Bynum Is Not Our Most Important Piece

ALL HAIL · Post #1 » by **ALL HAIL** » Mon Feb 2, 2009 3:45 pm

I have been hearing that bynum is our most important piece other than kobe in winning a title this year. many consider him the missing piece to a championship. while bynum is very valuable...he IS more than serviceably replaceable by Odom.

without bynum we still have a fighting chance. the player on this squad that would almost COMPLETELY jeopardize our title hopes is trevor ariza.

we don't have anyone who can MILDLY replace his defense against skill players like wade, paul, parker, lebron and pierce.

we're good laker fans. let us all hope that all of our players stay healthy ... especially kobe and ariza. if either of them is not healthy in June we won't have a chance. with kobe and ariza we can still beat cleveland or boston in the finals.

rufus_thomas · Post #2 » by **rufus_thomas** » Mon Feb 2, 2009 5:10 pm

all is not well in laker land.
and its thanks in part to the memphis grizzlies.
you guys can't win a title with pau gasol as your center.
he is weak on the defensive end.
did you guys forget about this ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i19lSd7pAiE
that is pau gasol as a center.
pau should have thrown ray allen into the 2nd row; if he wasn't going to get there in time for the help defense; pau should have gone for his head.
7 years of pau gasol in memphis showed me that.
you guys know you are screwed on the defensive end w/out bynum. as that video proves. and how memphis getting swept 3 years in a row in the playoffs w/ pau being the grizzlies' number one option.
pau gasol is a power foward who is complimented perfectly by bynum. w/out bynum you get this in the finals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i19lSd7pAiE
enjoy pau's no defensive this year in the playoffs.

ALL HAIL · Post #3 » by **ALL HAIL** » Mon Feb 2, 2009 5:23 pm

I swear some of the dudes around here need some trim in a major way. so much damn hostility. all is well my friend. we'll still be in the finals, but this time we'll have someone to guard ray allen and pierce...not either or.

again, thank the lord for trevor ariza.

gasol is soft as hell but unless we are going up against orlando in the finals we should be okay as long as kobe AND ariza are at full strength.

Now go find you a woman rufus to let loose all that tension bruh.

Mamba Venom · Post #4 » by **Mamba Venom** » Tue Feb 3, 2009 7:27 am

Pecking order
Kobe
Gasol
Bynum
Odom
Fisher
Ariza
Farmar
Sasha
...

MasterRyu · Post #5 » by **MasterRyu** » Tue Feb 3, 2009 6:41 pm

Damn right, IMO Ariza is more valuable than Bynum. I think we can manage with Gasol and Odom as the regular bigs. Yes they were manhandled in the finals last year, but I think they've learned from that, especially Gasol. He's gotten a lot tougher both in physical play and mentality. Right now, Bynum is only a force on offense, not defense, and we all know which aspect of the game the Lakers need to improve on. Ariza, on the other hand, is a beast on defense. He can guard pretty much anyone at his position, and he hustles. If he's in the line up, even without Bynum, the Lakers still have a good fighting chance of succeeding in the playoffs.

Post #6 » by **tkb** » Tue Feb 3, 2009 7:38 pm

Everyone on this team can be replaced to a certain extent (meaning we can play without them for a period), except Kobe Bryant.

ALL HAIL · Post #7 » by **ALL HAIL** » Wed Feb 4, 2009 12:13 am

My point is that against CLE and BOS Ariza is more important than Bynum, not because he is better or more productive, but because the way this team is constructed, we don't have anyone who can replace Ariza, whereas we do have people who can replace Bynum.

To put it plainly, if Ariza were to go down (God forbid), we would be stuck with Walton, Radmanovic, and Vujacic to guard Pierce, Allen, or LeBron James when Kobe is not on the floor.

This, my friend, is a MAJOR potential problem. We can't beat Boston with Vujacic, Walton, or Radmanovic guarding Hall of Famers like Pierce or Allen.

It's as simple as that.

Thank God for Ariza. With him we have a good chance. Without him we have none.

Patterns · Post #8 » by **Patterns** » Wed Feb 4, 2009 3:08 am

Let's see if we can get out of the West without Bynum. We overachieved and got lucky last year IMO.

Sasha, Farmar, Fisher, Vlade, Odom were all playing out of their minds last year. All of them have dropped in production, especially Sasha.

Anklebreaker702 · Post #9 » by **Anklebreaker702** » Wed Feb 4, 2009 5:05 am

ALL HAIL wrote:I have been hearing that bynum is our most important piece other than kobe in winning a title this year. many consider him the missing piece to a championship. while bynum is very valuable...he IS more than serviceably replaceable by Odom.

without bynum we still have a fighting chance. the player on this squad that would almost COMPLETELY jeopardize our title hopes is trevor ariza.

we don't have anyone who can MILDLY replace his defense against skill players like wade, paul, parker, lebron and pierce.

we're good laker fans. let us all hope that all of our players stay healthy ... especially kobe and ariza. if either of them is not healthy in June we won't have a chance. with kobe and ariza we can still beat cleveland or boston in the finals.

No way, I'll make this fast, easy, & clear. No Bynum, No title.

DEEP3CL · Post #10 » by **DEEP3CL** » Wed Feb 4, 2009 5:10 am

People here can come up with all types of weak minded thoughts on how we played last season but I've seen NOTHING from these so called teams that are a so called threat to the Lakers. The Lakers have dominated those so called threats with relative ease.

