Michael Ventre

If you’ve ever strolled the first-aid aisle at your local drug store, you probably noticed that there are basic, beige Band-Aids, and then there are festive, decorative Band-Aids.

Kevin Garnett is a festive, decorative Band-Aid, at least when it comes to the possibility of him playing for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Trade talks are brewing that reportedly would bring Garnett from Minnesota to L.A., with the Lakers giving up Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum in return. Garnett longs for a change of scenery, he has a house in Malibu, and he’s chummy with Kobe Bryant, the uber diva whose public scorched-earth policy pressured the Lakers into doing something, anything, that looks like progress.

Don’t get me wrong. I love Garnett. I think he’s almost as good a person as he is a player, and he’s a great player. Anyone with half a basketball brain would dearly love to have Kevin Garnett on his team. And obviously he’s a better player than either Odom or Bynum.

I just want to point out that, amid all the fireworks and jubilation that will surely be set off if and when Garnett is introduced at a Lakers’ press conference, this really doesn’t solve anything.

First and foremost, there is absolutely no guarantee that Bryant will be appeased by the acquisition of Garnett. Bryant will say all the right things, of course, but by around December or January he’ll start groaning again about the direction of the team. He’ll suggest that, while it’s nice to have Garnett in the fold, the Lakers really did little ELSE to improve. Then he’ll start talking about wanting a trade to Chicago.

You watch.

The situation will be exacerbated by the fact that Bryant, for the first time since he shoved Shaquille O’Neal out the door, will have to share the basketball with another superstar. Right now he has what he has always wanted, whether he wants to admit it or not. He wants to be Michael Jordan, and he wants other players to pick up his scraps.

He’ll want Garnett to be Scottie Pippen — Garnett will be able to shoot whenever Bryant says it’s O.K. — and Garnett, for all his selflessness, won’t be happy as Kobe’s caddy. Friction will occur, tensions will simmer, and opt-out talk will soon be spilling from Bryant’s camp.

You watch.

But there are other issues, too. Even though Garnett is definitely an improvement, this is still somewhat of a lateral move. They’re getting rid of a guy like Odom, who when healthy is good for a double-double each night, and acquiring a replacement who is good for a slightly better double-double each night.

Garnett, who is 31, averaged 22.4 points and 12.8 rebounds in 76 games last year while performing as the central focus of the Timberwolves’ offense. Odom, who is 27, averaged 15.9 points and 9.8 rebounds in 56 games in 2006-07 while serving in a secondary role to Bryant. Before he sprained his knee after the first 20 games, Odom was on his way to having an All-Star season.

This is not to suggest that Odom is Garnett’s equal. Garnett is clearly the better player. But does this make the Lakers measurably better?

Despite all the talk-show prattle, the Bryant histrionics, the knee-jerk blather from misinformed pundits and the buzz in the blogosphere, the fact is the Lakers stink because they couldn’t play defense. They couldn’t stop anybody. That’s why it appeared Bryant was so often outnumbered,  because other clubs had their way with the Lakers’ defense, and Bryant was always hoisting shot after shot in an effort to outscore the other team single-handedly. Besides the fact that nothing pleases Bryant more than being able to shoot as much as he wants, even that was too much.

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