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When there was nothing really wrong with Bynum in the regular season, Jackson still tried to hold him to fewer than 30 minutes per game ... just to minimize exposure to possible injury. Bynum is already and will continue to be extremely valuable, but you can't change the reality that he can never be a franchise player.

A true star doesn't just bring it at the highest level three out of four games, with the one clunker usually not even very loud. He is there every night for the fans to revere and the role players to surround. He is spectacular and dependable in a game Jackson notes fundamentally gives you "feet under feet and collisions."

Bynum has been playing so well that it drives people to imagine how dominant he'd be if he didn't have to defer so much to these other great Lakers. They speculate about how commanding he'd be if he had the same opportunities as Dwight Howard – overlooking that Howard has played 567 of 574 possible games in his NBA career. http://www.ocregister.com/sports/-297685--.html

Doormatt wrote:Sooooo Bynum can never be a franchise player is the point of this?

Not exactly breaking news. IMO he's already our 2nd most valuable player, I'm sure that's good enough for him.

Doormatt wrote:Lol no I didn't. I just read the excerpt.

Bryant is the guy who once came out to the court the day after Devean George writhed in pain under the basket after spraining his ankle and sprawled out there in the same spot George went down, rolling around and flailing about and cracking up teammates with utter mockery of George's miscalculation as to his injury severity.

SLiCK_TALKA_19 wrote:That is probably true, Im too lazy to pull up facts. But Bynum is a youngster what is he 21? 22? When Shaq was in his 20's was putting the Orlando Magic on his back and taking them to the finals against the great Olajuwon and my personal favorite Big Shot Bob. You can't compare. Even when Shaq was in LA I don't remember him missing more than a couple games at a time.

Doormatt wrote:Sooooo Bynum can never be a franchise player is the point of this?

Not exactly breaking news. IMO he's already our 2nd most valuable player, I'm sure that's good enough for him.

SashAlex wrote:If he finally finds a way to be healthy for much longer periods of time, then our future looks brighter after Kobe decides to hang up his shoes imho.

NextToJack wrote:Sometimes I wish Pau would get hurt or be traded to prove to all those fans who believe Odom and/or Bynum are more important.

NextToJack wrote:

Doormatt wrote:Sooooo Bynum can never be a franchise player is the point of this?

Not exactly breaking news. IMO he's already our 2nd most valuable player, I'm sure that's good enough for him.

Pau Gasol is and always has been our second most important player. And when Kobe retires in 3-4 years. Pau will be our #1. Sometimes I wish Pau would get hurt or be traded to prove to all those fans who believe Odom and/or Bynum are more important. Pau's absence would greatly diminish our effectiveness on offense. Not to mention our reputation as a contender. But we are spoiled. He never gets hurt.

Show Pau some respect. He deserves it.

Bynum on the other hand is nothing but potential. Flashes here and there. But never anything consistent. Don't give me this nonsense about his consistency post allstar break. Gasol has been killing it for us for 3 years straight.

27 out of 27
81 out of 82
65 out of 82
82 out of 82 regular season games. Not counting playoff games.

Must we list Bynums games played?

Pau is a machine. And his "softness" contributes to him being available every night from game 1 of the regular season to game 7 of the nba finals. Pah-lease.

Another thing. Bynum is mentally weak. Always has been. He needs to be in the starting lineup or he will bitch and moan and not be able to focus coming in as a bench player. He is the text book example of a player needing a sports psychologist. To keep him in good spirits or to inspire him to be agressive. I have been saying things along these lines since the day he blew up for 28pts in the long beach summer league then followed it up with 8pts or something in that range. I went to that game with buddies, who to this day, are still on his jock for no good reason.

Also Bynum is very effective now....because he plays off Gasol. Without Gasol Bynum would revert to something weaker than what we all expect.

LA Forever wrote:

NextToJack wrote:Sometimes I wish Pau would get hurt or be traded to prove to all those fans who believe Odom and/or Bynum are more important.

You want him to get hurt or traded just to prove a point?

Doormatt wrote:
certainly pau is a more productive player than bynum offensively, and is healthier, but in terms of value to winning a championship, bynum is #2 to kobe. lakers cant win a title without him anchoring the D. as far as value to this team winning a championship, bynum>gasol. and please dont bring up past years. obviously pau was more valuable, but not this year, lakers are a totally different team when bynum brings the D. he elevates us from pretenders to contenders, but thats just my opinion.

in other words, we arent winning a championship if we get the same injured bynum we've seen the past 2 seasons. in that regard, he's gone from #4/#5 in terms of value, to #2.

lakers arent doing anything with pau as the #1, especially if kobe isnt around.

NextToJack wrote:

Doormatt wrote:Sooooo Bynum can never be a franchise player is the point of this?

Not exactly breaking news. IMO he's already our 2nd most valuable player, I'm sure that's good enough for him.

Pau Gasol is and always has been our second most important player. And when Kobe retires in 3-4 years. Pau will be our #1. Sometimes I wish Pau would get hurt or be traded to prove to all those fans who believe Odom and/or Bynum are more important. Pau's absence would greatly diminish our effectiveness on offense. Not to mention our reputation as a contender. But we are spoiled. He never gets hurt.