The Good
Darren Collison announced today that he would be staying at UCLA for his junior season, ending speculation that the first team all Pac-10 point guard would bolt for the NBA. After helping the Bruins to two straight Final Four appearances, it's good to see him back again. With Collison, Josh Shipp, Kevin Love, and (I'm guessing) a Mata/Mbah a Moute platoon, four fifths of our starting 5 is set...

The Bad
Speaking of the UCLA starting five, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute also announced today he would return for his junior season. Although there wasn't so much jazz about him going pro after he played the whole season looking lazier than Shaquille O'Neal in August. Granted, he was hurt in the beginning of the year, but it still looks like he regressed as a player. What happened to the hard-nosed hustling Luc from two years ago? Maybe they left him in Cameroon.

And the Ugly
The Lakers got clobbered by the Phoenix Suns again, 126-98. They're now down 2-0 in the series and Suns fans are bringin' out the brooms. Is this really a surprise to anyone? The Lakers' only chance coming in was for Kobe to average 60 a night and hope the Suns go cold from three. That ain't happening.

The Lakers, as a team, are flawed (understatement of the year). Kobe has about two or three years left in his prime but is stuck with a bunch of stiffs. They need to do something in order to not let him go to waste. If I had to remake the entire team from scratch, I'd get rid of everyone except Kobe, Luke Walton, and Ronny Turiaf. The rest of them either don't play hard enough or just plain suck. Unfortunately, it's impossible to start over, so the Lakers need to make a trade this offseason. My favorite scenario? They trade Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum, and Kwame Brown's contract to the Timberwolves for Kevin Garnett and Mark Madsen.

This trade works out for both sides. Let's face it. Minnesota isn't going anywhere anytime soon. The T-Wolves can do KG a huge favor by shipping him away from basketball purgatory. In return, they'd be getting a serviceable replacement for KG (Odom) for the near future, and a promising young center for the far future (Bynum). Plus, Kwame Brown's $8 million a year contract expires after next season, and they'd be dumping Mark Madsen's contract, freeing up some much needed cap space for the Wolves. Then the rebuilding will officially begin. The Lakers become an instant contender by pairing up Kobe and KG. Both will be insanely grateful to finally have some help. Mark Madsen will finally return to LA, where he is the most beloved white player since Travis Knight. The Lakers can then sign DeSagana Diop (a free agent this offseason), a good defensive center who can rebound and block shots. They'll then go into next season with a starting lineup of Jordan Farmar, Kobe, Luke, KG, and Diop, and a bench consisting of Turiaf, Mo Evans, Vlad Rad, Brian Cook, and Sasha. I'm sure Phil will be able to work with that.

What will actually happen: Mitch Kupchack trades for Sebastian Telfair and resigns Smush Parker and Chris Mihm. He trades Lamar Odom for Adam Morrison. Kobe's prime withers away into dust.