The defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers are pre-season favorites to go back to back. Talk about having a giant target on the back of your jersey with every team in the league gunning for you. After finally winning the big one, how will the Lakers respond in their title defense? Will complacency set in? Have Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson lost their edge after winning the championship they desperately wanted? The competition will be fierce as the NBA's heavy hitters have reloaded. The Cleveland Cavaliers are gambling that Shaquille O'Neal is the right compliment to LeBron James. A healthy Kevin Garnett and newly acquired Rasheed Wallace make the Boston Celtics extremely formidable. Vince Carter joins Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic. The San Antonio Spurs traded for Richard Jefferson. The young talented Portland Trail Blazers got veteran help in Andre Miller. The Lakers have their work cut out for them to repeat as champions.
General Manager Mitch Kupchak did not stand around with hands in his pockets resting on his laurels. The biggest off-season business was the protracted sometimes rocky contract negotiations with free agent Lamar Odom. Without the athletic and versatile Odom, the Laker chances for repeating is greatly diminished. The deal got done and Odom remains in the Laker family.
The Lakers did not stand pat and made a single huge change. Trevor Ariza is a terrific young player who blossomed in Los Angeles and saved the season with two crucial steals in the playoffs. Nobody wanted Ariza to leave but contract talks went south and Ariza suddenly signed with the Houston Rockets. Kupchak quickly filled the vacancy by signing Ron Artest who campaigned to become a Laker. Ironically Artest was a free agent from Houston so it was like a trade with both players receiving approximately the same money. Ariza may be the future but Artest is the now and his defensive and physical force is a dynamic the Lakers lacked.
General Manager Mitch Kupchak did not stand around with hands in his pockets resting on his laurels. The biggest off-season business was the protracted sometimes rocky contract negotiations with free agent Lamar Odom. Without the athletic and versatile Odom, the Laker chances for repeating is greatly diminished. The deal got done and Odom remains in the Laker family.
The Lakers did not stand pat and made a single huge change. Trevor Ariza is a terrific young player who blossomed in Los Angeles and saved the season with two crucial steals in the playoffs. Nobody wanted Ariza to leave but contract talks went south and Ariza suddenly signed with the Houston Rockets. Kupchak quickly filled the vacancy by signing Ron Artest who campaigned to become a Laker. Ironically Artest was a free agent from Houston so it was like a trade with both players receiving approximately the same money. Ariza may be the future but Artest is the now and his defensive and physical force is a dynamic the Lakers lacked.
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