It’s been hovering over the Lakers since last year’s loss to the Boston Celtics in the finals. Are the Lakers tough enough? I think so, allow me to explain… Here is an e-mail I recently got from reader Greg: I saw how Boston and Detroit beat us, we need a foward with toughness and a bit of scoring to replace Radmanovic  someone like Haslem from Miami, or we will repeat last year...

The big deal has happened. That first big trade during the season we’ve been waiting for has gone down. I am so excited to see that teams are making moves that I can barely even think about the effects of this trade. Detroit Pistons GM Joe Dumars spent the entire offseason talking about how everyone should expect a shakeup. Many expected to see Chauncey Billups traded for a big name player t...