Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

Hey, I was just as disappointed as Mitch Kupchak that the Lake Show didn’t land Chris Paul. But that was then and this is now.

Then I was of the belief that Paul was as sharp off the court as he is on it. Now I know Paul’s talent in the game of basketball doesn’t reflect his taste of the game itself.

Let me explain.

By now you must have heard about CP3 telling GQ magazine that he preferred the Clippers to the Lakers. I get it. I mean, what is he supposed to say? Then again, all three Clipper fans, two of which are the schizophrenic personalities of Clipper Darrell, would have been butt hurt had he said different.

I get that. What I don’t get is Paul trying to sell us all on his belief that the Clippers had better pieces than the Lakers.

Right…

Maybe Paul’s time in New Orleans made him forget that some teams do play for more than regular season glory. In Lakerland only one thing matters: hanging banners.

That team on the other side of Staples has such lofty goals as staying out of the draft lottery, not embarrassing themselves on national TV and keeping Blake Griffin healthy. Oh yeah, winning a playoff game or two is also nice.

Seems Paul would rather build a JV dynasty than a full-fledged one. The type the Lakers have built time and time again. In case Paul didn’t get the memo the Lake Show is all about winning titles…plural. The Clippers are all about…I don’t know…keeping Billy Crystal as a season ticket holder?

Paul has the same fatal flaw most insecure people do who enter pointless relationships. They want so badly to take something hideous and make it beautiful proving to the world they knew something no one else did. Problem is we know how those relationships always end (see Angelina and Billy Bob or any Kardashian).

So good luck with your minor league dynasty, Paul. We know you had no choice in the matter as to which L.A. team you’d be playing for. But that doesn’t mean you have to try and convince Penny Marshall that you like being a Clipper. It was fun and games last season. But now, with some new pieces added to the purple and gold, the pain comes.

Mark J. Rebilas-US PRESSWIRE

Give Mitch Kupchak credit. He had to do something to try and make it seem like he and his part-time boss Jim Buss were doing something to win a title. Too bad giving up four valuable draft picks for a past-his-prime Steve Nash won’t get this team over the hump.

Yeah, I’m the guy at the end of the bar shrugging his shoulders at the breaking news.

Nash is a beyond obvious upgrade at point guard. Watching Ramon Sessions vanish in the playoffs was more disappointing than seeing Smush Parker starting in the playoffs. The former two-time MVP proved he’s still got plenty left in the tank. And for whatever it’s worth he’s a nice door prize in the Chris Paul sweepstakes even if that came about 10 months too late.

Still, Nash does nothing to help improve this team defensively. He’s a guard that has thrived in a system that allows him to monopolize the ball. How’s that going to work with Kobe Bryant requiring the rock more often that Pookie?

How is Nash going to improve the team’s depth? Better yet how is this team ever going to turn the page and move forward if it keeps mortgaging the future for veteran players that won’t be worth their contract after one year of service?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad that Kupchak didn’t take the Trust Fund Buss approach to sitting on your hands and hoping the results will be different even though the approach is the same. It’s nice to know this team is still willing to go for the gold even though they’ve got a roster built to compete for the bronze.

There is still no depth beyond the starting five. There is still no cap relief once we circle back to the tired debate of the Lakers being too old. Yeah, in case you’re stuck in 2006 Nash has aged and the game of 38-year-old point guards tends fall off faster than like Wile E. Coyote chasing the Road Runner with a blindfold on.

The Lakers are addressing their problems by adding more problems. They’re now worse defensively. They’re older. And for good measure they’ve taken on more money to keep them out of the free agent market for another two years. Unless this move is meant to setup another it’s nothing more than another new rug underneath a leaking roof.

I admire the spirit of the move but the reality is this is yet another Band-Aid applies to a bleeding artery. Kupchak isn’t saving the Lakers. He’s only dragging out their death. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Kupchak previously avoided a Kobe meltdown by selling the team’s future for Pau Gasol, a player entering his prime and poised to produce at an All-Star level. That got us two more titles but left the team where it is now – at the crossroads. This time around Kupchak knew he had to do something that would generate headlines. Nash ignites title talk but that doesn’t necessarily equate title status. He’s a player on the decline with no proven championship mettle.

Sometimes that guy waving in the water is actually drowning. The Lakers waved a championship flag today. Too bad that flag is made of white cloth.