the odom-gasol-bynum Xp3r1m3nT

[That Nicka]

i don't think he was playing the 3 if he's guarding dirk.

I know he was not playing the 3.. The point is that he has some serious lapses when defending perimeter players... He wants to be close to the paint and will sag off his man even if he is a DEADLY shooter (Dirk Nowitzki, James Posey etc)

[That Nicka]

Although Lamar has his faults, Odom is not the reason why they couldn't beat the Celtics lineup on game 4. KG is difficult to stop in the post, and neither Gasol or Odom has the ability to contain them, plus with the lack of a defensive presence kicking out for 3s became a common event for Laker's opponents. That is the fault of the defense on a team level, not a single individual.

Huh? KG shot like 42% for the series... Ray Allen completely torched Sasha and Fisher, Paul Pierce just destroyed us and James Posey was the X-Factor in the series on both offense and defense.... That tells me that our perimeter defense was just horrible

[Luxury]

First, please understand this before using last season as the premise of any argument: Lamar had reach his peak efficiency for his career because he finally found the role he was comfortable with, and that was the PF spot playing as the 3rd option while doing all the garbage work.

Next, Gasol is not a better overall defender at the 4 than Lamar. He's a better weakside shot blocker, but Lamar's transition defense and ability to switch is much better. To me, minimizing fast break points and lay-ups is better than filling the stat sheet with a couple of blocks. Don't get me wrong, Gasol is decent on defense but Lamar has the slight edge.

On a side note, Phil might make Bynum start the season on the bench then get him in the starting line-up after about 20-25 games. I also think Fish will be the starting PG at the beginning of the season and Farmar will eventually take the starting spot towards the end of the season. Fish can now be that back-up vet PG if Farmar develops along accordingly.

Anways, I don't really care too much on who starts and who takes what minutes from what position because I know Phil's going to be changing it up a lot during the course of the season. We will be a 55-win team at the very least, and I know we'll still be the favorite to come out of the west.

Ultimately, this is what it comes down to for me: The 4th Quarter line-up with 8 minutes left against one of the elite teams.
I'd go with Fish/Sasha/Kobe/Lamar/Bynum.

That's our best balance of offense and defense.

[That Nicka]

Lamar better on defense than Pau Gasol?? Never in a million years can I ever imagine Lamar Odom holding Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett below 43% in 7 game series... Or being the defensive anchor on 45-50 win teams 3 years straight

[Luxury]

Lamar better on defense than Pau Gasol?? Never in a million years can I ever imagine Lamar Odom holding Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett below 43% in 7 game series... Or being the defensive anchor on 45-50 win teams 3 years straight

Never in a million years can I ever imagine Lamar Odom playing Center. Keyword: playing the 4, smart guy.

[That Nicka]

Lamar better on defense than Pau Gasol?? Never in a million years can I ever imagine Lamar Odom holding Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett below 43% in 7 game series... Or being the defensive anchor on 45-50 win teams 3 years straight

Never in a million years can I ever imagine Lamar Odom playing Center. Keyword: playing the 4, smart guy.

1) Last time I checked Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett were all PFs (Lamar guarded Okur, Oberto/Thomas and Perkins for the majority of each series)

2) Pau Gasol was the PF on those Memphis teams... In 04 Memphis started Lorenzen Wright and Jake Tsakalidis at C.. In 05 Lorenzen Wright started 77 games at Center... In 06 again Wright and Tsakalidis split time at C

Lamar Odom will never be a better PF than Pau, offensively or defensively

[Luxury]

Lamar better on defense than Pau Gasol?? Never in a million years can I ever imagine Lamar Odom holding Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett below 43% in 7 game series... Or being the defensive anchor on 45-50 win teams 3 years straight

Never in a million years can I ever imagine Lamar Odom playing Center. Keyword: playing the 4, smart guy.

1) Last time I checked Carlos Boozer, Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett were all PFs (Lamar guarded Okur, Oberto/Thomas and Perkins for the majority of each series)

2) Pau Gasol was the PF on those Memphis teams... In 04 Memphis started Lorenzen Wright and Jake Tsakalidis at C.. In 05 Lorenzen Wright started 77 games at Center... In 06 again Wright and Tsakalidis split time at C

Lamar Odom will never be a better PF than Pau, offensively or defensively

Unlike in your first response, this one actually had substance and not sarcasm.

First, I never said LO was better offensively.

Secondly, you are making it seem like I said he was WAY better than PAU in regards to defense from the PF standpoint. I said Odom has the slight edge as an overall defender over Pau because he can hold his ground, he can secure the defensive rebound more aggressively, he can get back on transition defense more quickly, and because he is a better pick and roll defender. Our pick and roll defense against the Spurs was successful because Odom could keep up with the likes of Tony Park and Ginobili. Versus the Celtics, I was yelling at the TV each time Pierce ran the high pick and roll because Pau was getting burned hard and I wanted Odom to switch to KG.

I'm sorry, but I never watch Pau when he was in the Grizzlies except for Laker games. We're going to have to wait for regular season to see who is the better fit.

