watching the lakers erode away their hopes for repeating

if you asked me two months ago whether the lakers would have a chance to repeat as nba champions, my answer would have doubtless been yes. los angeles had the kind of depth at every position - and clutch scorers like fisher and bryant - that they would have had as good a chance as any to take home two in a row.

but now, i'm not so sure. many think that letting ariza go and picking up artest was an upgrade, but that isn't the case. ariza might not be the kind of lockdown defender artest is, but he has great instincts and comes up with timely steals, as was made very evident during the playoffs. moreover, his offensive play was a perfect match for the lakers - ariza knows how to be a no. 3 scorer and to contribute in appropriate ways. artest, on the other hand, likes to jack it up without much regard for the rest of his team, the time of the game, or whether he's actually having a good shooting night. and with odom almost certainly on the way out as well, the lakers just got much weaker at the forward position.

the lakers might have had the pacific division locked up from the moment the season began with if they had returned most of their 2008-09 roster. that might still be the case - but it's going to be a much tougher run once they get to the playoffs.