Either Lamar or Bynum need to be benched

[LLcoleJ]

-= original quote snipped =-

Unfortunately, odom getting payed 14 mil to rebound and dribble is blah... if he had the ability to defend he would be perfect for the team. Fact is team needs to be able to defend or else championship will remain unreachable and we need a james posey or bruce bowen kind of guy.

yeah his name is Ariza

[brandonkb8]

Ur crazy Odoms natural position is SF.....Gasols natural position is PF, and Bynums natural position is C.....Its perfect!...Odom will be better at SF because hes going to be bigger then almost every SF there is and plus hes fast enough to keep up with them to!!! its perfect!!!!!

[LAKESHOW]

i agree. for the lineup to work, walton needs to be inserted as starter. get his shot back in the right rhythm and direction. he already has the passing instincts. and stick gasol down there next to him and bynum.

the big key is this, having lamar now coming off of the bench . . . THIS WILL WORK! lamar has a run and gun style of play that will work very well with farmar. and lamar should be able to take down any teams 2ndsquad scrubs.

thats a good fit. bench lamar, start walton.

[ELaw31]

The spacing on the floor won't be right with Odom, Gasol and Bynum on the floor at the same time.

Odom has a bad jumpshot, teams can easily double off him. His strength is putbacks, rebounds, and driving on slow power forwards. All stuff he can't use when playing small forward. And if he did play in the post he'd either crowd it up or force Gasol to be a midrange jumpshooter which is a waste of his talents.

I think we'll all agree that Lamar is better at PF than SF.

Now Gasol is an all star so it would be ridiculous to bench him. So that either means we bench Odom or Bynum. And bring in one of our SFs, Radman, Luke, or Ariza. I think any one of them would work.

Bynum has experience with the bench mob and we know he's dominant in that role but then again he has to start eventually. Odom I'm not sure I trust running the 2nd unit.

Who do you guys go with? Or maybe we should leave all 3 in the front court, why or why not?

There have been reports on ESPN that Bynum might not even return THIS SEASON. That the injury will take much longer than they originally thought. Besides, I doubt they will trade Odom. This trade should put some energy on this team and help them believe that they can win now.

[dingclancy]

No one has to be benched. If they need shooting and spacing then bring in Radmanovic or move Kobe to SF with Farmar and Fisher. Their are a lot of permutations that we can do that does not warrant Odom being out of the starting 5.

I think right now we are just nitpicking this time. The Lakers are fine, if they need spacing they will adjust and we have the people for it. Basketball is not black and white.

Plus, Phil always believes in a pecking order just to have structure to the team. Reason why we keep playing sasha over Critt.

[KObe Bryant]

Lamar and Bynum should stay as a starter. Lamar should be SF always, he's so fast, he's unselfish, he dominates the boards and he score when needed.


This should be our starting lineup without Bynum

PG-Fisher
SG-Bryant
SF-Odom
PF-Turiaf
C-Gasol

But if we have Bynum,

PG-Fisher
SG-Bryant
SF-Odom
PF-Gasol
C-Bynum

[JordansBulls]

fisher/farmar
bryant/sasha
walton/ariza
gasol/odom
bynum/turiaf

Start Ariza for defense. Everyone on the floor doesn't need to be a scorer.

[Dexmor]

We don't bench either. Gasol can go out and hit the 15 footer that Odom can't. Gasol can do everything. He is one of those very good at everything great at nothing players and he won't guard sf's but could easily play some outside with Odom so they can all start.
I heard Bill Walton say we are to big. That is rediocoulus. No such thing as to big. Gasol is a 7 footer but is super mobile. Plus like Phil said Odom wasn't exactly a post man.

[CDB]

I dont feel like we need to bench Odom, remember his natural position is the 3. I feel like a frontcourt of Bynum, Pau and Mar is a better fit for us because the bench is already strong. That starting front court would cause so much problems because of the height and aglity of is. If Odom can get his confidence up and be a slasher then that would be even better for us. But if we are to bench him I would mind seeing Kobe go to the 3 and have Sasha start, to give him that confidence and outside shooting for when Pau or Bynum is getting doubled.

[ahwi_quacoe]

Kareem
AC Green
Worthy
Scott
MAgic

I don't see why Odom can't start at the three , Green Couldn't really shoot and Worthy was a slasher. Lamar has a better all around game than Worthy in terms of skill set , runs the fast break just as well and rebounds at a better rate than Worthy did . So why bench him

[Mamba Venom]

Stupid idea

LO is less effective at the 3 but is a good to great 3. Perfect glue guy.

[daddyfivestar]

When Bynum returns, the second unit could compete with starting fives if LO is in it... with Farmar, Ronny, and Luke, and if Sasha keeps developing that scorers mentality. Ohhhh.

Fisher/Kobe/Ariza/Gasol/Bynum
Farmar/Sasha/Luke/Odom/Ronny

plus Vlad the impaler, DJ Mblockya, Coby light, and Mihmster, depending on who is healthy.