THE RETURN OF SHOWTIME: LAKERS LAND HOWARD, MAGIC GET SCREWED

If there was any doubt before, there is certainly none now: the Los Angeles Lakers are the team to beat in the NBA's Western Conference. By adding everyone's favourite flip flopper, Dwight Howard, in a blockbuster 4-team deal, the Los Angeles Lakers' management team have signalled that the word "re-building" is not in their vocabulary.

The Lakers, Nuggets, Magic & 76ers swung a major deal, that had been brewing for some time now. The Lakers picked up the 6-time All Star Howard, while the Nuggets get former Philadelphia 76er All-Star & U.S. Olympian Andre Iguodala, and the 76ers receive Andrew Bynum from the Lakers and Jason Richardson from the Magic. And, what did the Magic get you ask? Aaron Afflalo and Al Harrington from the Nuggets, 1st round draft pick Moe Harkless, and Nikola Vukevic from the 76ers, along with one protected 1st round draft pick each from Denver, Los Angeles and Philadelphia.

You can bet there's a bottle of Dom Perrignon being delivered to the war rooms in L.A, Denver and Philadelphia tonight, while a bottle of Motrin or Advil is being passed around the General Manager's office in Orlando.  Let's call a spade a spade: the Magic got screwed.They had a disgruntled star, who made it no secret that he wanted out of town and provided his team with little or no bargaining power. The Magic received little return on their franchise player. No offense to Al Harrington, Aaron Afflalo, Nikola Vukevic and Moe Harkless, who are fine players in their own right, but not one of them can fill even a quarter of Dwight Howard's size 18 shoe.

Was there ever any doubt? Howard is LA bound

And, what of the 1st round draft picks, you say? 3 first rounds are an impressive haul. 3 protected first round picks? Not so much. With protected picks, the Magic as assured that they will not see any lottery picks of out this trade. So, you've essentially traded away your franchise player for 2 B-level players (Afflalo and Harrington), a C+ level player (Vukevic) and 4 mid to late 1st round draft picks (including Harkless) without even getting Pau Gasol?

I'm sure the Brooklyn Nets must have mustered up something a little better at some point. One of the rumoured offers submitted by Nets over a month ago was Brook Lopez, Marshon Brooks, Chris Humphries and 4 UN protected 1st round draft picks in exchange for Howard. Waiting too long for the best possible deal can be a wrong move sometimes, as who knows, it may never materialize.

But, what's done is done. The Lakers are the favourites in the West, with Steve Nash, Kobe Bryant, Metta World Peace, Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard in their starting 5, while Orlando will be led by Jameer Nelson, Al Harrington and Aaron Afflalo and Hedo Turkoglu. Good luck, Jacque Vaughn. You've stepped into quite the coaching job.