Who is Andrew Bynum?
Posted by: KB24*BM on Thursday, May 10, 2012 - 01:40 PM
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Born on October 27, 1987, Andrew Bynum is an American professional basketball center who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. Drafted 10th overall in the 2005 NBA draft as the youngest player ever straight out of high school ( St. Joseph High School, Metuchen, New Jersey), though he had planned to attend University of Connecticut.
As a teenager in the NBA, Bynum was viewed as a project and future player who was greatly supported by Jim Buss. The Lakers hope that he could be at least 80% of what the great Shaquille O'Neal was. From his start in the league, Bynum was plagued with adversity. He was a child thrown to the wolves in Hollywood. Fans expected him to produce fast and become their new Shaq, but Bynum was slowly progressing. Kobe wanted him traded for the great Jason Kidd. For every one step forward Bynum took, he rolled down 20 steps with injuries. People started losing hope and wanted to just traded him while he still had value. The Zen Master didn’t trust him as a player to build around.
Then came Dwight Howard, he first flirted with Lakers fans by saying he wanted to rock our uniform. Fans went loco of the thought that the Best center in the game could be part of the team. Following that fantasy, CP3 was a Laker for 2 hours and rumors had it that Howard was on his way. (I am not gonna lie, I was pretty excited that we could have a team of Kobe, CP3 and Howard). All that fantasy meant that Bynum and other would be the victims. I don't need to remind you of what happen with the “Dictator” of a commissioner ruling the NBA.
For the most part, Lakers fanatics were very skeptical of Bynum's future. We knew that the boy was very talented and we were rooting for him to not get anymore injury because at the time he was an humble kid who was going throw hard times. We loved the fact that he continue to persevere though it all, but could we count on him with his knees. To most, it seemed like every year he was hurt. In all he missed more game due to injuries than he played. A lot of fans wanted Howard so the fear and anxiety felt every time Bynum jumped or stumbled could go away.
And Finally 2012 happened. Bynum came out swinging this year. He basically improved in almost all the category as a player. He averaged 19+ ppg and 12+ rebounds. He was active and he was HEALTHY. Health for Bynum is the biggest award out there. The fruit of his labor was his first All-Stars appearance and instance national coverage even though people knew him from Lakers winning a couple of titles. His so-called potentials that people were raving about started sparkling, though still not fully uncovered. Fans started to believe in the 7 footer young man. The nicknames rolled out of people's tongue: the BEAST, Bynumite, Monster, etc. Life was good for the up incoming 24 year old. His supporters multiplied and instance debates follows as to what the future hold for Andrew Bynum.
The humble, quiet kid finally started experiencing success though he had been a 7th year veteran.
And then something happen. Call it ego, fame, pressure, rebellion, experiencing, defiance. Bynum started changing. The immaturity that was for the most part bottled inside started showing up. The comments got slick and created uproars. Straight “Getting his Zen on!” People stated questioning if he could be the franchise player and superstar that Lakers need post Kobe Bean Bryant. How will Bynum react to upcoming fame? Is his current behaviors just a phase that will eventually past without too much damage?
To some fans, Bynum seemed to be all about himself. If I don't get the ball (I totally agree that he should be fed more in the post) then I wont give my best. My effort and focus on defense depends on whether I had a good shoot-around, or I'm involved on offense, or if I had a shoot-around at all. The defiant actions and comments about his head coach started popping out. “Ill shoot more 3s.” People wanted to know why is Bynum acting this way. He is too good of a player to behave in such manner. Eventually, the FO fined him an undisclosed sum. The obvious lack of effort on some games puzzled fans. How could he be outplayed by the KING of NOT TOP 10 plays aka Javele McGee. Which Bynum will show up to every game?
