WHY did mitch go public?

[dockingsched]

FYI Melo also averages more rebounds than bynum, think about that for a second.

lets think about it for more than a second.

andrew bynum averages 10.6 rebounds per 36 minutes, melo 8.0

andrew bynum plays next to two pf's that avg 10.5 and 9.5. on the nuggets, the two best rebounders outside of melo are nene with 7.3 and birdman with 5.4. lakers actually have 3 top 20 rebounders, with bynum leading the way, crazy.

the lakers are the 5th best offensive rebounding team in the league, the nuggets are 28th.

surprisingly though, the lakers are 21st in the league in defensive rebounding. might need to start a thread on that, haha.

[Gek]

Seriously though - if there is anything I've learned from going to Pitt about basketball it's the importance of defensive rebounding.

[Penberthy]

FYI Melo also averages more rebounds than bynum, think about that for a second.

lets think about it for more than a second.

andrew bynum averages 10.6 rebounds per 36 minutes, melo 8.0

andrew bynum plays next to two pf's that avg 10.5 and 9.5. on the nuggets, the two best rebounders outside of melo are nene with 7.3 and birdman with 5.4. lakers actually have 3 top 20 rebounders, with bynum leading the way, crazy.

the lakers are the 5th best offensive rebounding team in the league, the nuggets are 28th.

surprisingly though, the lakers are 21st in the league in defensive rebounding. might need to start a thread on that, haha.

Instead of living in a fantasy land where bynum is never injured and can AVERAGE, let alone play 36 minutes in a single game, why don't you come join us in reality.

The FACT remains that our starting center, for whatever reason (read: injury proneness/poor conditioning) averages 25 mins per game, 11 points and 7 rebounds.

Please tell me with a straight face that you can ever imagine bynum playing 36 minutes per game, EVER.

[dockingsched]

its not for whatever reason, its because he plays with two other top 20 rebounders, and is still rebounding at a better rate than them.

and he avg'd 20 minutes per game in december when he was working his way back but is up to 28/29 minutes per game in january and february...and of course he's not going to play 36 minutes per game playing with odom and gasol. last yr when gasol was hurt to start the season bynum played 35 mpg for 14 games, the last 5 of which pau was back and working his way into the rotation. in the 9 games he missed completely bynum averaged 40 mpg and put up superstar numbers. so yeah, i think there's a little more to his 25 mpg than just poor conditioning. do you think melo is going to continue to avg 19.1 shots per game (6th most in the league) if he were playing with kobe and gasol? i mean, c'mon, argue all you want about his injury risks, but any lakers fan should recognize the special situation the team has with three all-star caliber players playing two spots and what that means for each of their stats.

[Penberthy]

its not for whatever reason, its because he plays with two other top 20 rebounders, and is still rebounding at a better rate than them.

and he avg'd 20 minutes per game in december when he was working his way back but is up to 28/29 minutes per game in january and february...and of course he's not going to play 36 minutes per game playing with odom and gasol. last yr when gasol was hurt to start the season bynum played 35 mpg for 14 games, the last 5 of which pau was back and working his way into the rotation. in the 9 games he missed completely bynum averaged 40 mpg and put up superstar numbers. so yeah, i think there's a little more to his 25 mpg than just poor conditioning. do you think melo is going to continue to avg 19.1 shots per game (6th most in the league) if he were playing with kobe and gasol? i mean, c'mon, argue all you want about his injury risks, but any lakers fan should recognize the special situation the team has with three all-star caliber players playing two spots and what that means for each of their stats.

9 games here, 14 games there, the facts remain the same: he has never played more than 30 min per game in a season, and his career average is 23 min per game. If you want to bring up last year, why don't you finish the story about him getting injured for the third consecutive year. I am aware that he plays on the same team as Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol. As good as they may be, neither one are a true center, and thus neither are stealing his minutes at center no matter how much you would like to believe that. If injuries weren't a concern, the minute distribution would look more like this:

Center: Bynum 36 min / Gasol 12 min
PF: Gasol 24 min / Odom 24 min
SF: Whoever 36 min / Odom 12 min

Can you imagine what our team rebounding would look like if pau was able to spend more time at pf and lamar could sneak some minutes in at SF? It would be incredible. Unfortunately, Bynum can never stay on the floor that long.

Once or twice might be a random accident. But being injured this many times is a pattern. Don't get me wrong I would love for Bynum to stay healthy and maximize his potenetial, unfortunately his history is beginning to prove that to be an impossible task.

I mean look at the dude run up and down the court even now; its respectable that he is trying, but its also obvious that he is still injured, and im sorry to say that I'm afraid he always will be.

[dockingsched]

well, i'm glad you dropped the rebounding argument.


and you really think bynum is what is preventing the lakers from playing LO 12 minutes at sf? oh my.

[Penberthy]

well, i'm glad you dropped the rebounding argument.


and you really think bynum is what is preventing the lakers from playing LO 12 minutes at sf? oh my.

no you are right, lamar is stealing bynums minutes at center. and the organization just loves playing Pau as many minutes as they do at center.

thanks for addressing my points.

