Crown the NBA champs in February

By Josh Griffin

While my residence is in Denver and my sports loyalties lay all over the map, the Chicago Cubs remain my first love. I fell in love with the Cubs in the way that you fall in love with a girl immediately after realizing that girls do not have cooties. You remember them, although you probably do not talk to or see them, but they are entrenched in your mind.

The Sacramento Kings are my second love - the one that really got you as a teen, that can mistreat you and let you down but will always be "that one." The Kings mistreated me terribly in the years I lived in Sacramento and let me down with annual playoff collapses.

But just like that first one, I always let them back into my life. And right now, I am willing to proclaim them NBA Champs come June.

I have heard a lot about the rebirth of the Lakers, and they did defeat Sacramento at Arco last week. Do not be fooled - the Lakers are a flawed team, and scarcely in NBA history has there been a team as deep and talented as the Kings.

Coming out of Tuesday's win at Dallas at 34-16, the record leaves something to be desired. However, this is a team that has lost 110 games to injury to their top seven. Suit up CWebb, Bobby Jackson and Scot Pollard for Friday's loss against LA, and there is another outcome. Suit up those three for the playoffs, and the Lakers will be longing for the glory days of 2002.

When healthy, Sacramento starts Mike Bibby, Doug Christie, sharp-shooting Peja Stojakovic, MVP-candidate Chris Webber and chain-smoking center Vlade Divac. If that does not suit your fancy, throw in Bobby Jackson, Jim Jackson, Hedo Turkoglu, Keon Clark and Pollard. The latter qualifies as the eighth seed in the Western Conference and the former will win the NBA title in June.

Let's make it a date.