Should the lakers still try to pursue rondo?

[Kilroy]

Should we pursue Rondo? Of course... Every team probably should outside of maybe the handful that potentially have better PGs...

Could we land Rondo? not likely... But maybe possible...

Should we trade Pau? It might be time. But not at all costs.

[Stebo_SSK]

People need to get it out of there heads that Pau is going land LA another elite or all star player. Pau is good and great for LA when he isnt spaced out but no team is going to give up a young legitimate star for an aging Pau Gasol, especially at 19 million a year.

[Levity]

if the rockets still wanted to, would you guys be interested in the scola, martin, lowry for pau/ fillers trade. martin would be a nice instant offense player for the lakers off the bench. lowry is better suited for the team than session (he can shoot the 3), scola is not bad by any means, but we'd still be downgrading at the 4.
this allows houston to resign goran and make him the fulltime starter. a dragic,lee,parson,pau,camby lineup is probably enough for houston to make the playoffs, if they decided to make the trade.

[milesfides]

I don't like Lowry at all really. He's like Sessions but a bit better. Nothing elite about Lowry. I like Dragic much better, and he's fearless.

Anyways, it makes little sense to me to try to trade Pau for lesser value when we can trade Bynum and get much more in return.

Trading Bynum can probably get us an elite point guard and make us a much better balanced team.

Also, Gasol is just easier to play with. Building around Bynum, we have to re-tool the entire roster, imho.

[Levity]

I don't like Lowry at all really. He's like Sessions but a bit better. Nothing elite about Lowry. I like Dragic much better, and he's fearless.

i agree with you about dragic. hes a great point guard, and proven in the play offs as well. i just didnt include him in the initial scenario because i wasnt sure if teams are able to trade ufa in a sign and trade if it involves multiple players. but if that isnt the case, i would definitely love to see dragic on the lake show. he has good size for a pg, can defend, hit the 3, get into the paint, and run both a fast break and half court offense.

[milesfides]

I think Jeremy Lin and Goran Dragic are going to crack into the elite level soon.

Sure Chris Paul is great (but keep an eye on his knees), Deron may be elite, but didn't impress me with Sloan/Jazz exit, his year in NJ wasn't inspiring, Derrick Rose just tore his ACL, we'll see how he and Rubio come back, Tony Parker is 30, Nash is 50 years old, Steph Curry has glass ankles.

On the other hand, Westbrook and Kyrie Irving. Their stock is very high. Ty Lawson also helped himself, although he's a bit small. Don't think any of those guys are going anywhere, though.

I think if Jeremy Lin and Goran Dragic can get in the right situation, I think they'll be knocking on the door of being a top 5 PG in this league. As soon as next season, depending on how teams wheel and deal in the summer.

But I'm not sure if the Rockets will make Dragic available. But what may help Lin's availability is if the Knicks' appeal is granted and they're able to land Nash.

[Jajwanda]

There's no way they trade Bynum, although they should think about it. The Lakers starting five with Hill instead of Bynum is actually a really good one. Very good defensively, works on the offensive end, and it flows very well. Pau at the C position probably has a good couple years left as long as he's playing a reasonable amount of minutes like Garnett.

As far as Bynum goes, heck you could get quite a bit for him.

[milesfides]

Well, there were already reports that the Lakers had a standing offer of Bynum for D-Ho during the trade deadline. That's what allowed the Magic to coerce D-Ho to waive his ETO; sign it, or else "he would be a Laker by the end of the day."

So the Lakers are willing to move Bynum, for the right deal.

[Jajwanda]

Man Dwight would do the job. Dwight would make OKC and their P and R game, just completely stop in its tracks. He'd slide right into that role Hill plays with Gasol, except that much better. Perhaps Hill can improve his jumper and they'd have the ideal three man rotation.

That team could compete with OKC no doubt.

[Jetset]

Well, there were already reports that the Lakers had a standing offer of Bynum for D-Ho during the trade deadline. That's what allowed the Magic to coerce D-Ho to waive his ETO; sign it, or else "he would be a Laker by the end of the day."

So the Lakers are willing to move Bynum, for the right deal.

This was also before Howard's back injury, they could be less likely to do it without knowing if Howard will be the same. But Howard and his doctors seem pretty confident that he'll be 100% again, so I'd probably do it. But then again, I'm not them so...

[milesfides]

^yeah, I'm not 100% happy about D-Ho, because of how all that crap went down and his back injury. I don't want to make a list of character flaws, but dude, that guy has issues. Not that Bynum doesn't, oh Lord no, but D-Ho is no slam dunk for us. And his back...true, but there's Bynum's knee, too...but D-Ho will probably play hard every night.

How about the Lakers offer Bynum for Kyrie Irving and see what's up. Can't miss on that one, and we can finally stop worrying about PG for the next 15 years.

[Jetset]

With Irving just having won ROY no way they do it. Irving's going to be a star and one of the top PG's in the league in a couple of years when guys like CP3 and Deron begin to slow down, if not before. And if I were Cleveland I'd rather build around Irving than temperamental Bynum.

And about Howard that's one thing that cannot be questioned, effort. The guy gives you maximum effort on a nightly basis from the time the ball is tipped. And you can tell by how in shape he is that he has a hell of a work ethic. But there have been a couple games this season in particular where Howard didn't look like Howard, I don't know if the trade demand backlash was getting to him or if he had one foot out already on Orlando. But other than that Howard's performance has been very consistent this year and I have no reason to believe he wouldn't keep that up here in LA.

And that's another reason as to why Bynum needs to be traded, I don't trust his knee over the long haul. And his mental psyche does nothing but add to the doubts.

[milesfides]

Still, Bynum is one of two best centers in the league. That's pretty rare, and players like that don't come around every year. And this league's talent is leaning toward PG.

I mean, sure, I, along with many fans have been frustrated with Bynum, but objectively speaking, it's hard to deny that Bynum would have a larger role and better numbers on a different team. He could be even more effective if a team were built around him from ground up. If you're not the Lakers with Kobe and Pau, he could be exactly what most teams want: building around a young, elite center.

Let's say Kyrie Irving is a top 5 PG already; what would teams choose, all things being equal, a top 5 PG or a top 2 center? There's just a huge falloff in talent at the center position in the NBA. Point guard talent is fairly deep, relatively speaking.

On the Lakers, a top 2 center may not be as valuable as a top 5 point guard, because you have Kobe and Pau. That doesn't reflect Bynum's value around the league.

You have Bynum, you have a chance to build a contender.

If you're Cleveland, having Irving and Tristan Thompson doesn't guarantee anything except maybe making the playoffs one day. And there's no guarantee they'll ever get an elite center...EVER.

Bynum would be a franchise savior for many teams. Just not necessarily the Lakers, because we're not building from scratch.

[Jajwanda]

In a couple years he will be though and that's their reasoning behind keeping him. There just aren't many teams that can stop someone like him anymore, most Cs suck at one-on-one defense on Bynum.

With Bynum you could easily have a transition oriented team at the other positions while having a guy to go to inside.

I think the Lakers intention was this:

PG- Paul
SG- Bryant
SF- athletic wing like Ebanks or Barnes
PF- Beasley
C- Bynum

Perhaps that's still the next model for a great team.