What's in store for the Los Angeles Lakers?

He screeches off to dimensions unknown and you immediately head to Vegas. You make the bet, breathe a sigh of relief and then... Whooooosh!-your existence is wiped out forever and your parents start wondering in the back of their minds why they never had that other child they'd planned on. All because you put your money on the Bulls. But hey, getting wiped out of the universe like that is completely understandable. At the time it seemed inevitable that Kobe would be traded to Chicago, making the Bulls an instant championship contender. Besides, the Kobe-led Lakers had been going nowhere for years, not making it past the first round since Shaq was traded away. How could a Lakers team like that make it to the top of the brutal Western Conference? Who could have foreseen Andrew Bynum's breakout year? Or that Lamar Odom would move away from the 3-point arc to make himself into a good low post player? Or that Kobe would stop complaining and finally become a team leader? And who on earth ...  more