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Despite finally winning an NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers and finally coming into his own as one of the key components to the Lakers franchise, Odom seems to be headed back to his old team in the Miami Heat to play alongside his friend Dwyane Wade.

The Miami Heat are doing everything they can do to keep Wade in Miami and signing Odom would be a step in the right direction. Even with Odom though the Heat still need another piece to the puzzle to be able to compete in an extremely competitive Eastern Conference. The Cleveland Cavaliers went out and got Shaq to help LeBron James, the Orlando Magic made a move to add Vince Carter into the mix and the Boston Celtics improved by signing Rasheed Wallace.

So although Odom does make the Heat a better team they are not championship caliber just yet and I really don't know why Odom would want to leave the Lakers who will be favorites to win it all for at least the next three years.

For the first time in a long time the Detroit Pistons are going to look completely different with only a few well known players returning next season.

Rasheed Wallace, Allen Iverson and Antonio McDyess are out and Charlie Villanueva, Ben Gordon and Chris Wilcox are in. Kind of sounds like a crappy deal to me!

Former New York Knicks forward Chris Wilcox agreed today to a two year six million dollar contract with the Detroit Pistons.

The Piston might not be done after that either as they have been actively talking to the Utah Jazz about bringing forward Carlos Boozer into the mix in Detroit.

It was obvious after the Orlando Magic were dominated by the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals recently that there had to be some changes to the roster to make them able to compete with a team like the Lakers.

One move that had to be made was Rafer Alston going elsewhere due to Jameer Nelson taking over the starting role next season, there was no way the two could coexist no matter how well Alston played in the postseason for the Magic.

Courtney Lee on the other hand was a pleasant surprise for the Magic this season as he played like he were a ten year veteran as a rookie. That being said, Lee's value was as high as ever and packaging Alston and Lee for a primetime player seemed like a great idea.

Of all the players I would have thought would have been dealt to Orlando, Vince Carter was not one of them, but that is what happened and now the Magic are even more dynamic than before which is hard to believe.

As much as I have doubted the Orlando Magic through the regular and even throughout the playoffs they have without a doubt proven they are very much for real as they have knocked off the defending champion Boston Celtics and are on the verge of eliminating Eastern Conference favorites in LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers.

Even though Dwight Howard isn't exactly a Shaq like scorer in the paint the Orlando Magic have realized for the first time that he really doesn't need to be as both Hedo Turkoglu and Rashard Lewis have shown they are up to the task of taking the bulk of the scoring load.

 

I thought coming into this series the Magic would be exposed for their love affair for shooting the long ball, but they have just flurished in their series with the Cavs and seem to be on their way to advancing to the NBA Finals.

The Eastern conference in the NBA has been a conference that has a few elite teams and a lot of underachievers. This has been a trend in the East ever since Michael Jordan retired from the Chicago Bulls.

Back in the day the Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls, New York Knicks and Miami Heat were the cream of the crop and now only the Heat and Bulls look to have a promising future.

In tonight's match up of the Milwaukee Bucks and the Philadephia 76ers we will see the two of those Eastern underachievers go head to head.

Although it is possible that both of these teams make the playoffs this season, neither team would I consider to be a good team.

Anyway, the spread tonight is -7.5 in favor of Philly. The 76ers will not cover this spread. The Bucks are coming off a loss with the Lakers who are arguably the best team in the league and they only lost by five points. That is enough to tell me that this game will be closer than the spread suggests.

I know, saying that the Los Angeles Lakers will win the West again is a bold statement, but it is true so deal with it!

The East on the other hand has tons of different scenarios that could go down. LeBron James' Cleveland Cavs look like the front runner to win the East right now, but they definitely have some strong competition.

The competition might come until the semi finals or even the Eastern conference finals, but the fact is that it is there and will have to be dealt with.

Early in the season everyone thought that the Boston Celtics would repeat. They even looked like they could best Michael Jordan's Bulls for the best record all time 72-10, but that didn't happen.

The thing was while everyone was on the Celtics green nuts, the Cavs and the Orlando Magic were starting to become legit contenders in the East.

As of right now I could honestly say that any of these three teams could reach the finals: Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Which team will come out on top and eventually lose to the Lakers in the finals? (yes, I said lose to the Lakers) Who knows, but be sure it will be one of those teams.

Now the Indiana Pacers can take a shy of relief as their all star Danny Granger eyes return to the lineup.

Although the Pacers and by no means in the playoff race in the East with the Bobcats playing great basketball and two other teams ahead of them before they even get to the eighth spot in the East, Granger will help the Pacers start getting some chemistry together.

The Pacers still have a ways to go before they can be considered a force to be reckoned with, but as long as Danny Granger stays around Indiana the future looks bright for the Pacers.

If they can get a big time free agent in the huge free agent market in 2010 the Pacers might be a team to be feared in the East again!

 There is always a lot of talk around this time in the season for the NBA. The All Star game approaches, trade rumors starting are flying around and you pretty much have a good idea which teams will go the distance.

This season has been more competitive than most. Although last year the West looked as tough as ever with the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Lakers making blockbuster deals only one of those big trades has looked to have paid off.

When Shaq went to Phoenix from Miami there was a lot of title contender talk and the same was said in Dallas with Jason Kidd going back to his former team, but the Lakers deal for Pau Gasol has been the only trade out of the three big deals that has turned the their team into a legit title contender for the next three to five seasons.

Pau has fit in just perfectly with Kobe Bryant and company! At first it looked like the paint would be crowded with two seven footer and a 6'10 forward in Lamar Odom, but after some retooling by coach Phil Jackson the Lakers have never looked better!

There is still a little less than half a season to go, but as of right now there is no one in the West that can touch the Lakers!