Friday, August 14, 2009

Lamar Odom in LA Assures a Championship

By James Londak

There you have it, the battle for Lamar Odom has ended.

Lakers fans celebrate the extension of their valuable forward, while the Heat wonder what could have been had they succeeded in signing Odom. Additionally, the fact that they didn't sign Odom is a legitimate blow to the team's chances of extending Wade after his contract expires this season.

Getting back to Los Angeles, does this re-signing assure the Lakers a repeat at the NBA Title? Let's take a look. In my previous Lamar Odom article, I brought about that regardless if the Lakers were to re-sign Odom or not, they would remain as the most powerful team in the NBA.

With Odom on the team alongside Ron Artest, I really can't see any way an analyst can put any team ahead of Los Angeles when compiling pre-season power rankings. They're simply the strongest team in the league.

With Odom intact, the Lakers now have an extremely dangerous foursome of Odom, the newly signed Ron Artest, Pau Gasol, and Kobe Bryant. I'm not sure there's a better combo of four players on any single NBA team. In fact, I am sure. There's no better combo out there.

This is simply an unstoppable roster. I've never witnessed a foursome as strong as this since I began following basketball twenty years ago. And I don't see how anyone can dispute that.

With a roster that is so experienced, dynamic, and such well-coached, the only thing stopping the Lakers from making a third consecutive appearance in the NBA Finals would be if Bryant decided to retire mid-season. Although a few contending Western Conference teams have bulked up during the offseason, not one is even close to stepping onto the Lakers supreme level.

This is a team that could easily win seventy or more games in 2009-2010. What would stop it short of an injury to one of their stars? This is a team destined for greatness and the rest of the NBA knows it.

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