[dockingsched]

you realize that odom is only playing 30 mpg since bynum came back into the starting lineup right? what explanation do you have for such a low amount of minutes, and why he isn't getting burn at SF when he's only playing 30mpg?

i'll save you the trouble. lamar never plays SF, ever. lamar, just like bynum, play less minutes cause they all share two spots among 3 players. its not a lack of ability to play more minutes, like you try to paint it as.

[Penberthy]

you realize that odom is only playing 30 mpg since bynum came back into the starting lineup right? what explanation do you have for such a low amount of minutes, and why he isn't getting burn at SF when he's only playing 30mpg?

i'll save you the trouble. lamar never plays SF, ever. lamar, just like bynum, play less minutes cause they all share two spots among 3 players. its not a lack of ability to play more minutes, like you try to paint it as.

Actually he's averaging 32 mins since bynum came back, a minute off his season average of 33.6. Nice try though.

Lamar played SF on the Clippers and Heat, and even for us last year for the few games when bynum was healthy.

You can try to paint it how ever you want, but the Lakers (and any rational being) want to play Pau less minutes at C if they could, and more minutes at PF, if they could. Thus, there would be less minutes left for Lamar at PF. He is so good that they would want to get him on the floor however they can, which in this case would be off the bench at SF.

You are right that currently the 3 of them are sharing minutes at 2 positions, but my argument is that that is not the optimal situation to maximize their talents. It is required however because everyone is afraid bynum is about to get hurt again.

[dockingsched]

i didn't count the rockets game that went to OT where bynum didn't play. seems like a fair omission when discussing how minutes are affected when all 3 are sharing minutes.

again why doesn't odom play any minutes at SF right now when he's only playing 30 mpg? he doesn't even play 1 minute at sf, and thats with matt barnes out, who played 21 mpg.

[Penberthy]

i didn't count the rockets game that went to OT where bynum didn't play. seems like a fair omission when discussing how minutes are affected when all 3 are sharing minutes.

again why doesn't odom play any minutes at SF right now when he's only playing 30 mpg? he doesn't even play 1 minute at sf.

my point is that odom is forced to play his minutes at PF because pau is forced to play his minutes at C because bynum cant stay on the floor. do you really think the lakers WANT pau to be playing all those minutes at C? you make it sound like playing pau at center is preferable for the lakers, and they just happen to "share" the minutes, that is not the case. the lakers are FORCED to play him at center.

tell me what do you think would be a better line up in the 4th quarter:
Fish Kobe Lamar Pau Bynum
or the crap were are putting out there right now:
Fish Blake/Shannon Kobe Lamar Pau

[Kilroy]

How would trading Bynum for Mello allow Odom to play SF or Pau to play PF?

Seems like it would virtually guarantee more minutes for Pau at C.

[Penberthy]

How would trading Bynum for Mello allow Odom to play SF or Pau to play PF?

Seems like it would virtually guarantee more minutes for Pau at C.

You are absolutely correct. That is how far this thread has devolved. But if we did something like:

Bynum Ron and Ebanks for Melo and Nene
Or ge birdman
or two seperate deals involving the MLE or Ron
or a three team trade to get a Center, that would be the only way.

[dockingsched]

my point is that odom is forced to play his minutes at PF because pau is forced to play his minutes at C because bynum cant stay on the floor. do you really think the lakers WANT pau to be playing all those minutes at C? you make it sound like playing pau at center is preferable for the lakers, and they just happen to "share" the minutes, that is not the case. the lakers are FORCED to play him at center.

tell me what do you think would be a better line up in the 4th quarter:
Fish Kobe Lamar Pau Bynum
or the crap were are putting out there right now:
Fish Blake/Shannon Kobe Lamar Pau

so basically your argument is that odom should play sf and the only reason he doesn't is cause bynum is physically unable to play the last 5 minutes of the game. is that your argument?


again, i'll ask...why is it that odom only plays 30 mpg (when bynum starts). why isn't he playing 4-5 minutes at SF, especially when matt barnes and his 21mpg are out?

[Kilroy]

How would trading Bynum for Mello allow Odom to play SF or Pau to play PF?

Seems like it would virtually guarantee more minutes for Pau at C.

You are absolutely correct. That is how far this thread has devolved. But if we did something like:

Bynum Ron and Ebanks for Melo and Nene
Or ge birdman
or two seperate deals involving the MLE or Ron
or a three team trade to get a Center, that would be the only way.

Yeah... Unfortunately Bynum is one of maybe a handful of true Cs out there that could keep Pau out at PF. Birdman is a PF, Nene is really a PF too...

And Nene's contract makes it hard for us to get both he and Melo...

If the concern is letting Pau get minutes at PF, our best bet and maybe our only bet is to keep Bynum.

We'd be looking at either of the Lopez brothers, Mark Gasol, or something like that otherwise.

[microfib4thewin]

I don't think highly of Bynum, but let's not be ridiculous. Bynum's inability to play large minutes has nothing to do with Odom not playing at SF. Odom has never been good at the SF spot given the limited minutes from 06 to 07, it would be stupid to think that having Bynum, Pau, and Odom all play at the same time would be a good idea. Everyone would just pack the paint and kill our offense.