How the West Was Won

The time of the NBA season has now officially kicked into second gear. The NBA all-star glitz is well past us. Each team at this point is tagged as a playoff contender or a rebuilder for the next season.

Now that the NBA trading deadline has come and gone with teams making moves in desperation to contend with each other, only one team emerged as the clear victor. And of all the transactions and player-swaps around the league, only one team made itself better for the now: the Los Angeles Lakers.

And as a knee-jerk reaction to the steal of the decade (Pau Gasol for Kwame Brown, Jarvis Crittenon, Aaron McKey, etc.), the rest of the league actually thought they needed to get better. Much to the delight of Laker fans, the Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks worsened. Watch them play. Look at the standings.

Look at the moves around the Western Conference that all but secured an NBA title for Kobe Bryant and the rest of Lakerland.

We'll start with the teams that became substantially worse off due to bad trades.

Phoenix Suns — Shaquille O'Neal for Shawn Marion. Even people that don't watch basketball can look at this one and say: "What in the hell did they do that for?"

Shawn Marion is a Laker killer, can run the floor, averages double-doubles, and often leads the fast-break before the ball gets down the floor. Although his three-point shot looks like bad sex, they often go in. Shaquille O'Neal is old, slow, and well past his prime.

Many felt the Suns had a lineup that could win more games than anyone during the regular season and then fade versus teams with a legit center. Well, does anyone recall that they got robbed by the league's judiciary committee, the Spurs, and the refs when they lost to the Spurs in five games last year? They went toe-to-toe with them and gave them the toughest battle of any team in the 2007 postseason. Why fix something that's not broken? The Suns were atop the Western Conference before the trade. They are 4-6 since Shaq arrived. Hmm. Bad call, Phoenix. Bad call.

Dallas Mavericks — Anybody that has watched Jason Kidd since college probably wonders why teams consider him so valuable. By some franchises, he is lionized for his leadership and uncanny ability to put up triple-doubles on occasion. There is also the assertion that Kidd is not a vicious competitor, and does not hit the perimeter jump shot like a coveted all-star should. I agree.

The Mavs gave up some slashers who attacked the rim and gave Dirk Nowitzki complimentary pieces that allowed him attack or shoot. No longer. Nowitzki is now more relied upon than ever. Kidd has put up mediore numbers and has made his team worse off than they were before. Dallas, the once-proud franchise that held the league's best record a year ago, is now struggling to make the postseason. But it will be a pleasant postseason for some of us if we don't have to look at Mark Cuban's mug during a televised game. Bad call, Mark Cuban. Bad call.

San Antonio Spurs — For some reason, the Spurs are getting little respect for throwing out virtually the same lineup that won the title last year. They made no moves in the offseason, and they did little other than picking up veteran Damon Stoudamire for backup purposes. However, the Spurs have an issue: Tony Parker's ankle. Perhaps the shiftiest guard on the scene, the champs rely on his penetration to make the offense go. Without it, the Spurs lose a dimension and put more pressure on Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan. So far, they've been handling the pressure, especially the outstanding Ginobili.

The bottom line is that the Spurs are a little down, and this will show when the playoffs begin, and especially if they play the Lakers in a series. The Lakers have what it takes down low to challenge Duncan, and with Parker a bit hobbled, the Spurs will have a problem taking this series to seven games. Good luck, Spurs. You will need it this year.

New Orleans Hornets — For a team that has risen faster than its own economy post-Katrina, N..O has exceeded everyone's expectations. The only problem is the expectations stop right there. The Hornets may have to wait until next year to heighten their expectations. Kobe wants his championship without Shaq this year, not later. The fans in L.A. are hungry. The fans in the Big Easy are happy to have a team, let alone a playoff team. There is nothing really to dog the Hornets about other than they just aren't good enough to take down the Lakers if they meet. Kobe owns N.O. in N.O. Enough said.

Good year, Hornets. It's fun to watch CP3, but you are still a droid, and not a jedi.

