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is the time ever going to come where pau surpasses kobe as this team's #1 player?

pau seems to have taken his game to a whole new level, and kobe isn't getting any younger. seems like this fan base is hesitant to put pau on equal footing with kobe, but i think its time we start to consider it. he's arguably the best scoring big man in the league, is arguably the best passing big man in the league, and is a strong rebounder as well (leads the league in double doubles). kobe's struggling a bit with his shot, and his defense has seen better days. despite that, he still draws the most attention of from the defense of the two i would say. pau without a doubt has his shortcomings, but he's been the lakers' most consistent player going back to last season imo.

i think pau is just as important as kobe to this team at this point. 1A and 1B status, not #1 and #2.

thoughts?

Teams are still overloading the strong side of the court to swarm kobe. He recieves much much more defensive attention than Pau, even in a slowed down state.

I don't think there is a better example of this than last night. Look at the difference in how the warriors defended kobe compared to pau. The warriors, a team with little inside presence, was virtually conceding the inside to pau so they could send three guys to kobe's side.

Pau is a great player, but he doesn't recieve nearly the attention from the opposing defense that Kobe does, and he benefits greatly from this. Pau has been consistent all season and has played well, but he has a long way to go to have as much as an impact on the lakers than Kobe.

I think the easiest way to look at this is when Bynum returns, I believe (and I think this would be a pretty common belief) that Pau's numbers are going to go to down. Would that mean he is a lesser player? Of course not. In the same vein, Pau has put up incredible numbers so far, but it dependent upon the circumstances he is in.

kobe has to figure that out for himself. and to some extent i think he has. but the continous jacking of shots "days" are over in my opinion. he must and maybe he is willing to conform and give the load off to others, especially pau. last year was a great run during the playoffs, but boston had a serious lockdown defense that challenged him, and he opened up because of it. he put up so many shots, that they focused on him and guys were WIDE OPEN.

lets say MIAMI is the team we meet in the finals. there will definitely be more applied pressure on our guards and kobe, moreso than pau. miami doesnt have the firepower on the interior, and i "think" kobe will adjust his game.

It's looking like he already has... in all honesty, will Lakers fans be happy for Pau if he gets the MVP? Or is it just going to be trench warfare, like when Nash got it, denying till they die that he was worthy of it...

kobe and pau have always been "1a and 1b" imo. but come on this is kobe's team, and talent wise pau would never better than kobe.

When Kobe retires.

I dont think staples center fans are ready to chant mvp for pau like how boston fans chant rondo for mvp. Paus been pretty solid lately his numbers will decline as bynum comes back and kobe will still put up his numbers.

I agree, cash. They both are of equal importance to the team at this point in time. But, this notion of "Pau's team" isn't happening. For the reasons that he'll never surpass KB in the leadership & intangibles department enough to receive those keys.

Pau just doesn't strike me as that kind of guy. Kobe on the other hand is the alpha dog along with our vocal leader. I think this board highly undervalues the leadership and boost Kobe has on this team's psyche as well.

I'd be very fine with it being a known 1-2 punch combo, though. These two are both vital to our team but just in two completely different ways.

When Bynum comes back, Pau's scoring and rebound numbers will drop.

I don't know when Pau will catch up to Kobe in impact but I don't think it will be this year (though they are not that far apart)

Ah, I forgot about AB.

Scratch that, in the long run, KB is still the clear best player. Pau has been consistently great but only because Bynum has been consistently injured. If and when Bynum does manage to give us some durability, our dependence on Pau decreases. Of course thats a big if... >.>

So far this season I give Pau the slight edge over Kobe as the better player. The thing is Pau really can't play that much better than he is now. I can see him being more efficient once he is back at the four though. With Kobe its frustrating to watch him at times because you know he can play better than he is now.

Kobe is only 2 years older than Pau. So its not like Pau is that much younger. With Kobe's knee surgery and Bynum being out. I think you have to make this assessment at least at the all star break. Seems like the past few years people like to write Kobe off. Then he comes back and proves he's the undisputed #1 in the league.

Kobe will never let anyone be more important than him, shoot more than him, have the ball more than him, talk more tham him etc. etc. Is that so difficult to understand ?

We know very well Kobe. He's an example for me, but I still think he'd rather lose a finals series than winning with Pau or anyone else getting the MVP award or whatever.

haters gonna hate

Never

mike- wrote:Teams are still overloading the strong side of the court to swarm kobe. He recieves much much more defensive attention than Pau, even in a slowed down state.

I don't think there is a better example of this than last night. Look at the difference in how the warriors defended kobe compared to pau. The warriors, a team with little inside presence, was virtually conceding the inside to pau so they could send three guys to kobe's side.

Pau is a great player, but he doesn't recieve nearly the attention from the opposing defense that Kobe does, and he benefits greatly from this. Pau has been consistent all season and has played well, but he has a long way to go to have as much as an impact on the lakers than Kobe.

I think the easiest way to look at this is when Bynum returns, I believe (and I think this would be a pretty common belief) that Pau's numbers are going to go to down. Would that mean he is a lesser player? Of course not. In the same vein, Pau has put up incredible numbers so far, but it dependent upon the circumstances he is in.

This. When teams actually start gearing their defensive schemes towards stopping Pau first and Kobe second, you can consider Gasol the team's leader, offensive hub, or whatever particular title you assign to being the team's primary offensive option.

Pau has definitely assumed some more offensive responsibility to start the season off (a very good thing), and only hope he continues to be this assertive when Drew comes back.