<div class="quote_poster">Moo2K4 Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">I think someone hates Bynum a little too much. Bynum already reached a Brendan Haywood level this year. You have to realize, Bynum is all of 19 years old and hasn't even come close to his potential. How many 19 year old centers do you see come into this league and go from hardly playing one year to being the starting center the next. For a guy that was simply throwin into the fire because of injuries, Bynum did a pretty damn good job. He averaged close to 8/6 this year, and for a 19 year old, how much more can you expect? He's only going to get better and better each year, and he's shown countless flashes of brilliance this season, especially early on. I think you either just don't like him or you're completely biased towards Bosh. You just have to realize the kid has potential and has already reached the level you'll claim he'll end at.</div> Bynum is no where near Bosh's potential limit. Bynum is slower than Haywood, if that's possible. If we were picking centers for a team for one year at this point, I'd easily take Haywood because he is just as good offensively and is an anchor in the post, he's just in the wrong style of offense. Bynum is too raw, immature, and slow to have an impact any time soon. He faded terribly midway through the season. Not to mention he's got no sense of ball protection. There were countless number of times he was stripped in the post because he was too slow and dropped the ball low when he was doing a spin. That's is one of the most basic moves in the post, keeping the ball high and he can't even accomplish that.
I agree with the draft aspect. There are plenty of big men in this year's draft that have more than or as much potential as Bynum. Holding on to him is silly. To think we could've had Boozer and Kidd around Kobe but instead we don't trade Caron for Boozer, instead we trade him for Kwame and we don't let Bynum go for Kidd. Kidd, Kobe, Odom, Boozer, Mihm is definitely a contender.
You guys are selling the Lakers short and forgetting the amount injuries we endured during the season. The one game the Lakers handled Phoenix, was the game Kwame Brown decided to show up and be a force on offense in the post. The Lakers don't need to give up this much, because the Lakers just need a consistent post player who can catch the ball, finish, and play some defense. The Lakers would be much better off upgrading the PG spot, finding a wing player who can play defense, and getting a stop gap center while Bynum continues to develop. I've seen Haywood's name mentioned quite a bit, why not trade for him? He can compete for the starting center spot with Bynum and Mihm. The Lakers could then ship Kwame off for one or two upgrades at PG and/or SF. A lot of teams can use Kwame's $9M expiring contract, the Lakers could even include $3M cash to help pay for some of it. There's so many possibilities out there, and the Lakers are closer to being amongst the elite than some of you are giving them credit for. This team was fighting for the 3rd seed before the rash of injuries. Losing Smush Parker is already addition by subtraction. Having a real PG on in the starting 5 is going to make an immediate impact. Adding a servicable center is all this team is lacking. Kobe and Odom might not be working, but Kobe + Odom + Capable center is a winning formula.
Odom as a 3rd option is definitely serviceable. But as a second option, he comes no where close to cutting it. I'd love to trade for Haywood, Cook for Haywood should be able to get that done, especially because Cook fits the Wizards offense and Haywood fits our offense. Haywood would be the most competent center we would have since Shaq left. If we could get Billups over Jermaine, I'd definitely do that because we should be able to hold on to Odom with that. 19th pick, Bynum, Kwame, and some fillers for Billups. Chauncey/Farmar Kobe/Evans Odom/Vlad Turiaf Haywood/Mihm We could sign a big through FA. That's a contending team.
