I want to see more of Ron and Bynum. We need Andrew this season if we want a long Dynasty. Although honestly, I think if we just get 20 solid minutes a game from him I would still feel comfortable about us repeating.
After watching pre-season I really think Bynum should come off the bench and lead the second unit. He's capable of starting, but I think he'd be more effective for us backing up Gasol and taking advantage of the opposing teams second unit front lines. Bynum still has conditioning issues and health concerns plus he's excess scoring when he plays with the starting unit. With our second unit you can have Walton feed him in the paint and have Shannon and Sasha spotting up behind the arc to stretch the defense. The chemistry with Odom-Artest-Gasol-Kobe is a lot more efficient on both ends of the court. Last night Mbenga had 7 or 8 blocks because of the defense funneling their man to him and he cleaned up with the block. The Lakers have a lot of length, quickness and athleticism on the court with Odom-Kobe-Artest shooting the gaps and challenging shooters. Odom has also improved his jumpshot dramatically (more on this later.)
Yeah I worry sometimes that Drew is too offensive-oriented. I want to see him take it easy off the Bench to start off the year. There was this big discussion in other places about Fish as well. I think Shannon has the potential to be a much better defender, and with three ball handlers (Kobe,Ron, LO), Shannon would fit just fine in the starting lineup.
Maybe at the start, he only played the first quarter. LO and Ron got about 25 minutes and they were off, that pretty much sealed the night. Artest has looked very unselfish though, I don't see that being a problem at all. His dribbling is clearly better than Trevor's as well. Sasha looks better in the pre-season too.
Forgot to post the video. [video=youtube;5Y7RrbZ14fs]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y7RrbZ14fs[/video]
