And Now, it's up to the Bruins.
Gary Payton, formerly the pride of the Seattle Supersonics and the Bane of the Lakers (a much less-publicized nickname, since he played for the Lakers at the time) has been traded today to the Boston Celtics, along with Rick Fox, a career backup and nominee for Ugliest Man Ever to Marry a Super-Hot Sometimes-Lesbian Miss America.

Payton, it's safe to say, is one of the reasons that the Lakers didn't win the NBA Title last season - he's kind of whiny, a team-second guy who demands the ball, and hasn't yet figured out that he's old and no longer Gary the Glove, Pride of the...well, you get the idea. Had Payton not signed with the Lakers, they could have found a decent player to replace Robert Horry, whose name is not pronounced like the world's oldest profession.

This mean, despite Bill Simmons' objections, that the Boston Celtics are doomed to fall on their collective cherubic faces this year onto a bed of spiky, pointy, dangerous expectations in the shapes of shamrocks of various leaf counts †. This also means that the Lakers are officially in rebuilding mode, and instead of looking for good players, are looking for role players to cushion Kobe Bryant from having to take any blame. They should take a hint from the Bulls and find a Scottie Pippen - good player who knows when to give up the rock. Instead, they're being like the Celtics were when they drafted Antoine Walker: "We have our star now," they said, "so we don't need anyone good!"

Tough nuts for the Celtics of 96-2003 that Walker blew then, and blows now. Tough nuts for the Lakers, too, that Kobe's so damned overrated, and so damned egotistical.

I'm crowning the Knicks NBA champions this year, just so that I can say that another NYC team is going to beat up on another Boston team when it matters.

†: That was intentionally badly written.