash turns 40 in February, when his backup, Steve Blake, turns 34. Pau Gasol is 33 with plenty of playoff and international mileage. Chris Kaman is a broken-down 31. And while the departure of Dwight Howard may clear the way for coach Mike D’Antoni to fully implement his fun-and-gun system, his history of short rotations and inattentiveness to defense is a blueprint for disaster.
VERDICT: Out. It won’t take long for Bryant to realize that this mess is well beyond the scope of his will. (Danny Schayes believes he will be an ex-Laker next season).
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES: For two years, everyone has been longing for Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio to be healthy at the same time to see if they are really capable of lifting Minnesota out of a decade of doldrums. But the fact is that the Timberwolves are just 21-18 when they are in the lineup, and the duo may need some help.
Do they have enough this season? Even with Derrick Williams playing out of position at small forward, their starting 
five is pretty darn good. But with Chase Budinger injured again, there is a lot of pressure on backup shooting guards Alexei Shved and rookie Shabazz Muhammad to shoot better than 40 percent.
This team also needs a dramatic culture change, and it has to come from Love and Rubio. In addition to staying healthy, Love has to stop answering questions about his approval of the roster or his long-term future, stay in the now and fully accept the responsibility that comes with a max contract, regardless of its length. And Rubio has to show a steady glare instead of a strobe-light brilliance. Who ever thought Nik Pekovic would be their rock?
VERDICT: Out. There’s not a lot of mental toughness here.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS: Given their offseason acquisitions of Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans, they appear to be ready to move on from rebuilding and make a real run at a playoff berth. But do they have enough?
Given the look of the preseason lineups deployed by coach Monty Williams, maybe not. Their best five clearly are Holiday, Evans, Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson and future superstar Anthony Davis, and that may be the lineup that finishes games. But it appears the plan is to bring career starters Evans and Anderson off the bench.
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Williams is doing this because there is a dramatic dropoff to his second five, which includes bust-in-the-making Austin Rivers trying to take minutes from journeyman Anthony Morrow, unremarkable small forward Al-Farouq Aminu and the three-headed center of Greg Steimsma, Jason Smith and rookie Jeff Withey. Sorry. but I’m not impressed.
VERDICT: Out. The first five is going to have to do some very heavy lifting for the Pelicans simply to stay in the hunt.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS: In LaMarcus Aldridge and Damian Lillard, they actually have more star quality than the Nuggets and Mavericks. And by adding Robin Lopez, Dorell Wright, Mo Williams and Earl Watson in the offseason, they have fortified their bench – their downfall last season – to where it is better than those of the Lakers and Pelicans.
Williams and Watson should be enough to offset the loss of rookie C.J. McCollum, who figured to be a rotation player until fracturing his foot. The bigger issue is whether the unproven trio of second-year bigs Thomas Robinson, Meyers Leonard and Joel Freeland can provide enough to prevent Aldridge and Lopez from dropping dead.
It’s easy to forget that a year ago, these guys were 20-15 with six of their next eight games at home before the roof fell in. Coach Terry Stotts has a bigger and better toolbox this time.
VERDICT: In as the eighth seed.
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Chris Bernucca is a regular columnist and the managing editor of SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.