By Lena Dajani

With training camp quickly approaching it is time to reflect back on a summer of trades and deals multiple GMs pulled off attempting to take their respective teams a step closer to the illusive championship. Mt. Mutombo went to Jersey, Vin Baker to Boston, Jerry Stackhouse is now a Wizard, and Jordan is back, again. One would think such ardent off-season efforts would increase a team's chance of being a legitimate contender.

Wrong.

The team that in fact made the biggest strides was the team that three months ago was still battling it out on the hardwood while players like T-Mac, Kevin Garnett, Duncan, and Iverson were sipping coladas by the pool. The defending NBA champion (three times over) Los Angeles Lakers will jet over to Hawaii this week to start their training camp after an extremely successful summer.

How might a franchise that has the two best players in the game possibly improve their team?

By securing a deep bench at every position, adding potent outside shooters to supplement the Big Fella, mixing the perfect amount of youthful athleticism with savvy veteran leadership, and by nursing a certain big toe. The staples of the team that have been there for the past trophy runs remain the same: Shaq, Kobe, Rick Fox, Robert Horry, and Derek Fisher will return for a fourth. The Lakers managed to successfully ink their three main priorities in Devean George, Slava Medvedenko, and Brian Shaw. But their most impressive move came early in the summer with remnants of the championship fervor still alive.

With the biggest steal on draft night General Manager Mitch Kupcheck and crew in one move were able to rid themselves of unproductive guard Lindsey Hunter (and their first round pick, 27th overall, Chris Jefferies) in return for sharp shooter Tracy Murray from Toronto and more importantly Kareem Rush, a budding star. How a left handed shooting guard like Rush fell to the 20th pick cannot be figured out, how Toronto agreed to give him up for virtually nothing is even still more puzzling. Shooting at around 43% from behind the arc, Murray will find it quite advantageous to camp out on the weak side of Shaq and wait until he flicks him a perfect pass out of the double team. This will be the final year of his current contract so look for Murray to add a bit more concentration to his shot in order to impress management; although it is unlikely he will resign with the team. Rush on the other hand will have a bright future with the Lakers. Although Coach Phil Jackson detests using rookies, look for Kareem to spell Kobe. With every minute on the court he will become a better player.

The Lakers also signed speedy guards A.J. Guyton and Jannero Pargo, most likely to chase around Mike Bibby in an anticipated Kings/Lakers Western Conference Finals rematch. Rounding out the new additions are Guy Rucker, Nick Sheppard, and Jefferson Sobral. All three provide height, and hustle. Phil Jackson is not asking them to be offensive threats. With plenty of players to pick from, the final, post training camp roster is bound to be a good one.

Even if the Lakers hadn't made all of these moves they would still be an improved team as it seems Shaq's toe surgery will be a success and he is determined to prove something this season (as if three championships and three consecutive finals MVPs are not enough). Word has it Kobe has bulked up and looks good, Fisher has yet to discover another stress fracture, and Rick Fox has perfected his tan.

All is well in LaLa land.

But nobody tell this to Sacramento Kings' co-owner Gavin Maloof who proclaimed this past week that his team was, and still is better then the Lakers.

Sorry Gavin, your summer acquisition, Keon Clark won't help either.