Add Feedback | Send this Article | Published 2/28/03

Graphic By: Matt Witherow

Every February, Gary Payton seems to be on the trading block; it actually happened this season. Seattle has obviously given up on this season and has possibly lost many of its fans by trading the city's most popular athlete. Hopefully they will be able to rebuild the franchise around its younger players. The trade sent Payton and rising star Desmond Mason to Milwaukee in exchange for Ray Allen, Ron Murray, Kevin Ollie, a draft pick, a George Foreman grill, two cases of Aquafina, and the 50 Cent CD.  In the short term Milwaukee is going to get the better of this deal. They are in playoff contention, and Payton's veteran leadership will be important down the stretch. The bad news is Payton is in the final year of his contract.  If he does not re-sign with Milwaukee, then they will be stuck with Sam Cassell leading a team of relative no-names next year.

Stating the obvious: Kobe Bryant is on fire! Kobe is scoring at will, and the Lakers are moving up in playoff position. Before Tuesday's game against the Clippers, Kobe had scored 40 points or more in nine straight games. The good news is that the Lakers have won most of those games. The bad news is Kobe's got a bad knee and Shaq is hurting as well. The Lakers have to be very careful these in the next couple of months. They need to win now to get a decent playoff spot, but if they lose Shaq or Kobe along the way it won't matter where they seed in the postseason. The NBA's decision to lengthen the first round of the playoffs from best of five to best of seven will hurt the Lakers the most. By the time they get there, they could be running on fumes.

The East is wide open. I refuse to believe that Detroit, the East leaders right now, will win their way into June. Indiana is in the same position, but are more likely to make it through the trials that June brings. I still believe New Jersey is the team to beat, since they have Jason Kidd and no other team has a special kind of player like him. Philadelphia has Allen Iverson, but if he doesn't shoot 50 times a game, they can't score. Boston is too preoccupied with throwing up threes than actually playing team basketball. Paul Pierce and Antoine Walker are probably still mad about riding the pine during the All-Star Game. Orlando traded their number two scoring option, Mike Miller, for Drew Gooden, which means Tracy McGrady will have to do even more. One man can only carry a team so far. The Hornets are winning with smoke and mirrors right now. This was fine in the regular season, but it catches up to you in the playoffs. Through process of elimination, New Jersey should win the East, but only the East.

The Wizards are dead in the water. They will probably make the playoffs as a bottom seed or slightly better but will lose in the first round without a doubt. Also, the longer first round series will hurt the Wiz. Any team they may face will have time to recover if the Wizards surprise them and win a few games. The Michael Jordan farewell tour will unfortunately end with a whimper and not a bang. On a positive note, we can all take solace in knowing that no one has ever played at the level that Jordan has at his age. You can make the case for Stockton and Malone, however no one ever has a fear of them taking over a game the way Jordan does. As long as he's on the court, there's always a chance he could drop 50 on a team.

The games they lost and mistakes they made will come back to haunt teams as the weather gets warmer. The easy part of the season is over, and the pretenders will be separated from the contenders. Next time around we'll take a closer look at the Western Conference and determine whether the Lakers will get that fourth ring or not.