Bynum's looking like the next Shaq (in a weak era of Cs). If he can continue to be healthy there's no reason for them to trade for DH.
Yeah....even a 30 plus year old Shaqtus was relatively healthy... Well I guess Bynum is at least no GREG ODEN.
If he stays healthy. The only time he's played 82 games was his second year. In every other season, he hasn't come close. Bynum's history is against him. The cat is playing damned good right now, though. We'll see if it can last through this shortened season. The most games he's played since that second year are 65, almost exactly the length of this season, in 2009-10.
1. New coach, new system and they're already gelling less than 10 games in. You can tell guys are buying in, most of all Kobe. 2. Pau has gotten over the trade crap and is playing with energy. He's playing very good basketball. He was considered the best big man in the game 2 years ago. He's playing like it again. 3. Pau and Bynum are arguably the two best big men in the Western Conference. I'm not talking about the combo of them. I'm talking about big men individually. As a combo, they are the best in the NBA at the 4/5. Individually, you'd have to put both guys in the top 5 bigs in the West and easily top 10 bigs in the NBA with at least one of them in the top 3 or 4. 4. Brown has got Artest in prime position to be successful, putting him on the block in mismatches and simplifying the game for him. Artest is twice the player he was last season. Getting him touches where he can score effectively energizes him and makes his D much better. 5. Kobe has more grit than any player in the game. The schedule is littered with back to backs and back to back to backs. The grittiest teams are going to thrive the most in that environment. Kobe is the grittiest. Artest is in the top 10 most gritty. They are a gritty team, which is good for this type of schedule. I'm not a Laker fan. Never have been. Really don't like Kobe. Never really liked Phil. Always rooted for the Celtics when it was Bird and Magic. But I know good basketball. They're playing good ball right now and they're going to get even better. Now think about this. What if Aaron Brooks comes back to the NBA and he can convince Phoenix to sign and trade him to the Lakers? They've got an $8.9 million TPE to add another piece or two. This is the team most likely coming out of the West.
Here is why the Lakers are worse than last year: 1 Vastly inferior new coach 2 Kobe is a year older 3 Pau is older 4 Odom is gone 5 Artest is older and still a fruitcake 6 Fisher older and even more calcified. His backup, Steve Blake, is still pathetic 7 Matt Barnes is still sorry 8 Jim Buss taking over is a very very bad thing for their franchise
Funny thing. I can't argue that they are a year older. I can argue that they are not too old though. We'll see on that one. And I agree with you on #8. Long term, after Kobe retires, I can see Buss, Jr. doing in this team. He is an idiot. I suspect after this season that a lot of people's opinions about Mike Brown are going to be changing. He is from the Pops coaching tree. Dude can coach. He's probably better suited for this Laker team with it's maturity and Kobe holding everybody acountable than he was suited for Cleveland where Lebron did none of those things and did not win as a result. Yeah, Artest is just as nutty as ever. So, was Rodman. Matt Barnes is sorry like Rodman but also has Rodman's ferocious competitiveness. Oh, Odom is gone. I'm not sure that's a bad thing yet. Seems like they ain't missing him...yet. We'll see if they ever do.
They will miss his scoring and length down the stretch in the final games....when they are worn down They don't have much fire power on the bench, Steve Blake is playing well for them but he won't be consistent
Not sure we would be talking about this If ZBo and Darrel Arthur were healthy... I would have loved to have seen Pau on Zach...
no, sis, it isn't. i suppose i was wrong about gay, he settles way too much. The problem is that he doesn't have KD's touch from the outside, and his handles are not elite enough to get what he wants off the dribble.
I hate to say I told you so. Both of the points you make above are dead on. Additionally, Rudy doesn't have the mental endurance to be "the guy" every single game. It just isn't in him. Those 3 things are why he can't be more than just a very good player. He's like a rich man's Robert Horry.
they need at least chemistry if it works out both ways.....so this year might not be the year Next year Kobe is one year older again. goes full circle
