I regard the Hornets as the fifth best team in the West. They have too many serious vulnerabilities that will cause them to lose in a tough series in similar fashion as they did against San Antonio.
That said ..... the Hornets are one of the scarier matchups for LA because of Chris Paul and Peja Stojakovic but LA still ahead of the game just about. It would be a great spectacle to see these two sides go head-to-head and the Hornets would be capable of beating them, although I'd favour LA in the matchup.
Peja is someone to note in this series, the Lakers have nobody that can guard him, no wing defender that's disciplined enough to stick with him, and for that reason Peja lit them up last season. I just looked up his stats to help give an idea of how large a factor Peja is here .... he scored 21ppg on almost 60% shooting from three on almost 10 attempts from downtown a game. The Hornets are near-impossible to beat when they get that type of scoring production from Peja.
This wasn't some odd event, this was LA having nobody disciplined enough to guard him. Radmanovic isn't, Walton isn't, Kobe isn't. Ariza hasn't been in the past so I don't expect that to change, although he will do a better job than any of his predecessors here. Odom is an unknown, perhaps he can be an answer, he's been a disciplined defender on guys like Dirk Nowitzki, but guarding Peja is a different matter entirely (movement off the ball, lack of involvement offensively). The Lakers consistently left the best shooter (at least for my money) in the league wide open. They were never able to fix this problem and they don't have the personnel to fix it. Very big problem for them.
As for the Bynum-Chandler I think Bynum has already surpassed Chandler. Bynum outplayed him in both meetings (amongst many other players he outplayed) last season and caused Tyson huge problems. Bynum's size and athleticism limited Chandler's impact offensively, on the boards, and he also punished Tyson for straying away on help defense. Bynum is a tough matchup for Chandler.
I'd go with Gasol over West, by a small margin though, but definitely Gasol-Bynum over West-Chandler and by quite a large margin. I think they'll be a better combination. Having two seven footers who block shots is going to make LA much harder to score on and I do expect it to cause Paul more difficulties than he's had against the Lakers in the past. I also expect the Lakers screen and roll defense to get a lot better with Bynum back because they'll have more help defense away from the ball action coming from long shot blockers to effect the roll/penetration.
The Lakers screen and roll action will be just as deadly as the Hornets. Gasol and Bynum are two of the best finishers in the league off the pick and roll. I expect the Lakers to incorporate this more and more into their offense. Also as much as the Lakers struggled with the Hornets screen and rolls, the Hornets struggled with the Triangle's passing and movement.
The biggest factor for me is giving the best player in the league his personal whipping boy to beat up on.
How do you expect to win by putting Mo Pete on Kobe Bryant? Do you not remember those 81 points? Or the numerous other beatings Kobe has put down on Peterson? Kobe is far too comfortable against Mo Peterson for the Hornets good. Posey will help but Kobe has his number too, albeit to a lesser degree which is why Posey will help.
The Hornets bench is also quite weak. No backup bigs. Uncertainty at the point, with Mike James the likely successor. Excellent backup wings but the minutes squeeze removes too many minutes from their best perimeter defender - Julian Wright. If New Orleans starting Wright and played him Bryant I'd have a lot more faith in their chances of winning this series.
The Lakers definitely have a better bench than that, they have two very good backup guards in Farmer and Vujacic, some talent on the wings with three solid small forwards .... no backup big but Odom can switch there with Ariza/Radmanovic taking over the SF minutes if they need him to, so they're not vulnerable there, they have a very good answer if needed.
I'd expect LA to win out on the boards. Be better defensively and to be able to match NO's offense.
If the Lakers had someone to defend Peja I'd say it's their series by a large margin. But they don't so it will be very close, I expect it will come down to the waning moments of a seventh game, but the Lakers to prevail, they just have that little bit more than Hornets.
If New Orleans are healthy again next season I expect they'll be the 2nd or 3rd seed. In doing so they wouldn't meet LA until the conference finals, and I think someone will beat them in the second round before this series has the opportunity to happen .... which kind of unfortunate because it would be beautiful to watch.