Could we have been champs? Sure. No one, especially in the West, has looked unbeatable this post season. Would we have one? probably not, but that wasn't the question.
If Yao would not have gone down, we would have continued to adjust. We would now be the defending Champs. If we would gotten Gortat last offseason, we would still be playing now. I can say these things because the team without a decent center went 42-40 in a very tough western conference. We should draft 2 this season. Cousins and Whiteside, new twin towers? Draft other needed positions in the 2nd round.
If we had beaten the Lakers, then we would have gone on to face the Nuggets, and eventually, the Magic. I think we could have been champs. Without Yao, we probably wouldn't have beaten the Magic.