ALL HAIL · Post #11 » by **ALL HAIL** » Wed Feb 4, 2009 6:05 am

We lost last year because Pierce, not Kobe, CLEARLY looked like the most dominant player in the game ...

WHY ???????

Because Radmanovic, Walton, a recovering Ariza, and an overly burdened Kobe couldn't guard him (without leaving Ray Allen to be guarded by Vujacic--yall saw the clip).

Pierce literally had his way with us.

Ariza's presence keeps Pierce from salivating everytime he touches the ball. We have no one on this squad who comes close to fulfiling his defensive role.

dingclancy · Post #12 » by **dingclancy** » Wed Feb 4, 2009 1:04 pm

No we still need Bynum against the Celtics. Maybe Arize will take it to 7 games or if we have homecourt maybe we can win. I just like the certainty that Bynum brings because with him I am confident that we can sweep all of them.

Anklebreaker702 · Post #13 » by **Anklebreaker702** » Wed Feb 4, 2009 8:53 pm

ALL HAIL wrote:We lost last year because Pierce, not Kobe, CLEARLY looked like the most dominant player in the game ...

WHY ???????

Because Radmanovic, Walton, a recovering Ariza, and an overly burdened Kobe couldn't guard him (without leaving Ray Allen to be guarded by Vujacic--yall saw the clip).

Pierce literally had his way with us.

Ariza's presence keeps Pierce from salivating everytime he touches the ball. We have no one on this squad who comes close to fulfiling his defensive role.

Pierce got most of his points driving to the basket. I admit Ariza is the man but Drew is the Key. Even Doc Rivers came out last week & said the difference in the game on Dec 25th was Drew. He altered shots all day & made them uncomfortable drivibg to the basket.

aroba · Post #14 » by **aroba** » Thu Feb 5, 2009 9:12 am

We need Powell to step up then!.
Powel is a banger. Make Gasol play finesse scoring center and Powell on the starting PF and he complements Gasol nicely.
Odom coming from the bench still keeps same awesome second unit.

Anklebreaker702 · Post #15 » by **Anklebreaker702** » Thu Feb 5, 2009 9:17 am

aroba wrote:We need Powell to step up then!.
Powel is a banger. Make Gasol play finesse scoring center and Powell on the starting PF and he complements Gasol nicely.
Odom coming from the bench still keeps same awesome second unit.

Good post. That's very doable, but Phil doesn't seem to want to give Josh enough minutes to make a difference. Hopefully he will though.

Anklebreaker702 · Post #16 » by **Anklebreaker702** » Thu Feb 5, 2009 9:23 am

rufus_thomas wrote:all is not well in laker land.
and its thanks in part to the memphis grizzlies.
you guys can't win a title with pau gasol as your center.
he is weak on the defensive end.
did you guys forget about this ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i19lSd7pAiE
that is pau gasol as a center.
pau should have thrown ray allen into the 2nd row; if he wasn't going to get there in time for the help defense; pau should have gone for his head.
7 years of pau gasol in memphis showed me that.
you guys know you are screwed on the defensive end w/out bynum. as that video proves. and how memphis getting swept 3 years in a row in the playoffs w/ pau being the grizzlies' number one option.
pau gasol is a power foward who is complimented perfectly by bynum. w/out bynum you get this in the finals http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i19lSd7pAiE
enjoy pau's no defensive this year in the playoffs.

LOL! I don't think it's that bad Rufus but I don't have to make a long post because I obviously see that you understand how much we do need Bynum.

ALL HAIL · Post #17 » by **ALL HAIL** » Mon Feb 9, 2009 12:22 am

ALL HAIL wrote:we're good laker fans. let us all hope that all of our players stay healthy ... especially kobe and ariza. if either of them is not healthy in June we won't have a chance. with kobe and ariza we can still beat cleveland or boston in the finals.

Although Walton is playing WAY too many minutes, having Ariza around makes us WAY better than last year. I stand by my comments. Bynum is VERY important, but because we have such a CAPABLE back up in Odom, his absence does not hurt as much as if we were to lose a player like Ariza.

We can still win it all as long as Ariza and Kobe are around.

To all doubters who said our chances went out the window when Bynum went down and that our interior defense couldn't hold up ... our solid chance to win has been proven this week.

All naysayers should go ahead and admit to the faulty pessimism they spewed last week after Bynum went down.

Bynum is important but he is replaceable, his presence secures a dynasty. Having Ariza this year secures a good chance for a championship.

ALL HAIL · Post #18 » by **ALL HAIL** » Mon Feb 9, 2009 12:49 am

anklebreaker702 wrote:No way, I'll make this fast, easy, & clear. No Bynum, No title.

Do you still feel the same way?

RJM · Post #19 » by **RJM** » Mon Feb 9, 2009 2:33 am

Can any of you imagine if we had managed to wrest Posey free from Boston instead of NO?

Dr Aki · Post #20 » by **Dr Aki** » Mon Feb 9, 2009 3:26 am

Iceburg Slim wrote:Can any of you imagine if we had managed to wrest Posey free from Boston instead of NO?

can u imagine paying 20 mil for 4 SFs (not including lamar)?