on the DP show this morning, u can podcast it .. he said he thinks they will be slow in transition defense, but that if anyone can find a way to make it work, it would be phil while if u think about it, it makes sense (not saying he's right, but it's a valid point), but i was surprised West would be so brutally honest
I don't think it's a big deal. Bynum's natural position is center, and Gasol's natural position is power forward. They should fit in just fine. Transition defense may be a little problem, but having two seven footers roaming the paint kind of makes up for that. I'm sure with Bynum and Gasol in the paint, you will see guys like Fisher and Farmar improve greatly on defense, because opposing players will be scared to drive into the paint. Also, both Bynum and Gasol, especially, run the break well for their size. I'm not worried at all, and like Jerry West said, if there is a coach who can figure this out, it's Phil Jackson. Phil was estatic when we aquired Gasol. He couldn't wait to utilize Bynum and Gasol together, to create the twin towers. Like Bynumite said, if anything, I'm worried about Lamar. He needs to spend the offseason in the gym, improving his jumper and increasing his range if he wants to keep his starting job, and ultimately, remain with the Lakers.
Yeah, I actually have more concerns about Odom fitting into the system @ SF. Gasol can't take a full season of abuse @ the C spot + a playoff run. Eventually, we're going to have to slide him down to his natural PF position.
Gasol works best in the PF position. Bynum works best underneath the rim (literally). Gasol is a good jump shooter coming of the block and the elbow, and Bynum is fantastic at cleaning up the off jump shots and getting those great lob passes, thats where he gets all those points and rebounds. This allows gasol to play further away from the basket and roam a bit in the triangle (the center position in the triangle is always set low). Gasol will be able to utilize his natural skills better at PF, whatch to see his assists to go up a bit with bynum for the lob down low. I think Bynums game can really benefit from Gasols presence, it takes away some of the pressure off of him as the offensive rebounder and lets him focus more on his footwork and positioning, which is very important for the center in the triangle (something shaq was the greatest at). On defense we all know that having to talented 7-footers will give other teams head-akes. Gasol and Bynum can fill up the lane and stop gaurds from penetrating the lane. Seeing as Fisher and Farmar arent great at defense this helps them a whole lot more and lets them play up on their man, putting pressure on the dribble and passing lanes, something that we seem to be good at as a team. Bynum means more rebounds and more phisycal presence, which is really what we lacked against duncan this series, if we had bynum we would have gone 4-0. With both Bynum and Gasol, at least one of them will have a big night, every night, no team can gaurd TWO talented 7-footers.
It's easy to play transition defense when you're scoring every time you have the ball. The Lakers will lose their speed advantage, but they are going to destroy teams in the rebounding department with their frontline. The beauty of our lineup and the Triangle is the versatility we can play with. If Bynum and Gasol aren't meshing, the Lakers can easily play Bynum off the bench with the second unit. He was effective early in the season before he won the job from Kwame Brown.
I don't see why it's so difficult to bring Bynum off the bench if Bynum and Gasol doesn't work. That would give us two full units to work with, much like the beginning of this season when Kwame was starting. Remember how often the bench got us back into games when we were down? A lot of that is because of Bynum. Not to mention Farmar works very well with him.
