If the items are good as well as a good balance (i.e. the items are evenly distributed among the combatants), they are the great equalizer.
A Brawl player (and even Melee to a point) who uses the good items well can be a deadly threat. I think the items are evenly balanced already by default in the game (i.e. the bad items AND the good items are both in the game evenly). And yes, the Smash Ball is a pain, but I actually think that (if we turn team damage off) we could do very well with every single item in the game.
BJ