Somebody put a microphone in front of Los Angeles Dodgers Owner Magic Johnson and asked him if the Lakers were now a championship team because they added Steve Nash and Antawn Jamison. Based on the fact that it is no longer 2004, Magic responded by saying what every NBA fan in the world would say. No, they're obviously not.
But Magic did say the Lakers were better, and he is right about that. Here's the quotes from Johnson via ESPN.com:
Asked whether the Lakers are now a championship team with the acquisitions of Steve Nash and Antawn Jamison, Johnson smiled and said,
"I think we still need two to three pieces but if they can add a shooter, as I've told [general manager] Mitch [Kupchak], we've got a shot.
One thing about the Lakers is they're a very smart team. I think they'll give the Thunder a lot of trouble because of their talent, and they're very smart.
Steve Nash, man, the shots that we're going to get with him are going to be amazing. Kobe's going to love playing with him. Finally he can have a chance to rest on offense."
Steve Nash isn't the MVP-winning Steve Nash of eight seasons ago, but he certainly still is better than Ramon Sessions. Can I use certainly there? Sessions played well in spurts last year for both the Cavaliers and Lakers, but he is more of a scoring guard in the PG spot. By scoring guard I mean head down and drive at the basket guard. Steve Nash on the other hand is Steve Nash.
Antawn Jamison is better than Matt Barnes and any other Forward LA rolled out last year not named Pau still too. He scored over 15 points per game last season, and even though there were a ton of meaningless buckets in there for the Cavaliers, it's still not that easy to do that in the NBA. So Magic is correct, the Lakers are better than last season, but they're still not better than OKC.
