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With the acquisition of Pau Gasol and potential acquisition of Caron Butler the Lakers, l believe are the favorites to win the championship. No team in the Western Confrence nor Eastern Confrence can take them down. The only legitimate teams out of the East are Detroit and Boston. And the only teams that will challenge the Lakers in the West are the Suns, even with the horrible acquistion of Shaq, Mavs and maybe New Orleans if they can beat teams like San Antonio and Utah with more playoff experience but l doubt it.

Suns

The Lakers and the Suns have had some heated battles in the playoffs recently and the Suns have won the last two years. This year the Lakers will take care of the Suns. First of all the Suns acquired Shaq, a broken down big guy who cannot run to save his life, for Shawn Marion a guy who can get out on the break and finish plus he isn't even 30 yet. With the acquisition of Shaq, Pheonix will have to slow down to incorperate him in their offence. And there is no way that Shaq can be like Kareem was to the 80's Lakers with the Suns. He doesn't take care of his body like Kareem does and Kareem was a lot lighter so he still had his knees at this stage in his carreer. Plus the Lakers are better than the Suns at every position except maybe at the point guard. Andrew Bynum is better than Shaq because he can pass better to teammates on the perimeter, rebounds the ball better, blocks more shots, has a better shot selection which translates to a higher field goal percentage, shoots better from the foul line(of course Shaq could never do that well so it may not count), and is able to play more minutes. Sure Shaq is getting old, but Andrew is only 20 yrs old. He could be a rookie and he's putting up better numbers than Shaq. Pau is better than Amare Stoudimire because for one he can be counted on to play defence for all 38 minutes he's on the court. You cannot count on Amare to do that. Pau passes the ball better Amare and shoots better from behind the 3-point line. Because Kobe is on the team Pau doesn't get as many points as Amare Stoudimire. Lamar Odom is better than Grant Hill but he have to take into account that he may not be a Laker in the next 40 hours due to the fact that he may go to Washington for Caron Butler. But Lamar is better than Grant Hill because he rebounds better than him and shoots better than him. And Caron Butler is also better than Grant Hill because he scores, passes, rebounds, plays better D than Hill, and shoots better from the 3 and the free throw line. Kobe is better than Raja Bell and we all know this. I don't think that I need to go into it. Derek Fisher and Steve Nash. This is going to be the one position that Pheonix has a clear advantage at. Nash shoots better, passes and plays more minutes. Fisher can play defence better than Nash but that is about it. But as Kobe, Wilt, Michael, and LeBron have proved to us in the past is that one man cannot win the championship all by himself. Plus how many championships has Pheonix won playing this fast paced, up and down style of basketball?? None. Thats right. So l don't see that changing now that the Lakers are a contender in the West. Plus LA leads Pheonix in the season series 2-1 and we will play on Wednesday for the final time in the regular season. And if you remember the Suns won their only game against us when we didn't have Andrew Bynum nor Pau Gasol so even with only one of the above should push the advantage toward LA's favor. LA wins season series 3-1. And I haven't taken into account that LA has one of the best benches in the League. And there is no way Pheonix can match our bench which was one of the reasons LA won the first two games. LA's bench averages 50.7 points per game. Compared to 36.3 from Pheonix's bench. Plus in the Playoffs your teams best players come to the top and with the rest Andrew Bynum got from the 6-8 weeks he was out will be invaluable and the way Kobe keeps his body in shape its like he just started the season. If the Lakers play them in the Playoffs: Lakers 4-3.

Mavs

When the Mavs traded for JKidd they completely wiped out their bench to acquire a guy who cannot shoot, has bad knees, the only plus is he is a good perimeter passer which is what the Mavs need. The only bad thing is they traded away their only legit backup center in DeSagana Diop which means they now have no one to back up Eric Dampier. They gave up their future point guard who was looking like he would turn out to be a significant point guard and then they got rid of Mo Agner and Trenton Hassell who can come off the bench and become a factor in the game. And finally they signed Keith Van Horn for a 2-yr $4million contract which was a big waste of money and will hurt them when they want to sign someone in the offseason to improve their team after they realize the JKidd trade was not a good one. This trade will allow the Mavs to have an inside-outside game with Kidd playing middle-man, dishing the ball inside and then to the open perimeter players to hit the jumpshot. The thing is they do not have a dominant offencive player in the middle or posting up. Dirk Nowitzki plays more like a small forward than a power forward and Eric Dampier isn't a legitimate option in the post on offence. Plus Kidds minutes will decrease because he is going to be playing behind Jason Terry and Jerry Stackhouse. That may casuse tention in the locker room because Kidd is used to being the center of attention and will have to take a back seat to that in Dallas. But if the Lakers play them in a series l think that LA will win because we are more developed inside the paint than Dallas is, and LA's backcourt play isn't bad either. Lamar Odom is a good compliment to the Lakers game they play now and Kobe and Fish aren't pushovers. I think the factor in this series will be our benches because Dallas's bench averages 34ppg compared to 50.7 produced by the Lakers bench. If they meet in the Playoffs: Lakers 4-2

Dallas and Pheonix are the only two teams that present a challenge for the Lakers in the upcoming Playoffs and I feel that the Lakers hold the advantage to win the West based on what l have presented above. And the argument that Kobe is injured and may be out for the Playoffs is stupid because he is averaging 32 ppg with the finger ailment. The dude is soooo good he plays better injured. Thats just unheard of. There is just no way LA can be stopped this year.