To be realistic, I wouldn't put TOO much faith in the Lakers repeating...
1) Bynum has shown that he isn't the great hype that the Lakers thought he was going to be. He's good, and he still has TONS of time to improve, but he is NOT ready.
2) Yeah it looks like Artest is going to the Lakers, Ariza gone, and LO probably back. Yes, this is an upgrade, but is it so significant that it makes them a lock to win next year? I don't think so...
3) The Cavaliers got Shaq for a dude who just broke his leg, and a role player they never used. They got off pretty damn cheap. Now, I think it's safe to say the Cavs will get Ariza. That's an upgrade of two players better than what they had. Add that to Big Z, Delonte/Mo, and Joe Smith. If AV comes back, I like the Cavs easy out of the East. Who knows about him though.
4) The wild-card in all of this are the Denver Nuggets. Chauncey Billups scares me with his commitment to winning. If they keep their core together (and the core being Chauncey, Nene, Kenyon, Melo, and Birdman), I don't think it's going to be a cake-walk for them at ALL. The Lakers had to fight their tails off to beat the Nuggets in games 1 and 3. They're a scary team.
5) There's another wild-card, the San Antonio Spurs. They got a 20-point dude for a bag of chips. Bowen will probably be back. If they sign a good free agent, they're an elite team again, just like that.
Yeah signing Artest is great, and it's an improvement, but there are other teams that are making better improvements, IMO.
Well, if too much faith means that you're willing to guarantee they're going to win, then i don't blame you, but if you mean
any faith,then I question what season you were watching last year.
1 - Bynum has shown that he can be that player, but he gets injured right afterward. If I'm going to believe that Ginobili will be back 100% and that othermoves will work out, I can believe that Bynum will also be back.
2 - Artest can be effective against the players Ariza could not (Melo, Artest
, Hedo). In the least, he'll make them work harder than Ariza did unlessAriza makes significant improvements.
3 - Has Ariza sent a text to anyone yet? I won't comment on that 'til he does. Shaq will help, but this team was out in 5 games before the Finals.
4 - It wasn't a cake walk last year either. The idea that it won't be a cake walk doesn't mean we should be favoring other teams. See how #2 helpshere.
5 - Bowen means nothing. Health means everything.
It wouln't be a surprise to see the Spurs, Cavs, Celtics, or Magic winning, but that doesn't mean people shouldn't believe that the Lakers are thefavorites.
Cue, "I didn't say that."
