I agree with Shape. I think the starting rotation should be Fish/Kobe/Odom/Gasol/Bynum, and I've thought this since the beginning of the season. My only concern is whether or not Odom can guard opposing SFs, but that's it. I think the bench is strong enough without him, as long as Farmar and Ariza are playing well. Plus, if Morrison can figure things out, he could be a good role player for us too.
Don't start Bynum right away. He is going to have to be worked back into the rotation, obviously. Who knows how long Odom will keep this play up, though. I don't know. Odom at the 3 doesn't work. He is best when he can operate in the post. I wish Odom could play like this on the second unit. There should be nothing stopping him from being this damn good on the bench.
Yea, I was implying that he should be starting again when he's ready. I obviously don't expect him to be able to start right away and give us 35 minutes a night. His conditioning isn't going to be ready for that right off the bat. I agree that it hasn't worked in the past, but who knows, it could work this time around. Plus, it can't be any worse than Puke starting. I personally think Odom is one of those guys that simply just has a starter mindset. In order to come off the bench, you have to have a much different mindset. He's not aggressive enough to come in off the bench and be as effective as he has been with the starters. Plus, when he's on the court with Kobe and Gasol, people will cheat towards them and give him some easier looks, and that won't happen with him coming off the bench and being the focal point.
Unfortunately, we never got to see Odom-Gasol-Bynum on the court together. I think it would work because the Lakers would exploit the mismatch on the court between Gasol and Odom. If Odom has a lesser defender on him he would be in the post with Bynum and Gasol would operate in the high post with Kobe & Fisher spacing the floor from behind the arc. If Gasol had the lesser defender then he'd be in the post and Odom would be in the high post. I think it would be pretty tough for teams to deal with.
Shape do we have enough quality bigs off the bench if we start that big lineup? I'd like to experiment with that lineup one day, although I wonder if we can afford to seeing as we're playing for homecourt and can't waste time.
I think they have enough off the bench in Powell and if necessary Mihm. Right now Gasol usually stays in the game with the 2nd unit so it wouldn't be a major adjustment.
He doesn't need to be outside. Kobe and Fisher will be the gunners. Odom can be high post or low post.
Ariza has been too reliant on his outside shot recently, at least from what I've seen. He needs to slash to the hoop and not camp outside. To his credit though, the only time he's ever made it this deep in a season was his rookie year, so maybe he's just not used to playing this many games. Speaking of Ariza, anyone else notice that he's taking nearly 4 times the amount of threes than his career average? He's attempting 2.1 per game...coming in to this season, he never even came close to 1 attempt per game. I realize his jumper has gotten better, but he needs to lay off on the treys, because he's just not that efficient from out there.
Puke can't exactly hit jumpshots either, so I was thinking maybe we could put Odom at the 3 a few minutes a game (maybe not start exactly, because I love the depth he gives us). He wasn't even averaging 30 minutes off the bench, he could get some extra burn.
Had to miss the game cuz of damn bio lab, missed so many games this year cuz of school... Anyways, how the hell did we lose to Utah without Boozer or AK47? Don't tell me it was playing on the road because we beat Boston and Cleveland on the road. I heard Kobe jinxed us with the big balls dance again, and D Fish screwed up in the clutch again with not taking a timeout. I'm still proud of the boys for that 6-0 road trip, so I'm not gonna get too mad about the loss, but without their frontline? Come on! We gotta get this W.
Deron owned us all night long. He got into the paint at will. Gasol had a impactless game. Odom was huge on the boards, but couldn't swing momentum our way on offense despite his 19 points. Kobe did the big ball dance way too early. Fisher lost his poise completely in the clutch.
I agree with you 100%... this one's on Kobe. what was he like 8-13 in the 1st half then went like 1-10 in the 3rd quarter? not to mention he didnt get the others involved and impeded the flow of the offense, he also had only 1 assist in the entire 2nd half (3 in the 1st, 4 total) and what the hell was that big balls dance??? it only put us up 1 with 50 secs to go and the ball in utah's possession. talk about no timing at all
Wow, Mark Madsen is so white with that dance. At least Memo can say he's a Turkey Was it just me or did it seem like the refs were letting tons of stuff go in the first 3 qtrs then started calling ticky tack fouls in the 4th?
I've noticed this since the start of the season. Im constantly yelling at him to drive the lane. He's athletic enough to get to the hole and draw contact everytime. I dont know why he shoots so often.