Due to his recent success, the level of expectation grew, couple that also to the Bynum fan who proclaimed him as the new face of the Lakers (even with Kobe present). Fans want effort every night, especially when it is the playoff. For example, Kobe got a lot of critics and though he is my favorite Lakers, he sometimes deserve the various criticism that he shoots too much, he has an ego, etc. But, no one can say that Kobe didn’t show effort. He brings it every game and sometimes he shows too much effort that leads him in playing hero ball. Bynum needs to master that trait, Sometimes, things do not go your way, you just got to find a way to help the team. And one thing that Bynum can do every game is being a force on the defensive side. He is too big and smart to not be able to impact that side of the ball,
Sometimes, people think that because you criticize a player, you are a hater. Unfortunately, that could be further from the truth. I want Bynum to be the next Shaq and be the face of our great organization. I want Bynum to take the torch from the aging Black Mamba. I want Bynum to be the BEST Center in the league, I want Bynum to average over 25+ppg and 13+ rebounds and be the league's MVP. On the other hand, I see a lot of stuffs that he needs to improve to fulfill those goals. He need to grow up and be more mature and a leader of man ( as Stephen A Smith always says). He needs to show up to play any and every game and have that Kobe killer instinct. He needs to improve against double teams. Finally the most important thing is that he need to be more CONSISTENT. The Lakers will only get so far if Bynum is not engaged and focus.
Like I have always said, this is Bynum first year of fame and he has a lot to learn. Is he the best player on the team? No, but he is a very very important part. Is he the best Center in the game? No, people seem to forget all of what Howard has done before this season. Is Bynum the best offensive Center in the game today? Yes, he is so talented in the post and he has not even entered his prime.
For Bynum the future looks bright and promising, but he need to realize that he has not attain full potential yet. To achieve his potentials he need to be more mature. Couple of years ago, people were saying that Bynum needs to be healthy to be his potential, he has been healthy this year. One advice I would give Bynum is to never be satisfied. The great of the game, players like MJ, Kobe, Magic, Kareem, Shaq were never satisfied, they always wanted more and went after it.
Bynum has the talents to be the best center in today's game if he focus and matures. I am so rooting for him to be the best, but he has to bring the effort and maturity or he will always stay in that “He got so much potential” state.
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LA-Denver Game 5: It's about more than Kobe and Drew
Posted by: SPQR on Wednesday, May 09, 2012 - 02:53 AM
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It is funny how this always turns into Kobe vs Drew with every loss.
Reading throught the game day thread, that enevitable fight broke out yet gain. Kobe lost the game. Drew lost the game. Big surprise there. And both so wrong.
For all the Kobe fans who blame Drew tonight, yet take his word for gospel law, here is the law layed down by Kobe after tonights loss: "The Nuggets are sitting in Drew and Pau's laps. WE have to start hitting all the open shots this is giving us."
Coach Brown said the exact same thing.
And you know what, both Brown AND Kobe are right.
Anyone who watched this game should not blame Drew or Kobe on the offensive end. All of them can be blamed on D, including Kobe and Drew. When your team gives up 46 percent shooting, that speaks for itself and all the players on the team.
On offense the problem tonight was the same problem we have had all year. We have two very good low post players, but when the defense collapses on them, WE, the team, AS KOBE SAID, don't consistantly take advantage of it. IE, they miss too many open shots.
The Lakers shot 38 percent tonight, at home. And that number was inflated in the last few minutes when Kobe and Blake and Sessions hit some shots or it would have been lower.
Also, notice how quickly we came back when the shots started dropping in the last four minutes? When the team did take advantage of the defense.
But doing that for a lousy four minute stretch in a full game is not enough. They have to do that for more often. And its not surprise when they do, we usually win very easily.
When you look at some of the stats from the game, you would think we won. We outrebounded them and had more second chance points. But then you look at our shooting percentage, and bench scoring, 50 for them and 19 for us, a 31 point swing and loss becomes apparent.
This loss was caused by the Nuggets daring LA to shoot from outside, to take advantage of that defense stacked up inside. And it couldn't. This aint the first time nor the last time it will happen. It has happend many, many times this year. The Nuggets, like every other team in the league knows where we are strong and more importantly, where we are weak.
This team is what it has been all year. A team with certain stars, with certain talents, certain great parts, but not team with all the ancillary pieces to be as good as they should. It lacks some parts that are essential to open up the low post game and take advantage of the way the defense tries to stop our low post game.
This loss doesn't fall on Drews shoulders nor Kobes. I swear some of you guys just keep coming back to this all the time, like two bitter, old, senile men in an old folks home who argue about something out of rote because you have nothing at all better to do to pass your time and frustrations away.
I have no doubt that we will go on to win this series. Denver just doesn't have to horses to take three straight from us.
