Following the L.A. Lakers' offseason deconstruction

Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal agree on one thing: The NBA's new marquee team is ... drum roll, please ...

"It'd have to be Detroit, wouldn't it?" Bryant said.

"I don't know. I'd probably have to say the Pistons," offered O'Neal.

OK, so it's a less-than-convincing argument made by the two superstars, but can anyone blame them?

The NBA is entering unfamiliar territory in its first season following the breakup of the Los Angeles Lakers, unquestionably the NBA's marquee team for the past five years.

With O'Neal now in Miami, coach Phil Jackson in semi-retirement and Bryant the only one of the threesome still remaining with the Lakers, there's a void where there used to be a vortex.

Sure, the Pistons are the defending champions. But they're not the ones headlining the league's Christmas doubleheader -- the annual time when commissioner David Stern tries to hook the casual fan into declaring "I Love This Game."

No, the big attraction on that holiday is the first meeting between the former teammates known to many simply as Shaq and Kobe, who were split up over the summer when the Lakers dealt O'Neal to Miami for three starters and a No. 1 draft pick.

Not since 1975, when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was sent from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Lakers, has a dominating center in the prime of his career been traded.

That assumes O'Neal, 32, is still at the top of his game.

"Well, any team without Shaq is not as good. I don't care who's left," said San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, whose team is considered by many to be the favorite in the West. "If [Tim] Duncan wasn't on our team, we wouldn't be as good. If [Kevin] Garnett wasn't on Minnesota, they wouldn't be as good.

"But at the same time it doesn't mean they are a bad team. They're going to be a competitive team, and Kobe's going to want to put them on his shoulders and do some things. And he's such a great player, he's going to have a good amount of success with that."

Bryant remains in the stronger of the two conferences, but there's no question the East is vastly improved -- both by the addition of O'Neal, and by the success shown by Larry Brown's team last spring when the Pistons upset the Lakers and became the first team in 25 years to win a title without a true superstar on its roster.

Detroit poised for repeat

Detroit returns almost the same exact lineup, tinkering only to strengthen its bench with the additions of Antonio McDyess, Derrick Coleman and Carlos Delfino -- the latter coming from among the gold medal-winning members of Argentina's Olympic team who showed the world in Athens how the Pistons weren't the only ones thriving on the concept of team play.

The Pistons won over many casual fans last June by picking apart the Lakers behind the efficient playmaking of Chauncey Billups, the mid-range shooting of Richard Hamilton and the beneath-the-boards energy of Ben Wallace.

Offseason deals

Miami became an East title contender when it seized upon the availability of O'Neal and acquired him for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant.

The Houston Rockets, meanwhile, sent Steve Francis, Cuttino Mobley and Kelvin Cato to Orlando for reigning scoring champ Tracy McGrady.

The Spurs found a way to plug their biggest hole, signing outside shooting specialist Brent Barry as a free agent. Dallas, meanwhile, made wholesale changes by allowing Steve Nash to leave for Phoenix, acquiring Jerry Stackhouse, Jason Terry and Erick Dampier and parting ways with Antawn Jamison and Antoine Walker.

West may be best again

There's been talk that the balance of power has shifted from West to East due to the Pistons' success and O'Neal's relocation, but the Western Conference still has the larger number of quality teams able to compete for a title.

Denver, coming off a dramatic turnaround that gave the Nuggets their first playoff appearance since 1995, added Kenyon Martin without having to trade a live body. Utah revamped its frontcourt by signing free agents Carlos Boozer and Mehmet Okur, and Phoenix overhauled its backcourt by bringing in Nash and Quentin Richardson.

"I would say this year only 15 teams in the Western Conference think they're making the playoffs, which is all of them. And only 10 of those 15 think they're going to get home-court advantage," Houston coach Jeff Van Gundy said. "Two teams that think they're going to get home-court advantage aren't even going to make the playoffs. So it's a difficult assignment."