<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">He was sitting in a tiny locker room at Greehey Arena on the St. Mary's campus, surrounded by temporary San Antonians from Lackland AFB, but Magic Johnson's answer would have been the same had he been sitting at center court at the Staples Center. The Spurs, Johnson said, are going to win the 2006 NBA title. "It's over," Johnson said, when asked to assess the Spurs' summer signings of Michael Finley, Nick Van Exel and, to a lesser degree, Fabricio Oberto. "I've always said the Spurs have one of the great owners and great management teams, R.C. Buford and, of course, (Gregg) Popovich. The team plays basketball the right way. They remind me of the Lakers when we were winning championships back in the 1980s. They just play the game and play to win. "Nick and Finley will add to that, and I think they're going to win it again. They've added two great role players that can come in off the bench and add firepower." And what of Johnson's Lakers, who slipped out of the playoffs last season for the first time since 1994? The most recognizable Laker alive believes they will be back in postseason play next spring. In San Antonio on a goodwill mission with his touring basketball team, Johnson trusts coach Phil Jackson's ability to lead the Lakers back to the playoffs. "I was a thousand percent, a million percent, in favor of us bringing Phil back," Johnson said after his Magic32 All-Stars defeated a team of airmen from Lackland in a game Friday night. "We want to get back to the playoffs and back in contention for a championship. Phil can help us get there. We may be a year or two away from being a championship team, but I think we can get back in the playoffs this year." The Lakers struggled last season after blowing up what had been a near-dynasty during the seasons Jackson coached both Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant. Blame whomever you want ? it was clear owner Jerry Buss pointed, dead-aim, at O'Neal as the culprit who most befouled the championship formula ? but the Lakers never frightened anyone after Jackson and O'Neal departed. Johnson, though, believes they would not have had their streak of consecutive playoff appearances snapped had Bryant not been injured in February. With Jackson's return and a roster tweaked substantially during the offseason, Johnson almost guaranteed a return to the playoffs. "We would have been in the playoffs last year if Kobe didn't get hurt," said Johnson, the 2002 Basketball Hall of Fame inductee who is a part-owner of the Lakers, as well as team vice president. "We were in sixth place when Kobe got hurt in February. So we feel good about making it back. We feel Kwame Brown gives us a power forward now who can do some things." </div> Source