Like I said before, I give the SLIGHT EDGE to Odom as an overall defender at PF. The main thing I care about is finding the best 4th Quarter line-up, offensively and defensively. And I still think it's Fish/Sasha/Kobe/Lamar/Bynum.

I guess we're going to have to wait and see.

[That Nicka]

Pau is a better man defender and help defender than LO... This much is fact

LO MIGHT be better at transition defense, but Pau runs the floor just fine for his size (and better than I expected he would)

LO MIGHT be better at pick and roll defense but imo Pau defends the p&r just as well

LO is definitely a better rebounder though, by far

[Luxury]

Surely he is the better man defender as he showed it in the playoffs and held his opponents to under 43%, but he doesn't secure that defensive rebound by boxing out properly that eventually led to several 2nd and 3rd chance opportunities. That's why he's called "Gasoft". Not all the blame should go to him. But the thing is, the guy that he was guarding was getting those rebounds whether it was Boozer, Duncan, or KG.

Yeah those guys might be the leagues' top big man and not everyone can hang with them, but in order to win the championship, you gotta be able to contain their strong points.

That's one main reason why Celtics won: By containing the other teams' star players (Kobe).

Luckily for us, we have Bynum that is absolutely complementary to Pau. So far it looks good on paper, but I want them to make me a believer before anything. Till then, I'll stick with Odom as my solid PF.

[bruno sundov]

How is Bynum doing? Is he recovering well?

Ya he's doing fine, he said he cant wait till Christmass.

LOL!!! I'm sure KG will give him a present under the basket!!!LOL

[redoctober9]

Lamar Odom is a versatile 6'10 wingman who can take over a game if he wants to. LO is a support player he is well suited to the LA LAKERS due to the fact that the Lakers coach is Phil Jackson. You see many of us do give LO a lot of expectation because of the fact that he is under Phil and we know that Phil is very good at having a 1-2 punch offensive combination(Mike-Scottie; Shaq-Kobe). But then again many of us failed to see that the Zen Master is slowly getting away from his reverred TRIANGLE OFFENSE. The 2007-2008 edition of the Lakers clearly epitomize how Phil slowly make a transition from the Triangle to a free wheeling Run and Gun fast breaking Lake Show featuring Jordan Farmar, Kobe, Sasha, Pau and LO. With this offense Lamar clearly fits so well with it. His length and his ability to run the floor is what the Zen master really like. You couldn't hear Phil having a lot of complaints about LO because it is he who designs the offense for LO and when you see that LO is not doing the offense you can be assure that LO is there to fascilitate and be the instigator of the offense. The offense start with LO getting that defensive rebounds and off the LAKERS go to a pivotal fast break attack. With the return of the 7'0 Bynum, Lamar will be for sure be on the 3 spot. A starting 5 of Fisher at the point, Kobe at the 2, LO at the wings, Pau at the PF spot and Drew at the middle presents to you a very awesome front court that has a combine height of almost 7'0 feet plus Kobe at the back with Fish even the Celtics couldnt even fare with that 5. Lamar should stay and Mitch did the right thing. Phil has already cook up a new offense and with Drew coming back expect LA to zoom to the heights. We just need to sign a bigman and a point guard to help us then we can start preparing for the next season. Mitch just try to get Francisco Elson to be an insurance and sign a point guard who can fit well to your offense (Jason Williams) then start the trainning right after olympics for sure we can be back to the last dance....GO LAKERS!!!!

[daddyfivestar]

cool, but it wouldn't have been hard to type out experiment would it?, i mean it took me like 30 seconds to figure that out

+1

.

[ponder276]

Lamar is clearly not an ideal player to put at SF beside Gasol and Bynum - he will clog up the floor on offense, and will have trouble staying in front of SFs on defense. However, having Lamar come off the bench as a backup PF, and going with a 3 man rotation of Bynum/Gasol/Odom means absolutely dominant bigman play for the entire game. Start off with Bynum at the 5, Gasol at the 4. Sub Bynum off reasonably early to go with Gasol at the 5, Odom at the 4. Then give Gasol a rest, with Bynum at the 5, Odom at the 4. Then bring Bynum back on for Odom, rinse and repeat. Minutes would probably be along the lines of:
- Bynum: 30 mpg (all at C)
- Gasol: 33 mpg (18 mpg at C, 15 mpg at PF)
- Odom: 33 mpg (all at PF)
A nice side benefit is that Bynum doesn't play crazy minutes (like he would with Lamar at the 3), so there's a better chance he stays healthy. In fact, any of the 3 bigs could take it easy and play less minutes when a bit sore/injured (especially since Mihm can play spot minutes at C, and Radman spot minutes at PF), so you could be looking at a very healthy, well rested bigman trio come playoff time.

SF minutes can be split between Ariza, Luke and Radman, depending on matchups/who's playing well, with Kobe also getting some time at the 3 when you go with the Fisher/Sasha/Kobe lineup.

When you already have 4 guys fighting for minutes at SF (Radman, Luke, Ariza, and to a certain extent Kobe), and such weak backup bigs, it simply makes way more sense to play Odom as a backup 4 (who still gets 33ish mpg) than a starting 3, especially since he plays better at the 4 than at the 3.