i was riding their bandwagon hard a few weeks back, but now I'm actually not convinced they can win a title this season. a couple of reasons:
1) Injuries. Gasol has gone down with an ankle and will miss at least 4-5 games I'd think. This will probably cost them #1 seed out West and potentially a top 4 finish. Bynum doesn't look scheduled to return any time soon and you just can't integrate a key piece of your team with 5 games to go and expect to have success in the playoffs. It's a bit of bad luck for the Lakers, but to me, it all points to them having a better season next year.
2) They still haven't played enough together (Gasol and Bynum have never played together) to build that chemistry and trust that is crucial to a championship. Basically, i think when the Lakers backs are against the wall Kobe still tries to do a little too much. if the scores are tight in a big playoff game, Kobe will try to takeover just like he has the past 2-3 years. this might sound like a good think (and kobe is pretty good at taking over games) but i still think it will be like MJ circa 1988-90 when he had a decent team with quality guys but didn't know how to use those quality guys when it counted.
3) There's too many other teams out West who are seasoned playoff veterans and have won playoff series together. Spurs obviously, Jazz, Mavericks, Suns. These teams won't be rattled come playoff time. They've all been to the Western Conf Finals (hmm maybe not the Suns?) whereas the Lakers haven't been passed the first round
Bottom line - I think they could win it all, but they'll need a bit of luck with injuries and other good teams being knocked out. But next year I think we'll see them at another level.