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Im curious to read people opinions of our dynamic duo. Is it everything you thought it would be? Did you expect more? Im well aware that we have won 2 Chips with 3 Finals appearances but how much of that has to do with the Lakers just having tons of talent, not necessarily our dominate bigs working together.

Not gonna lie, with our big front line I thought we were about to be the 03-04 pistons.

Nice sig.




I feel like Gasol and Bynum just never learned how to play on the floor at the same time.

Patience is a virtue!

Last time i checked, Gasol, Bynum and Odom together are the most feared front court in the league. Our bigs are the least of our worries. EVERYTHING had to do with our bigs. Our bigs ARE our talent. And i'll keep mentioning Odom in there because you cant really talk about a duo when you talk about Lakers' front court presence. When people talk about talent this and talent that, what they really mean is Odom's versatility, Gasol's fine-tuned fundamentals, and Bynum's ridiculous size etc (we all know what Kobe can do). I mean ask Hubie Brown or JVG how much they mentioned lakers bigs/size last season.

We won it because of our size and versatility down low, and we lost it because teams figured out that they can put Bynum on Barea and shoot lights out from 3pt land where the air is thin for bigs (see Dallas series). Cant really blame Bynum and Gasol for that.

If we get shooters to negate the 3pt/spacing advantage, we are pretty much guaranteed a title.

I made this thread because over time Ive read post from the likes of semi-sentient and other posters on how they didnt really think Bynum and Gasol played well together. This is not a Gasol vs Bynum thread, this is not a Our front court is the most feared. Im just really curious on what people think about the on floor chemistry between Gasol and Bynum. Can they play better together or is this the peak?

iamworthy wrote:I made this thread because over time Ive read post from the likes of semi-sentient and other posters on how they didnt really think Bynum and Gasol played well together. This is not a Gasol vs Bynum thread, this is not a Our front court is the most feared. Im just really curious on what people think about the on floor chemistry between Gasol and Bynum. Can they play better together or is this the peak?

I thought u were asking "are they doing enough" and "how much of our success is due to their play"... I think they could do better in terms of playing together on the defensive end. but overall (especially since they are the most feared), they certainly do good enough for winning championships.

i loved what gasol/bynum and LO brought at this regular season. LO doing his thing on his way to 6th man of the yr, Bynum becoming the defensive juggernaut we all knew he could be, and Pau being the offensive force that led oue inside presence. I don't know what happened to Pau and his suckage at the end, but I saw enough during the season to tell me that its the best front court in the NBA when they're playing the roles we saw they could play.

Big men can be peculiar creatures.

Most have been born and raised as the ONLY legit big man on the floor for the respective teams.

The simple fact is that 99.8% of big men with post up games have no clue on how to play with another big who also has a post up game. Look at your history to affirm that point.

Bynum and Gasol are no different. When one of them is CLEARLY dubbed as the main post up option, that player usually goes off. When the role is not defined, they both suffer.

In my opinion, a big man who gets most of his touches with his back to the basket has to feel as though he will get the touches he deserves for defending the paint and running the floor.

When you reward your big for holding down the paint, he plays better.

The Lakers can't consisitently reward Gasol and/or Bynum because they have two potential 20/10 guys and a Hall of Fame 30 point scorer to boot.

Bynum and Gasol have never played well together and probably never will, unless one of them agrees to be a glorified role player.

If that were the case, Gasol's ego would take a major blow. And if Bynum accepted such a role, it could be stifling a young man's growth (especially if you ask him to concede to the Pau Gasol who plays with an inferiority complex).

I've always said that one of them should go for a competent backup center and a dynamic, starting PG.

Nothing has changed.

Bynum and Gasol played great together most of the 2nd half of the yr before Gasol's game took an unexplained dive.

As far as accepting their role, Bynum took shots at the lowest rate since 06-07 and played the best D of his career.

dockingsched wrote:Bynum and Gasol played great together most of the 2nd half of the yr before Gasol's game took an unexplained dive.

As far as accepting their role, Bynum took shots at the lowest rate since 06-07 and played the best D of his career.

I agree. I don't know what people expect when they talk about "playing well together". Bynum has come to accept the role of Enforcer. That means a focus on the defensive end. Gasol on the other hand continues to be Mr. Spanish Fundamental that we all know he is (except for last part of season)... If offensive focus plus defensive focus isnt "playing well together" then i dunno what else to expect...

I mean these are 7-footers ALL HAIL. You cant rate their "playing well together" on the same level as uhm... a Chris Paul paired with a 3peat Shaq.

Pau and Bynum together leave a lot more to be desired, outside of flashes.

Now with that said, Pau and Lamar or Andrew and Lamar work seamlessly together on both ends.

Odom is the buffer that makes the 3 big experiment work. Both guys play much better off of him on both ends and stay more involved throughout the years next to him for large sums of minutes. The rotations are crisper, the passing is better, the glass is hit harder, and our spacing looks far better for Kobe to survey and attack when it is just one of those two and Lamar on the court.

The fact is both are centers. You can talk all you want about Pau being a PF, but the fact is Pau has played more time at C in his Laker career than he has at PF, considerably more time with better production. Last postseason and regular season was the most time Pau saw at power forward and his offense and defense suffered against the athleticism (Landry) and quickness (Dirk) that the players at the position have over him night in and night out, taking away his ability to pull them out and go around them or get in front for a charge or contest.

Andrew played great when he finally got his legs under him, there is no taking that away from him. The fact is though he is a walking question mark. He is very injury prone and that in term makes him very inconsistent and hard to count on nightly.

