Not to put too fine a point on it, but what NBA Finals were the critics of the proposed Shaq-to-Miami trade watching last month? The Lakers were thoroughly out-classed and out-hustled by the younger, stronger Pistons, and came within a last-second Kobe three-bomb from having been swept in humiliating fashion. The question isn't whether this trade decimates the Lakers, and starts a rebuilding cycle; after the Finals, the Lakers had no choice but to rebuild. Old, slow teams don't get better with time, particularly one with as dysfunctional a lineup as the Lakers had last season. If they had done nothing but kept the nucleus together, they would have seen the Lakers grow further and further from being a championship team, unable to fend off younger rivals in San Antonio, Houston, and Minnesota, much less the budding dynasty being built in the Motor City.

Faced with the choice of either losing Kobe or Shaq, the front office wisely opted to trade the older player of declining skills and health.
Moreover, the trade makes sense even if Kobe signs with the Clippers next week, or, even more unlikely, is sent to jail for that joke rap in Colorado. Without Kobe, the Lakers can make an immediate play in the free agent market, and begin setting up for the inevitable run in 2007 at Yao Ming. Of course, with Kobe, the addition of Odom, Butler and Grant gives the Lakers more depth than they had last season, when it seemed like any injury to the Four Tenors put the team into a slump, and signals a return to the "Showtime" style demanded by the fans.

In any event, the team had two options: they could either start playing for the future, or they could have simply allowed the current team to atrophy over the next few seasons. The Lakers have always taken a certain pride in not hanging the banners of divisional and conference championship seasons in the rafters of the home arena; being an also-ran was something not to be celebrated by the franchise. Having that attitude always reassured the fans that simply making the playoffs, or even going to the championship, wasn't good enough. Hats off to Mitch Kupchak for no longer postponing the inevitable, and for realizing that the status quo was not going to bring any more titles to L.A.