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He cant handle all these heavy minute games which I dont blame him either. He's not conditioned for that. Not to mention he never shows up on road games in hostile enviroments.

He's the best second option in the league(after Lebron ) and thats not a bad thing. But he will never be THE GUY for the Lakers.

We need Bynum back big time.

NO we just need to get rid of that waste of air Fisher, without that waste of skin Lakers would win a lot more fing games.

I agree pau is out of gas, this reminds me of early last season, he was beasting and all of a sudden he broke down.

thats why the homies that talked about pau being mvp a couple weeks ago, or taking over #1 over kobe on the lakers need to chill. where are those folks now.. penberthy? hehe

i don't think the minutes is as important as the grind against true centers. he's a pf.

dcash4 wrote:i don't think the minutes is as important as the grind against true centers. he's a pf.

Can't agree with that he played against much tougher centers in 07-08 and came out pretty fine. He did his hamstring today during the game, got examined and played through it and if that isn't an indication of wear and tear I don't know what else is.

dcash4 wrote:i don't think the minutes is as important as the grind against true centers. he's a pf.

Thank you Cash, been saying this like forever....he'll never be able to handle big physical guys period.

yeah, i heard about the hammy on the radio driving home. didn't watch the game. the minutes definitely play a part, but its exponentially worse when its against centers.

i just can't put it all on just straight minute fatigue when we're barely a month into the season after the first summer off he's had in like forever. may be having his summer's full of international play kept his body in shape for the grind and the summer off kinda softened up his body.

thats kind of sad that he's already having wear and tear issues.

Kobe.

DEEP3CL wrote:

dcash4 wrote:i don't think the minutes is as important as the grind against true centers. he's a pf.

Thank you Cash, been saying this like forever....he'll never be able to handle big physical guys period.

I think what's rubbed people the wrong way (and I'm not talking specifically about you DEEP, just about that argument in general) is the whole labeling of "soft".

Pau can't play center against true centers because Pau's game and his body-type are not that of a true center.

Most of the criticism seems to be aimed at Pau for being a pussy or it being mental... when in reality it's more than that. It's not his position. Plain and clear. Dude may be a 7 footer, but he's not a classic 7 footer. His greatest strength happens to be his greatest weakness. Ironically that's what makes him special.

People riding Pau endlessly about not being a center is as dumb as people riding Lamar for not being the next Pippen. That's just not their game. It's never going to happen. Pau was a small forward when he came into the league. He's being forced to play out of position by management.

Bynum's been injured for 4 seasons now.

It's inexcusable they haven't found a legit backup at this point. We've expected too much for too long from Pau.


EDIT: I was looking back and found this thread about our center depth...really wish I didn't call it.

I think the management is in a bind because they cannot sign anyone of quality for 10 day contracts and expect them to do a better job than Caracter and at the same time no decent big (Like Damp) will accept a contract fully knowing that he'll be frozen out of rotation when Bynum returns.

Anyone worried lamar might be the next one to gassed out? that guy haven't had any rest yet this year...back to back championship run, USA team...

we need Drew back ASAP!

True J-Far, or Slava, you know who I mean. It's a tough situation, but my point is we should have known this could be an issue since Pau playing heavy minutes at center has been our last 4 seasons.

And yeah we really need to figure out how to spell Lamar sometimes, but damn he played so well tonight.

What I wonder, is if Artest is backing up Lamar at PF and only play 17 minutes in a game like tonight...is he even going to crack 14 when Bynum comes back?

What's the rotation going to be like? Or does Barnes need to start? I think Artest isn't getting out of this funk if he only plays 20 mpg. Guys who aren't used to coming off the bench (and don't get big minutes like Lamar does) don't perform so hot. Especially if they have confidence issues like Ron Ron.

True that. Artest being off color is as much worrying as Pau's health. A fully confident Ron can handle most PFs in this league.

May be should dangle our rookies as trade bait along with Sasha's expiring to get back a serviceable PF/C. I wonder what Turiaf's situation like in NY.

SlavaMedvedenko wrote:

dcash4 wrote:i don't think the minutes is as important as the grind against true centers. he's a pf.

Can't agree with that he played against much tougher centers in 07-08 and came out pretty fine. He did his hamstring today during the game, got examined and played through it and if that isn't an indication of wear and tear I don't know what else is.

I have to agree with cash. The reason that he's wearing down is the minutes he's logging at Center. Hubie Brown has said on a number of occasions Pau is not a Center, flat out, We get by with him there but he can't handle it for 82 games.

Oh don't you bring up Turiaf!

He's exactly the kind of guy we need. Too good to be true, man. Too good to be true.

Sucks that theres no Mbenga this year. He is EXACTLY what we need right now. Caracter really sucks and I hope he gets freezes out or goes to the D-League once Bynum returns

You got to wonder if not signing a back up big man is hurting that much more. Even when Ratliff comes back. Is he more than a 5 minute a game player. Is he really worth waiting on. The goal is to win #3 in a row. If we just sit here and hope all will be fine someday. Will it be to late to make up all those games we lost.

Well I really wished we signed Shaq because it would have been so awesome to see our 2 dynasties together for one last hoorah w/ Phil and it would show how mature Kobe is and Kobe would still always have more rings than Shaq.

But Shaq and Buss have a beef that would never allow it.

We need health to win. This one will be the toughest. And odds are we lose. I hope the players are calm but understand they have to have a fire in their belly come April and Kobe has to be the MVP on O.

Defensively I hope every other Laker tries to be the MVP. This team can be historic but Artest and Barnes have not been All-NBA defenders this season. Bynum should be able to block 3 shots a night on this team.