LA Story

If I were a Laker fan, I would be blaming this all on David Stern.  OF COURSE, HE IS THE ONE WHO VETOED THE LAKERS ORIGINAL LA TRADE FOR CHRIS PAUL .  In the proposed deal, The Lakers would have received Chris Paul, the Hornets would have acquired Lamar Odom, Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, and Goran Dragic, while the Rockets would have received Pau Gasol to complete the three team deal.  Without getting into that too much, the Hornets would have made out good in that deal (there was also a draft pick in the deal, which I believe is a mid-first rounder this year).  Goran Dragic had a legitimate breakout second half for the Rockets with Kyle Lowry out.  He would have been a huge asset for the Hornets moving forward, plus all of the other players they would have received.  But the commissioner (And Dan Gilbert, of course) quickly moved in and made sure it did not happen.  The league was in control of the Hornets at the time and wanted to make them as profitable as possible for a potential sale.  Days later, Chris Paul was on his way to LA, but not to the Lakers.  THE CLIPPERS HAD ACQUIRED CHRIS PAUL, reaching a deal that sent Eric Gordon, Chris Kaman, Al Farouq Aminu, and a draft pick to the Hornets.  SAINTS OWNER TOM BENSON BOUGHT THE HORNETS FOR 338 MILLION MONTHS LATER.   Obviously, you play the hands that are dealt to you and there's no way to tell, but anyone with half a brain that follows the NBA would tell you that the Lakers/Rockets deal would have been better for the Hornets moving forward.  Not only that, but you could say that deal totally killed the chemistry of the Lakers this season.  They ended up ridding themselves of Lamar Odom for nothing, completely destroying Odom's season in the process.  Pau Gasol was left to wonder all season long what his future with the  organization was.  While he never got traded during the regular season, I would go out on a limb and say he is likely to get traded this offseason, quite possibly to the Rockets.  I would take him in a heartbeat, despite his up and down performance lately.  I might not be at my best either if I didn't think my employer had intended for me to be helping them out right now. 
All excuses aside, it was a roller coaster ride for the Lakers this season that included the usual drama.  I think Mike Brown and Kobe Bryant held it together well all things considered.  Between Metta World Peace's name change and subsequent elbow seen round the world, Andrew Bynum's questionable play and attitude, Pau Gasol's trade and veto, Ramon Sessions arriving at the trade deadline, this was a difficult season for the Lakers indeed.  It is pretty obvious at this point that the Lakers could use a little adjustment in their roster.  They need to do something to increase their speed on this roster, as the Thunder were able to run all over them during key points of this series. 
On the flipside, there was the "Don't call us Lob City anymore" Clippers, playing half of their games in the same Staples Center as the Lakers.  This was the year that the Clippers were making themselves noteworthy again.  They were certainly able to do that, with their nightly highlights, and (more importantly) by making the playoffs and advancing to the second round for the first time since the 2005-06 season.  Throughout the first half of the season, the Clippers looked like they might unseat the Lakers as the best team in LA.  While that might happen in years to come, Kobe Bryant isn't quite ready to give that crown up just yet.  The Lakers and Clippers are likely to improve over the summer and the next couple years should provide for a pretty intense rivalry between these two teams.  Hopefully, David Stern won't have too much of a negative outcome on any of that.