The thing we know is that Andrew and Odom have twice before gotten the team the number 1 record out west at one point and time with Pau either not being a Laker or hurt. We also know that Pau and Lamar have primarily managed the C and PF minutes respectively on the way to 3 Finals, 2 titles, and 3 years as the number 1 seed as well. We do not, I repeat do not know largely because of luck if Pau and Andrew could every get us the number one seed or a title together while consuming the majority of the big man minutes for a long stretch because Lamar has been the one member of the trio consistently healthy and ready to suit up every night.

All that said, on a personal note I would not object to seeing Pau or Andrew dealt and sliding Lamar up a spot if it was for another piece, like Deron Williams, since history and large past sample sizes tells us clearly that Lamar is the best PF and complimentary big to both guys.

This year was really looking to be the year they got figured it out. Bynum had a lesser role on offense and was still performing at a high level defensively but Pau just seemed to hit a wall. Remember when Pau opened the season up as an MVP candidate favorite? If we had that Pau playing alongside the Bynum we saw after the All Star game break we would have been nearly unbeatable. Bynum's style of play was the perfect complementary style to Pau Gasol's style early in the year.

I believe fatigue was the main reason for Pau late season struggles last year but even with Bynum. Management wasn't clearly anticipated for Bynum to be back sooner than he was. To make things worse the guy we signed to ease the minutes off Pau just happened to get hurt which forced Pau to play a ton of minutes.

With the signing of Mike Brown we are going to see a lot more of Pau and Bynum. Kobe and Pau were clearly the team's 1st and 2nd options but Bynum always got caught up in the mix for his role as a 3rd option. If he was a 3rd option he sure as hell wasn't always being used as one. I have no idea how Shannon Brown was allowed to come off the bench and average more shot attempts per game than Bynum did. We could finally see the full potential of this duo.

Just calling a spade a spade, we never really utilized Drew and Pau in the correct manner. To say they haven't played well together is a strong reach because we know they've never had a solid chance at playing together a lot. Since Pau came here in February of 2008, he has played in 255 of a possible 273 in a Laker uniform. At the same time Drew has played 204 of 328. Ironically in 09/10 both Pau and Drew both played in 65 games each.

Being in and out of a line up, you're never going to establish a real chemistry. That said I think they've done about as well as you can expect them to do despite the circumstances with injuries to both at different times. In the small samples we've saw when both are healthy and playing solid, we've been close to unbeatable.

But a lot of Drew's containment was a byproduct of a few factors, 1 being Phil, 2 playing with two All Star players in Kobe and Pau, 3 being saddled to play with second team guys with the exception of LO who didn't know how to play with him. I liked the fact that Phil let him run with the 2nd team because by my thinking, I thought he would absolutely dominate. Again Phil did this because he knew Drew wouldn't get quality looks or touches with the 1st team, and sticking with the thread subject this isn't about his numbers but his quality of use.

Phil knew that if Drew could excel with the 2nd unit, he could pay attention to details defensively with the 1st team when paired back with Pau. It's all mental so to speak, Drew wouldn't concentrate on being involved offensively if he knew his touches and use would come when Pau is off the floor.

Looking back that must have been Phil's theory, but it never came to full realization because of the up and down injuries and line up changes. Closing out, it took Drew to figure it out on his own. He stepped up defensively, took advantage of what he could offensively and settled into a role he could flourish in.

All in all the system you play determines the production you get from bigs. The Triangle isn't designed to showcase two dominate bigs. One was going to have to take a back seat...that's just the reality of it.

And more to the point, lets say injuries never affect Drew and he continued to grow, the more established he became the more load he would want. That would have led to the team having to make a decision on Pau or Drew as the primary big. This is just speaking in theoretical terms, but bottom line it would've became a problem......one would've had to go.

I actually think the best is yet to come with these two. As Kobe enters the twilight of his career somebody is going to have to step up. If Drew can stay healthy & become the dominant big we expect that he can be then it will ease the load off of Pau, who seems to not like the rigors of the nightly tough man duties & that is right up Drew's alley.

I actually think the best is yet to come with these two. As Kobe enters the twilight of his career somebody is going to have to step up. If Drew can stay healthy & become the dominant big we expect that he can be then it will ease the load off of Pau, who seems to not like the rigors of the nightly tough man duties & that is right up Drew's alley.

iamworthy wrote:I made this thread because over time Ive read post from the likes of semi-sentient and other posters on how they didnt really think Bynum and Gasol played well together. This is not a Gasol vs Bynum thread, this is not a Our front court is the most feared. Im just really curious on what people think about the on floor chemistry between Gasol and Bynum. Can they play better together or is this the peak?

ive always agreed with semi on that. they simply dont play as well together as Odom/Gasol and Bynum/Odom do. i dont know why, on paper they should fit seamlessly, but they dont. i want to say its because Bynum needs the ball in the post to be effective, and isnt very good at passing out of it, and i think Gasol struggles to play off of this, but i couldnt be sure.

and i want to believe its going to get better, since bynum is showing how much better he can be, but i see Gasol reacting negatively to this. instead of feeding off of it, he turned into an absolutely passive player, almost as he was just going to let bynum do all the heavy lifting and not even try to compliment it. maybe its a bit of resentment for the love bynum was getting? i dont know, but i see no evidence to suggest its going to get better.

agree with everything dcash said...


I think Mike Brown will make Bynum more of a focal point

I honestly don't know what to expect out of these two every season...