Getting Garnett will not make the Lakers a much-improved defensive team. He’ll help — he was named to the NBA’s All-Defensive second team last season — but they need so much more, especially when it comes to guarding other teams’ point guards.

The tandem of Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett will be attractive mainly to many season-ticket holders. Of those who pony up huge sums of money to see the Lakers play, many are knowledgeable basketball fans who understand the game’s nuances and dynamics. But many others are bozos who are easily seduced by star quality. They could sit through a lousy game as long as they spot Cameron Diaz or Jeremy Piven. These are the people who threatened to cancel their season tickets if Bryant’s demand to be traded was granted, and these are the people who will salivate over the Garnett deal.

It is ironic that all this is happening so soon after the San Antonio Spurs, with a modicum of star power (Tim Duncan is a great, great player, but hardly a Hollywood personality), demonstrated to the world that championships are won with defense and teamwork.  It’s as if nobody involved has learned anything, least of all Kobe Bryant and the people striving so furiously to please him.

Assuming the Lakers do nothing else but acquire Garnett for Odom and Bynum — they’re hamstrung for the most part by the salary cap — they have a chance to go from being the seventh-best team in the West to the fifth-best team in the West, if they’re lucky. The Spurs, Suns and Mavs all will still be better than them for the next two to three years, and the Jazz, Rockets, Warriors and possibly the Clippers, Nuggets and Trail Blazers all have better nucleuses of talent. The Lakers will spin their wheels, but with their attractive new Band-Aid, they’ll look better doing it.

If Garnett is smart, he’ll nix the deal to L.A. and hold out for a trade to a team with more championship potential.

The wiser course of action for the Lakers would have been to continue to follow a patient plan, keeping Odom and Bynum and building with young talent. And if that meant trading Bryant to acquire two or three promising and gifted kids who might help the Lakers develop into the L.A. version of upcoming teams like the Jazz or Bulls, then so be it.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more. more photos

But that would never happen in Los Angeles, because people there don’t want to see the Spurs. They want to see the Showtime Lakers of the ‘80s. Two points here: The Showtime Lakers are old and grey now, and also, they were a much, much better defensive team than people give them credit for. It’s all about defense. Even the Cavaliers, as shoddy a showing as they submitted in this year’s Finals, didn’t get that far just because of LeBron, they got there because they ranked among the top five in the NBA in points allowed.

Kevin Garnett is an exciting player, and there’s a certain satisfaction in seeing him get rescued from the Minnesota Timberwolves and placed in a city where he wants to be. He’s earned it.

It’ll be fun watching him play. It just won’t be fun watching him lose.

MORE FROM NBA

NBA Section Front

Wade scores 41 as Heat holds off Wizards Heat owner confident Wade won’t leave Iverson yet to return to Grizzlies Grizzlies rookie Thabeet breaks jaw Mavericks start slow, beat Rockets 121-103 Abdul-Jabbar has rare form of leukemia   Celizic: Kareem confronting ‘scary’ cancer head on   Video: Addul-Jabbar talks about his battle   Slideshow: Abdul-Jabbar’s career highlights Winderman: Boost or bust? Young season offers insight   NBA Section Front   Add NBA headlines to your news reader: