Thorn: 'I thought we were pretty close...'

<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">On John Thompson's radio show, Rod Thorn said that he "thought we were pretty close at one time" to trading Jason Kidd at the trade deadline, but looking back, "I guess we weren't." He said that there was a deal that he would have pulled the trigger on if the Nets were getting a "young, big player with potential" (someone like Andrew Bynum perhaps?) in return. In the same interview, Thorn said that Kidd is basically irreplaceable and that the Nets never got very close to trading Vince Carter last week.
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I thought if the Lakers offered Bynum the deal would have been done. I guess not.

 

If Rod Thorn wanted Andrew Bynum, he was just wasting everyone's time. It was already a known fact that Bynum is untouchable

 

<div class="quote_poster">Brian Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">If Rod Thorn wanted Andrew Bynum, he was just wasting everyone's time. It was already a known fact that Bynum is untouchable</div>

Andrew Bynum is overrated simply because he plays on the Lakers. He didn't even deserve to be in the Rookie-Sophomore game, and it showed.

The most ridiculous trade proposal I've heard all year was a package that'd send Pau Gasol to Los Angeles for essentially Andrew Bynum. Someone explain to me why the Grizzlies would give up Pau Gasol, who's in his prime, for a kid who has the potential of being near Gasol's level five or six years down the road. It's just not logical.

There are plenty of great, young big men in the NBA, but you don't hear their names because they play for teams like Milwaukee, Memphis, Boston, Charlotte, etc. and not Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix, Detroit, etc.

 

How's Bynum overrated? Nobody is judging him by his talent, but by his potential. The kid is only 19 years old, the youngest player in the NBA. He's already shown flashes of becoming a great player in the league one day. Being tutored by Laker great, Kareem Abdul Jabar, will only help his cause. Last season, Andrew Bynum barely stepped a foot onto the NBA court. This season, the kid has exceeded all expectations, and has done a terrific job starting at center. When Bynum was first drafted, he was expected to be a 3 to 4 year project player. The Lakers coaching staff have already marveled about how quickly he has progressed. Bynum is already ahead of schedule.

 

<div class="quote_poster">Brian Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">How's Bynum overrated? Nobody is judging him by his talent, but by his potential. The kid is only 19 years old, the youngest player in the NBA. He's already shown flashes of becoming a great player in the league one day. Being tutored by Laker great, Kareem Abdul Jabar, will only help his cause. Last season, Andrew Bynum barely stepped a foot onto the NBA court. This season, the kid has exceeded all expectations, and has done a terrific job starting at center. When Bynum was first drafted, he was expected to be a 3 to 4 year project player. The Lakers coaching staff have already marveled about how quickly he has progressed. Bynum is already ahead of schedule.</div>

He's overrated exactly for the reason's you stated. People are judging him based on his potential, and not on his skill. Why would a team like Memphis trade an already developed player like Gasol for a player that's got the potential to develop into a player that caliber a long ways down the road? Gasol's not exactly an aging veteran. He's 27 years old and is heading into the prime of his career. Trading a player like him for Bynum would be a step backwards.

I don't really see how being tutored by Abdul-Jabbar will help the kid, honestly. It's undeniable that Abdul-Jabbar was one of the greatest centers of all-time, but that doesn't make him one of the greatest teachers. In fact, he has a standoffish personality that makes him hard to cooperate with. That's why he never had a stable NBA job before the Lakers gave him one out of sympathy, while most of his colleagues went on to successful management careers.

As for Bynum's age, yes, he's young, but he's not that much younger than all of the other big man prospects out there. When you compare him to big men like Al Jefferson, Andrea Bargnani, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Andrew Bogut, the age difference is almost insignificant. Yet the perception seems to be that Bynum has a higher ceiling and more potential than all four. I'll be the first to say it though: no way in hell would I trade any of those four big men for Andrew Bynum.

 

I pretty much agree with that, although if you want a reason for why Memphis would do that trade you just have to look at your GM (see Shane Battier for Rudy Gay).

I also think Bynum's value is overinflated by Lakers fans. He's done a great job showing us that he isn't a total scrub after his first season. But, you have to realize how difficult and long the development process is (especially for big men). There's so many steps before he becomes that dominant presence that everyone seems to expect, and there's no guarantees that he lives up to all that potential.


One thing that this article makes me question is Thorn's approach to the trade deadline. It's always smart to explore all your options when your team's struggling, but the focus should've been on trading Vince Carter, not Jason Kidd. Especially once you realize that the Lakers weren't going to offer anything remotely fair.

 

Yeah, Lakers fans do usually overinflate a prospect's/player's value. Andrew Bynum has loads of potential and has shown great improvement over his rookie year, but I wouldn't deem him "untouchable" yet. In fact, I would take Andrea Bargnani over him anyday.

If Andrew Bogut was drafted by the Lakers, most Lakers fans (by Lakers fans I usually mean the REALLY optimistic ones) would say he has great potential and would expect him to be a great force on thier team. Most would probably wouldn't even know who Andrew Bynum is, let alone claim that he is "untouchable".

Again, I'm a Laker fan, but I'm also realistic about my expectations. If the kid can show next year that he is steadily improving on a year by year basis (again), then hell yeah, I'm all for keeping him long-term. However, I don't rate him "untouchable" until he has shown consistently that he is 'untouchable', nor do I expect him to be the Lakers year 2007+ answer to Shaq's former presence.