<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">So much for good health in the New Year. Those hopes ended for the Lakers as soon as center Kwame Brown went down with a severely sprained left ankle in the third quarter of Sunday night's 104-94 victory against the Philadelphia 76ers. With Lamar Odom's return from a sprained knee ligament uncertain, the Lakers now will be forced to play without a second injured starter. They also will have to make due with Andrew Bynum and Ronny Turiaf as their primary big men. </div>LA Daily News Source Wow the Lakers have lost some depth to injuries in big men. Mihm, then Odom, now Kwame.
Bynum HAS to step up. Ofcourse all the injures will make it tougher for Kobe. But we all know that Kobe can still give us many W's. In Kobe We Trust !;D Amen. ;D
At least the Lakers have decent depth at center. If any other team lost their first two centers and their starting SF they probably would be in really bad shape. Kings would lose for example: Brad Miller, Potanko, and Artest Dallas would lose: Damp, Diop, and Josh Howard (actually Dallas would do fine) Rockets: Yao, Dekembe, and Tmac Detroit: Nazr, Dale Davis, Tayshawn The Lakers are doing really well considering their injuries so far. Which would be worse right now? losing Bynum and Turiaf or to lose Kobe?
Lakers just can't get a break. If Bynum goes out too, we might as well go small like Phoenix with Vlad at center, Luke/Kobe at forward, and Evan/Smush at guard.
Well if they lost Bynum, they would still have Cook, VRad, and Turiaf. Obviously Phil wouldn't like having to have only 3 players who can play PF and C. Especially if Vlad doesn't play the Phil wants him to and if any of them get into foul trouble the Lakers would just be short on bodies. With 4 players @ PF and C they seem to have enough.
Our frontcourt has turned into the annual Denver Nugget M.A.S.H. unit. Chris Mihm - Out Lamar Odom - Out Kwame Brown - Out Ronny Turiaf - Sore hips Losing Kwame puts all the pressure on Andrew Bynum to hold down the middle and produce consistently until our guys get healthy again. We can only cross our fingers and hope he can produce like he did in the first few games of the season. I felt coming into this season one of our main strengths was the overall size of our roster. Now our greatest strength is out of the equation and it sets back the approach the team will have to take the next couple of weeks. With all these injuries, last year's version of Kobe Bryant will have to re-emerge and start scoring 40+ a night to give the Lakers a chance to win. This is something neither Kobe or the coaches wanted, but the Lakers are forced into this predicament, because I don't think the rest of the roster is ready to step it up more than they already have. It's just realistic to count on Luke Walton turning into a rebounding machine, and also scoring 20 PPG. It's also not realistic to count on Bynum to come in and become the dominant center he's been groomed to be. Mentally he's not ready to handle the pressure, and his experience will show the more he plays.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Our frontcourt has turned into the annual Denver Nugget M.A.S.H. unit. Chris Mihm - Out Lamar Odom - Out Kwame Brown - Out Ronny Turiaf - Sore hips Losing Kwame puts all the pressure on Andrew Bynum to hold down the middle and produce consistently until our guys get healthy again. We can only cross our fingers and hope he can produce like he did in the first few games of the season. I felt coming into this season one of our main strengths was the overall size of our roster. Now our greatest strength is out of the equation and it sets back the approach the team will have to take the next couple of weeks. With all these injuries, last year's version of Kobe Bryant will have to re-emerge and start scoring 40+ a night to give the Lakers a chance to win. This is something neither Kobe or the coaches wanted, but the Lakers are forced into this predicament, because I don't think the rest of the roster is ready to step it up more than they already have. It's just realistic to count on Luke Walton turning into a rebounding machine, and also scoring 20 PPG. It's also not realistic to count on Bynum to come in and become the dominant center he's been groomed to be. Mentally he's not ready to handle the pressure, and his experience will show the more he plays.</div>I agree that Kobe will probably will be relied on to score more than the team wanted prior to injuries. Everyone says Kobe isn't healthy yet, so can he handle the additional needs of the team? -I think you meant Luke Walton realistically is not a 20 ppg guy and monstrous rebounder. -How long will Turiaf be out for? (1 game?) I'll be interested in seeing how Bynum plays when the Lakers' depth at center is weakened.