But when you look down the road, at better teams that will have home court, when you couple that with the flaws that have been there all year, up to and including the Denver series, it doesn't take a psychic to predict the eventual end.
I have no doubt about that either. Get used to the idea, because it's going to happen. And start to look at this team as whole, not some silly Kobe vs Drew debate after every loss, to understand this teams real problems go team deep, and not run just as shallow as its two best players.
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LA - Denver game 4: The Lakers end the series the right way.
Posted by: SPQR on Monday, May 07, 2012 - 12:03 AM
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Going into this series, I did not have a single worry.
The reason was simple: Our third best player, Pau, would be Denvers best player. Then you think about Kobe and Drew, and Sessions, and Blake and the new Superman Hill and you think of Denver and....and...and..um...well you see the point.
But with the Thunder and San Antonio and Miami most likely in our playoff path, there was somethings I was looking for in this series.
First off, would we play as a team. And yes we have. All the players have had their moments. Kobe, Drew, Pau, Hill, Blake, Sessions. No one Laker player has cast a hero ball shadow over his teamates, leaving them in the dark and feeling underutilized and groping blindly about.
I really liked the way this game ended, with Kobe throwing that pass to Blake, who really came up with some clutch shots and huge block. A good friend texted me and said, "Jordan to Paxon."
And yes, so it was. But I remember the Bulls playing the Lakers in the lousy finals we lose, and Jordan shooting, shooting and shooting and missing, missing, missing the Bulls towards a loss until Phil had to call timeout and say to him, "Who is open Michael? Who is open?" Jordan, didn't answer at first, then finally replied, "Paxon."
Coach Brown didn't have to call time out for Kobe to hit the right guy at the right time. Kobe could have gone into hero mode and shot. He could have ignored Blake, but he did the right thing at the right time, unlike Jordan that night, of his on volition.
It was a nice team play. And it finished off the game for us. That is usually the reward for team plays. It really does work that way. Kobe and Blake really are doing a great Jordan-Paxon impersonation.
Hill has to be singled out too. I mean 14 points and 11 boards. Honestly, where would we be without him? This guy was like found money. You just can't believe you got it. For those of you who liked Hill after that trade. You guys were right. He really can play.
Drew had a solid game. So did Pau. So did pretty much everyone. Nobody really stood out, nobody destroyed our chances either. It was just a solid, nice team game.
The other thing I was looking for, that I considered essential, was winning a big game in Denver. This has been a bad road team all year, and they had to take one in Denver. They have to believe they can win on the road. They have to win on the road. It is where they are. If they can't, they have no chance. And win on the road, they did. That was good to see too.
The second half was terrific fun, played a high pace and level. The Nuggets were fighting or their lives and we were fighting to end it.
The Nuggets are one of those teams that made it on grit and character, but are short on talent. They showed that grit and character the other night, and again tonight. But they are one of the NBA's playoff cattle teams, destined to be herded to the slaughter house by a more talented group. And in this series, we are the herdsmen. In LA, we pushed them closer and closer down the the chute that contains the hammer gun that puts down the cows. And tonight in Denver, we got them right up into the chute, their head in the box and tuesday night in LA, we will fire the bolt to put them out of their misery.
And so with that last win left to get, that we will get tuesday, one can't help but think of the monumental challenge of the Thunder that lies ahead.
They are not a cattle team. They too are herdsmen, used to leading the other team to slaughter. Just ask Dallas. That series, which will be upon us before you know it, will tell us all we need to know, will give us the final answers about what this team is capable of doing, or not.
So enjoy tuesday, it will be fun. Because from after that moment on, the real playoffs will begin. We will find out if we have grown in the Denver series, or whether it was just the destruction of weak team by a stronger one. The stakes will be high in the Thunder series. How high? Well, a champioinship could be on the line. Thats pretty high.
As an aside, I really do feel for Karl. Like Sloan, he is an old time NBA lifer. He is a really good coach. But he never is the herdsman, always the cattle. I wonder if late at night, looking at playing another superior team, for the seemingly endless time, does he ever think, "Why can't I ever have the most talented team?" Who could blame him for that little whine when he is all alone after all these years?
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Would you trade Saint Andrew of Bynum for anyone?
