There was much discussion of the two of them during the offseason. Is Bynum a disappointment? Going into tonight's game, he was only averaging 8ppg, 9rpg. I think we can expect more from Oden when he returns. After all, Oden produced 5 rebs and 1 blk in about a quarter of play. That's 20 rpg and 4 bpg if he plays the whole game. I think Oden will win the battle this season and Bynum has to be considered a disappointment. He averaged 13 & 10 last season and many said that wasn't impressive enough to consider him one of the great centers in the league. At 8 & 9, he's regressed.
I forgot to mention that Bynum is averaging and impressive 2.8 blocks per game. But put all three of those stats together and he's Sam Bowie when healthy.
For having to share rebounds with people like Pau Gasol, Trevor Ariza, and Lamar Odom. For sharing points with Gasol, Odom, Kobe, and the bench mob. All that considered, I think Bynum has been playing great. He still looks like he doesn't have it all in his legs quite yet, but defensively he is blocking and altering shots, which is all we really need at the moment.
Where do I start... Well, first and foremost, why not look at production here. You can point and say that Bynum is only doing this and that this year compared to this and that last year. Well, here's a fun fact for you. Last year, Pau Gasol was not on this team. Last year, Bynum was THE man in the middle, the man had to get them rebounds and points in the paint. He doesn't have to this year. With Gasol there alongside him, they're expecting a lot offensively from Bynum. What they want from his mostly is to bring defense and toughness to a team that severely lacked it last year when he went down. And you know what? He's done that. If he does end up scoring a bunch this year, than that's just a bonus. However, to call him a bust because his stats are a little down this year is just asinine. Another thing to look at is that he's still working his way in to shape. He missed 47 games PLUS the playoffs last year and missed a decent amount of the offseason. You have to expect him to be a little rusty because of that, and if you don't, you're nuts. As for Oden...in what ways was he so impressive that you're already ready to call him better than Bynum? He looked like garbage on offense in those 13 minutes. Sure, rebounding was nice, but who's to say he was going to keep up that pace over the course of the game? What proof do you have that Oden will produce more than 8/9? In his 13 minutes, his offense was not impressive at all and while he got 5 rebounds in 13 minutes, who's to say he's going to grab 15 in 40 minutes? Just because averages may work that way, doesn't mean reality does. Lastly...what leads you to legitimately think Bynum has regressed? I'm just curious, because I see no sound evidence of it.
No you're not. You love small sample sizes, and it's annoying as hell. 1 quarter's production does not translate into a full game at the same rate. And with your other ridiculous thread, great we're in sixth place...after 6 games. Nothing matters after 6 games. The list goes on "JACK IS THE BEST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE!!" "Jack played better than Devin Harris on this day, so he's a better player." "Outlaw is the best player in the league." I thought it'd stop at some point, but it really hasn't.
I'm just having fun dude. And 6 games means 6 games. And it's cool to see that we're in 6th place at this point. OBVIOUSLY, the Spurs are gonna play much better and there's a long way to go, but I was still pointing out that we're not bad so far. What's your problem?
By the way, in his last preseason game, Oden scored 12 pts and grabbed down 13 rebounds. In 29 minutes. And that was just preseason. He was saving his A game for the regular season but then he got hurt. Just wait til he comes back.
And please don't criticize Oden's offense in the first 13 minutes of his very first game. Can we please look up the stats for Bynum's first game as a pro?
I love this thread. I think this Bynum vs Oden thing is much more importat to the Blazers Fans. The Lakers side is targeting the championship and doesn't really care if Bynum posts better stats then Oden.
He'll be seen. He'll be seen in more strip club videos making it rain. PacMan and Darius told him to use 100's next time, so now with the new contract he's probably itching to go give it a try.
You are doing anything but. I love Greg, and I really hope he pans out, but the simple fact of the matter is he's been nothing but gimpy in his NBA career and Bynum has at least been healthy, provides a low post presence and a pretty damn good defensive presence. If you want to "keep it real" then you should be projecting Greg out as a player who will never score a point in his career based on his 0-5 start.
I like Oden ove Bynum as much as anybody, but... Bynum's stats alsolutely don't matter. When your team is winning by 20 every game, stats are warped and unimportant. Truth is, the Lakers haven't needed much out of Bynum this season, so far. They really need to play some close games, and maybe even lose some before we can really assess Bynum.
It is depressing how dominant the Lakers have been. Everything I hoped for has failed to happen. I thought that bringing back Bynum would have made the Lakers' defense worse (because it would have bumped Gasol to PF, where he is a poor defender against much better players) and Odom to SF (where, at this stage of his career, he's a bit too slow). But Jackson was way ahead of me and brainwashed Odom into playing off the bench. Plus Ariza has been playing out of his mind (check out his 3 point %) and has been everything Batum is to us and more. The one bright spot is that Bynum is not putting up big numbers. But that doesn't mean he's bad - in fact he's perfect for the Lakers who only need him to play defense and get the odd alley-oop. But after all the hype, a lot of it coming from him, I really can't see him staying happy. (Yes, yes, I know - sacrifice for championships, blah blah blah. That works for savvy veterans who've been on crappy teams. Bynum is young and immature and hasn't tasted life in the shitpile.) Working in the Lakers' favor too is the fact that all the good teams in the West are struggling. Most glaringly San Antonio, but Houston seems out of sorts, Dallas is going down in flames, Phoenix are going to be up and down, Utah has lost Williams for longer than they hoped and even N'Awlins had that ugly loss on the road. I do note, though, that the Lakers have had a pretty soft schedule. Have they played any games on the road yet (apart from the "road" game against the Clippers, whose sole function in life seems to be to give the Lakers two more home games than any other team). All that said, though, if the Lakers keep this up, I can't see them missing out on a championship. And if Phil Jackson doesn't get coach of the year (which he should have got last year) it's a travesty. And I say that as someone who hates his guts with a passion. (As for Bynum vs. Greg: let's let Greg get healthy first. They both sucked in that one game, but at least Greg can remember this: <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/1ENgb9Wavgg&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/1ENgb9Wavgg&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
Hey, you're right! It was JUST the preseason. In other words, he was padding stats against other teams scrubs. I really don't give a damn what he did in the preseason. Until he shows up in the regular season, nothing matters. Last I saw, he hasn't really shown up because he was injured yet again.
