Yeah, bench him. Gasol and Drew just aren't working right now in the post. It is too clogged. It seems like if Gasol has a good game, Drew doesn't. If Drew has a good game, Gasol doesn't. When Gasol was out, Bynum was a fucking beast. I think the solution is simple, let Bynum head the 2nd unit. He may not like it, but I think it is a move that has to be done until the two can learn to play together in the paint in practice and through limited minutes together on the court. Until that happens, let Drew be the anchor of the 2nd unit instead of Lamar. He may not like it, but I think he'll benefit from it.
I still feel Drew gives us a post presence and a presence defensively that Pau/Lamar cannot give us. He struggled on Christmas (could be his health, not prepared, whatever) but I'm much more confident with someone like Drew manning up on a Shaquille O'Neal than Pau or Lamar. Same thing goes for Perkins/Howard and the rest of the centers in the league. I know we've already won it all without his contributions, and Pau played some terrific D on Dwight when Drew got in foul trouble 2 minutes into the game, but we're still most dangerous with a Pau/Drew front court. Drew was a monster when Pau was out, but sooner or later these two have to figure out how to play together. It's not like Drew's play took a nose dive as soon as Pau returned. He still played very well upon Pau's return, it has only been the recent stretch of games where he's starting to struggle, which is exactly when news of his illness was reported. If I were in charge, I'd tell him to shut it down for a couple of games and come back when he feels 100%, it's obvious his illness has effected his game, although it seems like he bounced back tonight? Knowing Phil though, and how much he loves to experiment, I guess it wouldn't hurt to switch Drew and LO around for a couple of games. At the end of the day though, I still think we're best with a healthy Pau/Drew up front and LO off the bench.
second unit will suffer alot if this happened. we need bynum out there to protect the paint. we need lamar off the bench so we havent got weak players filling in for starters. lamar also provides leadership for the bench squad, something bynum does not. if anyone should be benched its fisher, i dont see how he deserves his spot over fisher or shannon, his opponents absolutely murder him every single night, he is a huge liability and i dont give a flying fuck what he did for this team 9, 8 years ago, fuck that i care what he does now, and it isnt much. if he could control what goes on on the court than bynum and pau would have no issues. bynum and pau need more touches, especially since they arent getting nearly half of the deserved touches whaen they are in good positions to score. also we need to drop vujacic right away, or send him to d-league, just do something with his sorry ass because he can flat out not play the game of basketball, period.
I agree that in the end, we're going to need the two of them on the court together for the best shot to win. I just think for now, if we're going to keep playing him through his illness, we need to bring him off the bench and let him get rolling with the 2nd unit. I think Gasol needs to learn to play with Drew a bit better, too. When you've got this many talented players on your team, you need to sacrifice a little bit. I haven't noticed Gasol willing to sacrifice his post presence a bit. Today against the Suns, he went up against a double team when Bynum was open under the basket as well for an easy lob. I'm not saying make Bynum the man point of the post offense, but Gasol needs to get him incorporated as well. I have confidence in Drew getting healthy and getting going again, but until he is healthy, I think maybe he should come off the bench.
Lamar is having a slow start, but I do see that Pau and Andrew play too similarly. Pau enjoys the paint and rightfully so, he also wants to extend his career. But it is like we have two centers on offense, I see that as a problem. If Bynum needs a break or whatever, give it to him. If Odom gets back to normal I would not mind him starting with Pau.
But see, Pau has the ability to play the high post as well. I don't know why Phil doesn't exploit that.
