With the Lakers recent acquisition of Pau Gasol, many are speculating about a return to championship form. Why not? The Lakers, upon the return of injured center Andrew Bynum, boast four consistent scorers in Bynum, Gasol, Lamar Odom, and that one guy….I believe he goes by Black Mamba. And lets not forget about Derek Fisher as a fifth option and a guy who will hit open jump shots when given the chance.

For the Lakers, this trade is phenomenal. Not only did they acquire an all-star caliber center, they also dumped the biggest piece of garbage in the NBA in Kwame Brown. I don’t think I need to spend much time railing on Kwame other than noting that I’ve never seen a seven footer miss as many dunks and easy shots as Kwame. Dude can’t play. Pau, on the other hand, can. And I’m excited to watch.

I really am beginning to wonder what’s going through the heads of all the other GM’s in the league. How did the Lakers orchestrate a trade for a player of Gasol’s magnitude without even surrendering any of their top ten players? How were other teams not clued in on this? What the hell is Memphis doing?

The Lakers are a lot like the Celtics in that the NBA is a better business when both are succeeding. There’s too much history and talent between the two organizations to have one or both playing poorly. Well, wouldn’t you know it but both the Celtics and Lakers are right back in the playoff hunt. The Celtics have already been thrown around in discussions of title contention with their revamped offense of Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Kevin Garnett. With the acquisition of Pau Gasol, might we put the Lakers in the discussion of title contention as well?