Posted by: SPQR on Thursday, May 03, 2012 - 06:53 PM
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Well,
We have Drew slowly but surely work his way through the endless critics.
We have seen young Drew overcome debilitating injuries, vast inexperience, being the youngest player drafted in NBA history, doubtful, jealous and even scornful teamates who didn't like him, didn't want him, and neglected him, to slowly move up in the teams heirarchy.
And now, in the last stages of his ascendance, we have seen him move up in the final meritocracy: the NBA's hierarchy.
A couple days ago, I read where Lakerdude said he would not trade Drew for anyone. This caught my attention because me and my friend Steve (lakeshowsd) were texting about this exact thing a few weeks ago during a game.
So that begs the question, would you trade St. Andrew for any other player in the league?
I don't mean a package of say Westbrook and Durant and others for Drew. I mean a one-on-one player trade.
I am also not asking if you think Drew is the best player in the league right now. Because most would not say that, for good reason.
What I am asking is, at his age, with his size, his ability, his future and yes, his very aggressive demeanor, is there any player you would trade him for?
My answer, like Lakerdude, is no. I see Drew as potentially (a close potential and getting closer all the time) as the most dominant player in basketball.
He is changing things fast, almost too fast to keep up. As an example, after last year, it was proclaimed that Zippy Griffin of the Clips was by far the best young player in the league. The future star who would rise and burn all before him in a blaze of athletic glory.
Well, I have seen Zippy a few times this year and I when I do, I think: Drew makes this guy look like a munchin size wise, and Drew makes him look like a midget in his effect on the game.
I wouldn't trade Drew for Zippy no matter what.
And for me, that shows how quickly Drew's development put tomorrows dominant young player in the rear view mirror.
I know how I answer the question. And I have a feeling I know how a few others here will, lol. But I will let them speak for themselves.
My anwer is: NO WAY would I trade Drew, at his age, with his size, with his ability, his aggressiveness, his accomplishment, his growth, his prime still years away, for ANY player in the NBA.
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LA-Denver game two: It’s a storm warning!
Posted by: SPQR on Wednesday, May 02, 2012 - 12:57 AM
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Before the second LA – Denver game, my cell phone sent me a storm warning: Thunder, lightning and heavy rain.
And boy was that right. The storm got so hard that I lost my hi-def picture a couple times and had to change to the analog feed to get the picture. But the storm passed and in the end, all was well.
But Pittsburgh Pennsylvania wasn’t the only city that had a storm. In LA, where storms are few and far between, another more ominous burst of nature was about to burst down on the Denver Nuggets.
Make no mistake, it was a must win game for the team from the Rocky Mountain state. They knew it, we knew it, and they played like their very playoff lives were at stake, because they were.
But one thing we have learned over long history is that human will, human effort, pales in comparison to violent vicissitudes of nature, and so it was again tonight in Staples center.
Portents of the storm to come came early. Thunder, low and loud, in the form of Andrew Bynum early, doing what he wanted, when he wanted. The warnings of the thunder reverberated around the Nuggets with each basket and rebound. And the thunder Drew unleashed battered Denver for 27 points. For the Nuggets, the sound of thunder must have been deafening.
But thunder is only half a storm. It is the introduction to something that can be even more violent and destructive: Lightening.
And it was lightening indeed that followed thunder tonight. Lightening in the guise of Kobe Bryant, who twisted, turned, drove, lit up the sky with flashes of magnificent light, scorching the Nuggets with high voltage burns with every unerring strike. The damage was so severe that the fire department and paramedics surrounded Staples, but no survivors from Denver would escape a storm so ferocious and ceaseless. They say lightening never strikes the same place twice, but Denver will tell you that is a lie, because tonight it struck them 38 times. And for the Nuggets, those strike were blinding and fatal.
For Kobe Bryant, it was a remarkable, unfathomable 83rd time he breached 30 points in a playoff game. How many games is that? One more than a full season of basketball. Who says lightening doesn’t strike the same place twice? It does when that lightening is named Kobe Bryant.
But Denver was resilient in the face of the storm, the deafening thunder, the flashing deadly lightening. It took more than just thunder and lightning; it took rain and wind too. Jordan Hill kept hitting the boards hard, like they were his girlfriend, trapped in a corner. He is becoming the new Lamar Odom for this team. No, he can’t pass like Odom, he can’t handle like Odom, but he has size like Odom, effective size, and he rebounds like the good Odom and plays with an energy that the old Odom perhaps no longer has.
