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            Things are in flux in the Los Angeles basketball world. The Lakers were eliminated from the playoffs by Oklahoma City in an ugly game five loss, and the Clippers got the broom treatment from San Antonio in a dominant four-game sweep.

            There are more questions about the future of both franchises than there are Kobe shot attempts and Blake Griffin flops.

            The Clippers’ problems can really be traced to two sources: one, Blake Griffin is a one-dimensional player with no semblance of a mid-range game, and his free throws are uglier than Steve Buscemi. And two, Head Coach Vinny Del Negro is about as adept at coaching as Michael Jordan is at baseball.

            But they have Chris Paul, whose name is always mentioned in best-player-in-the-game conversations, so they’re not too shabby.

I won’t even get into how Chris Paul is wearing the wrong Los Angeles uniform.

            The Lakers on the other hand, have problems for days. Everything that was wrong with the Lakers throughout the season was evident in their playoff elimination game against OKC. The Lakers heir-apparent Andrew Bynum was a non-factor, Gasol put up another postseason stinker, and the entirety of the Lakers bench put up a whopping five points. OKCs bench scored 35.            

            Kobe played hero ball scoring 42 points on 18-33 shooting, but he didn’t have a single assist. But then again, in order to have assists people have to make shots. The rest of the Lakers only converted on 16 of 42 shots.

            Their misfortune also came before the season started. First it was announced that Chris Paul would be signing with the Lakers in a three-team trade that would send away Gasol and Lamar Odom. At last the Laker point guard troubles would be solved, featuring the sexiest back court in the history of history.

Then, hours later, NBA Commissioner David Stern renounced the trade with some sort of magical commissioner veto citing “basketball reasons.” The next few days saw Paul traded to the Clippers instead, and reigning Sixth Man of the Year Lamar Odom to the Mavericks.

            Next up for both teams is wheelin’ and dealin’. The Clips have to find a way to keep Lob City alive by re-signing their two superstars in Griffin and Paul, and the Lakers have to find out what they’re going to do with the mess of their contract situation.

            Gasol, Bynum, and Kobe are all set to make big bucks in the coming years but with essentially an NCAA-caliber bench, and thoughts of upgrading at point guard again, General Manager Mitch Kupchak has his hands full. This summer will decide which LA team will be big dog for the coming years.

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