Many people want to put the blame on Elton Brand and claim that he wasn't upfront with his loyalties to the Clippers and that his deceitful ways have changed their perception of him.

Many people want to point their fingers at agent David Falk, saying he's just another greedy superagent who wanted revenge on the Clippers for not signing his client Mike Bibby many years ago and trading him away only to pick a bust by the name of Michael Olowokandi at number one. But frankly, neither Brand nor Falk was at fault here.

The bottom line is the Clippers upper management, namely owner Donald "Don't call me Tommy Lee Jones" Sterling and Elgin Baylor, had a complete lack of open communcation with their so-called franchise player throughout the entire process and this led to Brand's exit out of Los Angeles.

When Falk openly stated that this deal "could have been done in 10 minutes," what does that tell you?

When Mike Dunleavy says that Sterling had given him complete authority on the negotiations, what does this imply?

And when the primary mode of communication between player and organization is text messaging, it only reveals one thing: the separation between the two entities. The impending result is what we have now, another lackluster Clippers team. But I hope you prove me wrong, Baron Davis.

All in all, Sterling and Baylor seemed like they were never committed to keeping Brand here for the long term. They saw his achilles injury as a complete liability to their financial outlook for the future. They thought Brand would inevitably fizzle out (after all, he is an undersized power forward at 6-8) in a couple of years, and therefore it wouldn't be worth it to keep Brand as their franchise player. This helps to explain why the Clippers originally offered only $70 million, which insulted Falk, who adamantly responded, "My job is to look out for my client, Elton Brand."

Falk wanted max money. The Clippers said no way. Brand wanted a guaranteed six-year deal with an opt-out clause in the final year. The Clippers weren't willing. In reality, Sterling never believed that Brand would be the man to take his team to the promised land. Once again, the Clippers remain the Clippers. End of story.

The difference between the two Los Angeles franchises is, without a doubt, one of commitment to excellence. While the Clippers aren't willing to do whatever it takes to put together a team that could have potentially generated three All-Stars in Brand, Davis, and Chris Kaman, the Lakers continue to be the mark of excellence around here.

Jerry Buss will continue to meet with Kobe Bryant in Spain to discuss important team matters, and Mitch Kupchak will continue to oversee the roster with every intention of building a championship team while taking complete ownership of his duties.

Meanwhile, former Lakers great Elgin Baylor remains incredibly quiet and subdued as the Clippers' VP of Basketball Operations, making me wonder if he is actually content on keeping the Clippers in the basement by never doing anything worthwhile with his personnel. Come to think of it, the ex-Laker may even be indirectly helping his former team in the process because the things he does and the things he doesn't do never pose a challenge to the crosstown rivals.

Speaking of the Lakers, isn't it great to be a fan of the purple-and-gold these days? With Ron Artest and Kenny Thomas coming and Lamar Odom and Ronny Turiaf going, the NBA will once again feel the tremors of another Lakers' juggernaut in 2008-'09.

And after this deal is completed, kudos will have to be given once again to Buss, Kupchak, and the rest of the Lakers' organization for maintaining their commitment to tradition and improving another championship dynasty.

Year after year, slowly and slowly, this particular Lakers' group continues to make improvements after being patient and analyzing the results, then modifying their strategic plan, and ultimately getting rid of weak links.

First it was the uninspired Smush Parker. Next it was the lazy Brian Cook. And then came the human brick, Kwame Brown. Now, the Lakers are about to exchange their inconsistent and unassertive small forward Odom in order to address their most glaring need - defensive toughness at the three position - by bringing in arguably the most intense lockdown forward in the game today.

And by taking on Thomas and the last two years of his $18 million contract, L.A. basically replaces the expensive Turiaf with another tough minded veteran who will be an asset to the Bench Mob.

Thomas, who may not bring the same type of enthusiasm, energy, and dancing skills as Ronny, is an otherwise more polished offensive player than Turiaf. He's a hustler on the boards and is an adequate defender at both forward positions as well, sort of like a poor man's A.C. Green if you will.

All I'm saying is this: the defending champion Boston Celtics better do all it can to resign James Posey and keep their roster intact because this Lakers team is only going to get better from here on out. The Celtics know that the Lakers never had the full services of two of their best defenders during the Finals (Andrew Bynum and Trevor Ariza), and yet L.A. still managed to win two games.

The Boston Three Party also knows that the Lakers are about to field a team that will have four potential All-Stars next year - Bryant, Pau Gasol, Bynum, and Artest.

The actor Paul Pierce, sooner than later, will see the difference between Ron-Ron face guarding him the entire game as opposed to Odom or the space cadet, Vladimir Radmanovic. By the way, whatever happened to that MRI he said he was going to take after the season ended?  

Leon Powe will notice that Thomas will muscle him up a lot more than Ronny ever did and Kenny will make Leon work a lot more on the defensive end because he once averaged 15 points per game.

And K.G. and K.P. will finally feel the wrath that is Bynum and Gasol on the frontline.

And I haven't even talked about the MVP yet.

The Lakers are already so deep with another year of vital playoff experience and they still have their midlevel exception of $6 million to utilize on someone like Posey. Perhaps they could even split up their midlevel in order to add two more big men like Kurt Thomas and Dikembe Mutombo to bring in even more defense off the bench.

However it turns out, one thing is for sure: The Lakers' Assault definitely continues.

And the Clippers? They've been getting clipped ever since they left Buffalo.