Utah Jazz — Solid team, well-coached, but stagnant when it comes to improvements since the end of last year's team. You gotta love Jerry Sloan as a solid coach who gets the best out of his players. Let's face it — they plateaued last year, and are not considered a title contender unless the city of L.A. gets smogged over with the Lakers in it, and/or Kyle Korver goes to Hollywood, gets mistaken for Ashton Kutcher, shoots the lights out, and ends up in bed with Jack Nicholson for the sequel to "Prizzi's Honor."

The fact that Andrei Kirilenko is also sidelined with a hip injury that is likely to linger into the playoffs adds to the feeling that the Jazz are slightly downgraded. And Derek Fisher's ascension from Utah to L.A. only made things worse. Sorry, Salt Lake. You are not the real Lake Show. Far from it.

Houston Rockets — Sure, they're on the longest winning streak for any NBA team this year without one of their star players in Yao Ming. But they are amidst the softest part of their schedule, going against sub-.500 teams from the East at home, and so on. The Rockets shouldn't be discredited for their success. They're continuing their success in dominating fashion without their star center.

The presence of Luis Scola help deafen the blow from Yao's season-ending foot surgery. It's a lot like Gasol filling in for the injured Andrew Bynum of the Lakers. The difference is that Bynum is expected back in time to mix in with Gasol, Bryant, and the rest of the Lakers' chemistry. Yao is not expected back. So if and when the Lakers and Rockets play in the post-season, the two-headed monster will over-match the lone Scola down low. In a series, that's too much to compensate.

Is Hakeem Olajuwon or Ralph Sampson available? They have a history of stunning favored teams from L.A. The Rockets will get the monkey off of Tracy McGrady's back of not being able to win a playoff series, but no more. Houston wants to get off the ground and win a series for once in the McGrady era. That's their expectations. Houston bettered themselves by dropping Jeff Van Gundy for Rick Adelman as head coach. But he's never been able to better Phil Jackson in big playoff matchups. The Lakers have a title in mind, and big boys down low (not to mention the fact that the Lakers will be the harsh end to the potential 21-game win streak next week).

Thank you for inserting yourself as a respectable Western Conference franchise, again. But you are not jedis yet.

Golden State Warriors — The most exciting team in the NBA, and that's it. Simple. The Warriors will be the first team to make the playoffs without an all-star on the roster. However, the magic that existed last season will not last. A probable matchup versus the Lakers spells doom for a team whose weakness is rebounding, and relying on retread Chris Webber only makes things better in a WWF world. Anyone who watched the Jazz exploit the Warriors last year in the playoffs will see it again in the form of Bynum/Gasol. Oakland is happy to not sport a team that wins 26 games a year. The Warriors are the cure for the Raiders (and the 49ers). That's all. No more. No less.

Denver Nuggets — Any basketball purest wishes a ninth-place finish in the West. Why? The breed of shoot-first point guards, i.e. Allen Iverson, is losing out to team-oriented, flow master floor generals, i.e. Chris Paul. Carmelo Anthony continues to manifest, and Kenyon Martin's aggressive play, not his mouth, has been the focal point of his game. The Nuggets, like the Warriors, continue to win games at a playoff pace. In most campaigns, being 15 games over .500 allows you to ease into the postseason. Not so this year. Even if the Nuggets may make it to the postseason due to a Dallas or Phoenix collapse, they will make little noise versus a Lakers or Spurs team that will virtually destroy them.

Sorry, Denver. Perhaps ownership will move this franchise to Pittsburgh or Montreal, or some desirable city east of the Mississippi River so they can cinch a playoff spot with their two all-stars.

So all that aside, congratulations to the Dr. Buss, Kobe Bryant, Jack Nicholson, Phil Jackson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the rest of the Laker Nation.

Kobe whined and cried a year ago, and GM Mitch Kupchak patiently gave him stolen goods from Tennessee in the form of a seven-foot Spaniard.

In memory of the late Chick Hearn, the eggs are cooling, the butter's hard, and most importantly, the champagne is chilling and bubbling in Los Angeles.

But that's just how the West was won.