I’m one of a number of NBA bloggers taking part in a “Power Rankings” of NBA teams each week this season. The first one is out right now, up at yayasports.com, with (hold your breath) the Spurs on top. The Lakers are 15th.
Frankly, as with college football, I think doing these things preseason is just a bunch of people making guesses. I’m fine tuning a stats-based model to make my choices, which I may detail down the line, but it will take 10+ games before I’d consider it to be even vaguely accurate. So, until then, I’m guessing along with everyone else.