<div class="quote_poster">Mamba Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Odom as a 3rd option is definitely serviceable. But as a second option, he comes no where close to cutting it. I'd love to trade for Haywood, Cook for Haywood should be able to get that done, especially because Cook fits the Wizards offense and Haywood fits our offense. Haywood would be the most competent center we would have since Shaq left. If we could get Billups over Jermaine, I'd definitely do that because we should be able to hold on to Odom with that. 19th pick, Bynum, Kwame, and some fillers for Billups. Chauncey/Farmar Kobe/Evans Odom/Vlad Turiaf Haywood/Mihm We could sign a big through FA. That's a contending team.</div> This a much better lineup and the Lakers would still have some wiggle room to continue to improve the roster, plus we have our pick and the MLE. This roster would give us a lot of versatility and our depth would be vastly improved from last year. I'm sure the Lakers could also re-sign Walton, which further improves this team. PG - Billups / Farmar / Shamu SG - Kobe / Evans / 1st Rounder (Nick Young?) SF - Odom / Walton / Radman PF - Turiaf / use MLE here McDyess? Webber? C - Haywood/Mihm OR this starting 5 PG - Billups SG - Kobe SF - Walton PF - Odom C - Haywood
<div class="quote_poster">Mamba Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">We'd probably lose the 19th pick in a trade for Billups.</div> Replace that with our 2nd rounder then.
Just kind of wondering this, but if we were to land Billups, would anyone still be interested in Artest if it just means losing Walton. If we land both Artest and Billups, we supply both needs of ours: a second scorer and another defender. I think, even if we get Billups, we should still look for Artest for two reasons. First, he gives us another scoring option, which is never bad. But secondly is by far his defense. If we get him, we can use him to guard the best perimeter player every night instead of Kobe, allowing Kobe to utilize more on the offensive end and not leaving the coaching staff to worry about how his defense will be affected. Plus, if we can land him, we'd have a VERY formidable starting five, especially if we get Haywood like some of you have speculated. PG - Billups SG - Kobe SF - Artest PF - Odom C - Haywood Just a thought to leave out there...
surprisingly, we could have land Jason Kidd instead of Billups and next season we can potentially have this five starters and a good bench PG - Jason Kidd (Bynum, Brown, Cook) SG - Kobe Bryant SF - Ron Arest (Sign and trade Luke, 19th) PF - Lamar Odom C - MLE (Jamal Magloire?) Bench PG - Jordan Farmar SG - Mo Evans/Sasha SF - Rad PF - Ronny C - Mihm just wow, look at what Jim Buss did
Kidd: 19.7 mill Kobe: 19.5 Odom: 13.5 Artest: 7.8 mill Vlad: 5.6 Magloire: 5 Farmar + Evans + Sasha: 4 mill Re-signed Mihm + Ronny: 4 mill? Imo, assuming no injuries and crazy suspensions they would be a great team in the west, but not a cheap one at around 79.1 million.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">PG - who cares SG - Kobe SF - Artest PF - JO C - Camby</div> Thats like the NBA all defensive team right there, lol, teams would be lucky to drop 80 points on that team, hahahaha.
<div class="quote_poster">NTC Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Thats like the NBA all defensive team right there, lol, teams would be lucky to drop 80 points on that team, hahahaha.</div>You'd think that, but just because we have a team full of good individual defenders doesn't mean they'll play good team defense. For all we know, they could have zero communication and give up a lot of easy looks because of it. However, anything is better than the "defense" we played this year.
Artest is a cancer, the Lakers don't want him or need him. Bynum and Radman plus garbage is enough for Oneal, giving up Odom also is too much. Compare Odom's numbers and O'neal's, Odom's are better. Either go Odom straight up for O'neal or Bynum plus for him.
How is Artest a cancer? Wasn't the reason the Kings got to the playoffs a couple of seasons ago because of Artest? The Pacers even got into the second round during the season of the brawl and lost out to Detroit 4-2.
Artest is a cancer simply because he has terrible behavior off the court. There is a thread in the Kings section right now with him head lining as arested.
<div class="quote_poster">The One & Only Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Artest is a cancer simply because he has terrible behavior off the court. There is a thread in the Kings section right now with him head lining as arested.</div>Personally, I don't care what he does off the court. His personal life is his personal life. As long as he carries himself the right way ON THE COURT, that's all that matters. If he shows up to play every night and doesn't let what he does off the court affect what he does on the court, I could care less. Because quite frankly, if Artest is on the court, he's a difference maker. As long as his head is in the right spot, he has the ability to be one of the best players on the court every night. Personally, I think Phil could get him to do that. He controlled Rodman, so I think there's a possibility he could do the same with Artest.
