Nash to the Lakers puts them right back in the hunt

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It shouldn't be a surprise, we are talking about perhaps the most decorated franchise in basketball. Steve Nash, will go to the Los Angeles Lakers in a sign and trade deal that will land the suns a bunch of future first round pick. This deal seemed like a long shot for a variety of reasons. First, the Suns would not want to send the face of the franchise to one of their biggest rivals in the last decade. Steve Nash himself said its just not something he would do, he much rather beat them than join them. Second, the only way that Nash could end up in Los Angeles is with the help of the Suns in order to complete the 3 year deal that Nash wanted. So now, how good can the Lakers be?
This trade now gives the Lakers four perennial All-Stars in the starting lineup, its amazing that the Lakers get Nash and have to give up essentially nothing to get him. Nash is one of the best shooters in the league, and perhaps the best pure point guard over the last 10 years, at age 38 he averaged 12.5 ppg and 10.7 Assists. Now, it is unrealistic to expect him to average such gaudy numbers this upcoming season. Kobe Bryant will continue to dominate the offense and the Lakers do not play at the same up tempo style that the Phoenix suns play.
It will obviously take Kobe and Nash some time to learn how to play with each other considering they have both been ball-dominant their entire careers. Everybody expects Kobe to continue to dominate the ball, but perhaps if he gives Nash the reigns of the offense the Lakers might be better, it all comes down to coach Mike Brown, he will have to find a way to make it work. Gasol and Bynum should definitely be pleased with this trade, Nash will get them the ball in comfortable spots and they will now run in the open court because they know the ball will come to them.
So how good can the Lakers be? expect them to challenge for the Western Conference championship, as more days pass, it seems less likely that the Thunder are the overall favorites, the Clippers are having a strong offseason so far, and have a legit change of signing Ray Allen. Now you throw the Lakers in there and you dont know which way to go. The priority of the Thunder should clearly be signing back six man of the year James Harden. They also have to worry about free agent Serge Ibaka, and will most likely lose one of the two. The Laker's advantage will continue to be their size, but now they are poised to have an advantage in both the front court and the backcourt. There aren't many teams that can compete with their size. the Clippers have size and depth and thats why we believe they will be in the Conference Championship come april. So now between the Lakers and OKC, there will be a lot of determining factors.
The Lakers still need to do something about a very weak bench, with the departure of Odom a season ago the Lakers bench was one of the worse benches in the league. Another interesting factor, will be Health, Nash has well documented back problems and will no longer have the Phoenix medical staff, who are by far the best medical staff of the league. But barring injury, expect the Lakers to be challenging for the top seed in the West and will end up no lower than third in the very competitive Western Conference.
-Steve Nash is also trying to convince teammate and longtime friend Grant Hill to go with him to LA
-How good do you think the Lakers can be? comments and questions are welcomed
-Michael Beasley has agreed to sign with the Suns for 3 years and 18 Millions