Rick, I am not a basketball fan, but NOBODY is going to beat the lakers except the Lakers themselves! Sacramento Kings have a very good team, but cannot take the Lakers on in a seven game series! Thugs? No more so than any other NBA team, as the entire league seems to be a professional version of a Prison League! I would say the Lakers have less arrests, bookings, muggings, illegal children, and statutories than any of the other NBA teams! I just hate Basketball! Charlie