Los Angeles Lakers Playing with a Full Deck?

Last summer, Lakers owner, Dr. Jerry Buss, sought to appease Kobe Bryant by adding veteran point guard and former Laker, Derek Fisher, to the squad. Fisher shared the back court with Bryant during their three-peat NBA championship reign.

When this move didn't placate Bryant, who threatened to never put on a Laker uniform again, Buss called his bluff. If Bryant wanted to pick up the $22 million or so in spare change over the next two years, he would put on that uniform. And he did.

But Jerry Buss is used to gambling. Aside from dating lovely young women, playing poker is Buss' favorite pastime.

Three years earlier Buss and his son, Jim, along with GM Mitch Kupchak, gambled by picking a tall, unproven high school kid in the first-round of the NBA draft. The following year, they gambled on an upstart junior from UCLA. This year both gambles paid big numbers. At least for a while.

Former UCLA guard Jordan Farmar has been a stellar reserve, coming off the bench and spelling both Fisher and Bryant. Meanwhile, that high school kid, Andrew Bynum, now 21, has matured into one of the finest centers in the NBA. So why not gamble once more and this time raise the bet?

So, they did. The Laker front office sent two players to Orlando, forward Brian Cook and guard Mo Evans, for forward and defensive standout, Trevor Ariza.

Great move. The Lakers started clicking at both ends of the court and were challenging the Suns for the Pacific Division lead.  hen Buss' house of cards suddenly fell apart.

Bynum went down with a deep knee bruise and a partial dislocations of the kneecap.  Prognosis: eight weeks. A week later, Ariza went down with a broken bone in his foot.  Prognosis: eight weeks.

At this point, it looked like Buss may have been out-bluffed. 

The Orlando brass were laughing behind his back because they knew that Ariza had congenital foot problems. They figured it was only a matter of time before he suffered a severe injury and were thrilled to make the trade.

Undeterred, Buss realized there might be a possibility that Memphis was looking to dismantle their team either in a rebuilding effort or as a prelude to selling the franchise.  So, he gave Mitch Kupchak the go-ahead to work out a trade for a much-needed presence in the post.

Kwame Brown's expiring contract and rookie point guard Javaris Crittenton, along with a 2008 and a 2010 first-rounder and the rights to Pau Gasol's brother, a star in the Spanish League, were enough to entice the Grizzlies to part with Pau Gasol.

Talk about a Royal Flush. Can it get any better than that? Well, when you're on a roll, no need to stop, right? 

So, Buss let the dice roll one more time. Now that the Lakers had Gasol, all they needed was a backup center for a few more weeks until Chris Mihm fully recovered from his 2006 ankle injury. The best available center was Chris Webber. But Webber wanted a full-contract for the remainder of the season. Buss only wanted a backup until Mihm was ready to play.

Instead of scooping up Webber, Buss and Kupchak signed DJ Mbenga to a 10-day contract. But then, in stepped the fickle finger of fate. 

Chris Mihm had severe pain in his ankle and opted for surgery to remove the implanted pin. That forced the Lakers to sign Mbenga to a full contract.  So, now they were stuck with Mbenga who hasn't done much except take up space on Phil Jackson's quickly dwindling bench.

Then Rick Bucher of the evil four-letter network heard rumblings from Laker insiders.  Bynum's recovery was coming along more slowly than had been predicted. Hmm?  Strange. Both Bynum and Ariza were originally given the same exact prognosis, eight weeks, when they both had radically different injuries.

Eight Weeks? Wasn't that the title of a mystery film? Was there a mystery here by any chance? From the time of their injuries, eight weeks would have put Bynum and Ariza back on the court this week, well past the NBA trading deadline yet exactly at the point when teams start gearing up for a playoff run.

When Bucher reported the Bynum story, Laker officials vociferously denied it and said that Bynum's recovery was on schedule as originally predicted. That would mean the Lakers starting lineup would consist of Gasol, Bynum, Bryant, Odom, and Fisher by early March—an NBA royal flush, indeed. Or was this another Buss bluff?

What happened next is truly remarkable. Phoenix and Dallas, thinking that the Gasol-Bynum-Odom triumverate in the post would be a reality, went out an dismantled their teams.  Phoenix gambled on Shaq and his $20 million contract for two years and gave away Shawn Marion and his expiring contract along with Marcus Banks.  Phoenix is 3-5 since the trade, and Bucher feels that it will be several years before they recover.

The same may be said for Dallas. They gambled away a young rising point guard, Devin Harris, and backup post help for a much older and slower Jason Kidd. While Kidd's offensive skills may have added to Dirk Nowitzki's point totals, defensively the faster point guards in the Western Conference are giving Kidd fits. Dallas is a pathetic 4-5 since the trade.

Although fate has dealt Jerry Buss a lousy hand as far as injuries are concerned, his bluffing has single-handedly dismantled two of his biggest rivals in the West. 

It remains to be seen whether Bynum or Ariza will return this year. If not, the Lakers will have a tough time dealing with Tim Duncan and the Spurs. But given the Spurs age and the Lakers youth, with the Suns and Mavs now decidedly out of the picture, the Lakers have as good a chance as anyone to win the wild, wild West next year and for several years to come. 

Oh, yeah, there's the matter of that upstart Chris Paul and New Orleans Hornets. Well, you can't win them all. Right, Jerry?

Go ahead, it's your deal.