John Nadel for the Associated Press wrote an article on Wednesday entitled Kobe ready for another runt to NBA title. However it doesn’t mention an NBA title anywhere in the article. Here’s an excerpt: “Bryant hopes the signing of Vladimir Radmanovic, Maurice Evans and Shammond Williams will strengthen the Lakers. ‘We made some key additions with those guys,’ Bryant said. ‘We turned some heads the way we performed last season. We were a very young team. We’re still a young team. I think it will be exciting.'”

Let’s take a look at the stats of these key additions. The most notable player, Radmanovic, has a career average of 10.1 points, 1.5 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game. He’s thought of as a threat from behind the three point line, where he averages .381 for his career. Maurice Evans career totals are 5.4 ppg, 0.7 assists, and 2.4 rebounds. And finally, Shammond Williams. He hasn’t played in two years, but his career totals are 6.1 ppg, 2.5 assists, and 1.6 rebounds. Those numbers are sure to turn some heads.

In their defense, I didn’t expect the Lakers to make the playoff. I especially didn’t expect them to take Phoenix to 7 games. They did MUCH better than I expected last year. However, it’s very early to start talking about the Finals for Kobe and the Lakers. The first thing they need to do is make consecutive appearances to the playoffs and maybe win a series or two. Then I would be OK with people talking about a title run.

Until then, let’s just be realistic about the Lakers’ title chances. Slim to none.