Just for kicks, I thought I’d look at the question of whom should be favored in the NBA Finals, the L.A. Lakers or the Miami Heat.

What I’ll do is take the current rosters of the two teams and match them up to see who has the advantage.

My big insight is this: Everyone is enamored of the Heat’s three stars, Wade, LeBron, and Bosh. But the Lakers have two major stars, Kobe and Gasol. so the question is, does the rest of the Lakers talent outweight the Heat’s additional star?

Step 1: Kobe + Gasol = Wade + Bosh

And I think I’m being generous to the Heat. Gasol is clearly better than Bosh. Wade is not clearly better than Kobe or vice versa.

Step 2: Compare the remainder of the rosters
Heat:

• LeBron
• Mike Miller
• Udonis Haslem
• Zydrunas Ilgauskas
• Mario Chalmers
• Juwan Howard
• Joel Anthony

Lakers:

• Andrew Bynum
• Lamar Odom
• Ron Artest
• Derek Fisher
• Steve Blake
• Luke Walton
• Sasha Vujacic

While LeBron is more talented than Bynum, does that outweigh the massive talent advantages that the Lakers have with Odom over Miller or Artest over Haslem? How about Fisher over Ilgauskas and Blake over Chalmers?

This NBA season will be a true test of whether superstars or depth produce championships.