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With teams about to hit the quarter mark of the 2011-12 NBA season, it seems as if the script to dominance has already been written for this hellacious 66-game season.

If a team has depth, it is almost certainly sitting atop its division right now. Of the current division leaders (Sixers, Bulls, Magic, Thunder, Clippers and Grizzlies), only one (Los Angeles) doesn't possess elite depth — and that will change once the Clippers unload one of the pieces from their loaded backcourt for frontcourt depth.

When you continue delving into the standings, the importance of depth becomes even more apparent. The two teams that have been the biggest disappointments so far and the biggest surprises so far, come from the Eastern Conference. The Celtics and Knicks, the two disappointments, lack, you guessed it, depth. And I'm not even going to insult your intelligence by giving you the strength of the two biggest surprises, the Sixers and Pacers

Whether depth matters in the playoffs is a completely different story, but teams certainly need it more than ever during this regular season.

With that said, let's look at some other things we've learned as the first quarter of the NBA season comes to a close:

1. Ricky Rubio is exactly who we thought he was going to be in 2008.

When Ricky Rubio burst onto the national scene in 2006 as the first player born in the 1990s to play in a Euroleague game, no one knew whether he had the goods to make it as an NBA player. Scouts just saw a 16-year-old kid with a mop-top haircut, an open-court game so polished it drew comparisons to Pete Maravich and Steve Nash, and a marketability potential just as unlimited as his on-court potential.

Credit: Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE

Then came Rubio's brilliant performance in the 2008 Olympics. By then, everyone was sold on Rubio-mania until word began leaking out from Spanish sources that he wasn't progressing as much as they had hoped, that his game — and especially his shot — had stagnated. That, along with Rubio's murky contract situation with FC Barcelona, caused him to drop to No. 5 in the 2009 NBA draft…and the rest is well-publicized history.

By the time Rubio came to the United States before this season, most had already jumped off his bandwagon, citing his draft selection as yet another mistake by Timberwolves general manager David Kahn.

But if current performance is any indicator of future performance, those people who gave up on Rubio were dead wrong. Through the first 16 games of his NBA career, Rubio is averaging 11.0 points, 4.6 rebounds, 8.3 assists, and 2.4 steals per game. Granted, he's only shooting 39.9 percent from the field and his shooting was the main concern about his transition to the NBA. But that can improve with hard work during the off-season (just look at Rajon Rondo). His uncanny open-court vision and above-average rebounding acumen for a guard, however, cannot be taught. He just knows where to go with the ball and where it is headed off of the rim.

At the very least, Rubio's arrival has to make Minnesota's max-contract offer to star forward Kevin Love seem more enticing than it did six months ago.

2. It's time to blow up the Boston Celtics' "Big Three"…but salaries make it impossible.

General Manager Danny Ainge alluded to a possible deconstruction earlier this week in an interview with the Boston Globe, saying he refuses to make the same mistake legendary coach Red Auerbach made in the early-1990s when he stayed loyal to veterans Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish. Auerbach's loyalty led to the longest championship drought in playoff history for the Celtics and Ainge (correctly) assumes fans aren't in a hurry to relive the Rick Pitino era.

Auerbach's loyalty led to the longest championship drought in playoff history for the Celtics.

To avoid a complete bottoming-out, Ainge needs to act quickly. 36-year-old Kevin Garnett and 35-year-old Ray Allen have expiring contracts, so they could be attractive trade pieces for contenders. But after spending nearly an hour on ESPN.com's Trade Machine, it was almost impossible to find the right blend of a contending team, expiring contracts and young talent to make the deals worthwhile to the Celtics.

With Paul Pierce still under contract for another two years at around $17 million per season, it's starting to look like Boston is nearing the worst place to be as an NBA franchise — the middle.

3. LeBron James is still the best player in the NBA by a pretty large margin. Oh, and he and Dwyane Wade are better off without each other.

Credit: Steve Mitchell-US PRESSWIRE

I'm not even going to address the first statement because it’s already inherently obvious to anyone who watches basketball with even a modicum of objectivity. It's pretty easy to chalk up the Heat's 6-1 record without Wade as an anomaly, but it isn't.

Anyone who watched the Heat last season could recognize LeBron's and Wade's confidence and comfort skyrocket when the other was off the floor. Neither player has any idea what to do without the ball, and this leads to far too many possessions where Wade and LeBron alternate their drive-and-dish games, leaving the other three players on-court standing there unsure what to do next.

That's not to say that Miami is a better team without Wade or LeBron — no one would be so dumb to think that. But they would be better if the team could flip one of the team's two superstars for a star that doesn't need drive-and-kick responsibilities.

If the Heat flipped Wade and Joel Anthony for Kevin Martin, Luis Scola and Courtney Lee, that would leave them with this starting lineup going forward:

PG- Chalmers/Cole
SG- Martin
SF- James
PF- Scola
C- Bosh

Bench: Haslem, Cole/Chalmers, Lee, Battier

I honestly feel like that trade makes them a better team. The Hypothetical Heat would go nine deep, have elite shooters to surround LeBron and have no alpha dog complex. Granted, the Hypotheticals would need frontcourt help, but don't they already?

Consider Wade's extensive injury history, age (he just turned 30), and style of play as well. If I'm Pat Riley I call the superstar-starved Rockets general manager Daryl Morey and make this trade.