Yesterday I was on the phone with Los Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier, in regards to a food piece he’s contributing to the next issue of my magazine, New Angeles. He’s one of my favorite young stars and hella interesting, but I gotta admit that that the talk felt out of place. Brian McNamee DNA samples
aside, the only real thing any fan under 50 is seriously rooting for is
basketball. And while college hoopin' sits a few weeks from its peak
period, the pro game is just hitting its stride.

It’s important not to over-root, of course, but yeah, I do get excited. Last week, when the Lakers traded for Pau Gasol,
I went just about batshit. Not only is Gasol just the type of player I
love — a smooth European-style offensive juggernaut in the vein of the
majestic Arvidas Sabonis and, yes, Kobe Bryant. (The Kobester is much more compelling in Italian than in American hip-hop
cadences.) Gasol is the missing piece that instantly vaulted Los
Angeles to the top of an extremely competitive Western Conference.

I should have guessed that deal was only the start of things.

The Phoenix Suns on Wednesday traded
Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks to the Miami Heat for Shaquille O’Neal.
It was a bold move as, at 36, Shaq is old, fat and slow — and the Suns’
earmark is uptempo basketball. A lot of experts are hating on this
deal, reasoning that O’Neal will be painfully out of place. But I see
him playing a lot less and much more effectively. Like the Lakers did
with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at the tail end of his career, the Suns will
wait for its new center to jog up the court once every few possessions
and feed him for easy buckets. Other than that, they’re just looking
for O’Neal to take the defensive post pressure of of Amare Stoudemire who’s gotten lighter in response to knee problems and is miscast as a dominant center.

This
trade was a direct response to the Gasol deal. And as it upended order
in the West, look for more action before the Feb. 22 trade deadline.
There’s a lot of talk that Jason Kidd will move to Dallas if the Mavs can put the right package of pay and/or cash together.

Spoilers won’t be unloading great players, but teams that are rolling over like dead dogs might. So, look for Sam Cassell to be traded out of the west. I’ve always been a fan of The Angry Infant
and I’ll root for him no matter where he roams. And I’ll root right up
to the brink of sanity, ’cuz hoops are mad hot right now.