Pau Gasol chipped in some thunder of his own, with 13 points and 10 big boards.
At the end of the third quarter and into the fourth, with Thunder and Lightening on the bench, the other Lakers stepped forward to increase the lead from 7 points to 13. The sign of a winning team.
And Ramon Sessions rained in 10 crucial points in the fourth quarter, when Denver put up their last stand, when we needed a boost the most. The sign of a clutch winner, in his first ever playoff series.
And with 2:15 to play, with LA clinging to a four point lead, just when Denver came close, when hope of surviving the storm gleamed in their eyes, flowed from their drenched bodies, Kobe struck one last time with a lightening steal and passing to Drew for a thunderous dunk and the foul, to extend the lead to seven.
If a storm gets violent enough, if it is mean enough, it can cause all kinds of damage. It can hurt, it can kill, it can knock the lights out. And with that Kobe steal and Drew dunk, they hurt the Nuggets, they killed the Nuggets, they put the lights out on the Nuggets’ season.
The Nuggets played their hearts out. They had to. It was a must win game. There is an old axiom that a series hasn’t started till someone loses at home. But the fact is, barring a catastrophic injury to the Lakers, the Nuggets will not beat a bigger, better team that has home court four of the next five games. It was desperation time for Denver. They showed it in how hard they fought against all the odds and the force the storm threw at them.
And now the scene shifts to Denver. They will fight even harder there. They will try to run even more. But in the end, that team will have no answer for the Thunder and Lighting of LA.
And as the weather forecasters in Oklahoma look ahead a week or two, as they always do, they must wonder: What will be the weather forecast be?
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Denver: Say hello to Mt. Bynum.
Posted by: SPQR on Sunday, April 29, 2012 - 06:06 PM
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“He just destroyed everything we wanted to do on offense. We just couldn’t do what we wanted when he was on the floor. He was the difference when our teams met.”
No, that wasn’t George Karl talking about Andrew Bynum performance today against the Nuggets.
That was Jerry West talking about the difference between his great Lakers teams and the Celtics that beat them in seven finals. Russell was the defensive stopper who was the difference between victory and defeat. But it could have been a Nugget player or George Karl describing Andrew Bynum’s NBA record tying defensive performance today as he led the Lakers in crushing the Denver Nuggets 103 to 88 and the words would have been just as accurate, the ideal of total defensive destruction just as resonate.
Colorado is known as the Rocky Mountain state, because of the towering peaks of the Rockies that dominate the horizon for miles around. Anyone who has been in Colorado and seen those mountains knows just how huge, how unbelievable intimidating they can be. And today, Denver, in LA, found themselves staring at the most intimidating mountain they have seen all year: Andrew Bynum.
Who can blame them if they for a two and half hours today, they thought they were back in Rocky Mountain state. And it became obvious very early that Mt. Bynum was one peak that the Nuggets were wholly, inadequately prepared to climb.
Coming into the game, Denver felt they could match up with Drew and Pau because they had their double brace of seven footers. But having four seven footers is one thing, to have two seven footers with the talents of Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol are another. Size doesn’t equal talent or ability and size without talent or ability is like having no size at all. Most especially when you have to go against talent that has size.
This win was engineered like all this teams wins should: With the two seven footers dominating the Denver Nuggets. It was Drew’s defense and rebounding and Pau’s passing looking all the world like a seven foot point guard , and both their very efficient scoring that set a tone for this team that Denver just could not match.
Andrew Bynum had the Lakers first playoff triple double since 1995 when Magic Johnson turned the trick. Drew with his 10 blocks also surpassed The Cap, Abdul Jabbar’s previous LA playoff record of nine blocks with his league tying tenth. Magic and Jabbar. That is some company young Drew is writing records with.
Devin Ebanks was terrific again in lieu of Metta. He may not be as big as Metta, not as strong as Metta, but he moves better, is faster and brings things to the team that Metta can’t.
Jordan Hill continues to be the X factor. And if he can keep this up, there is no telling how valuable he may end up being in this playoff run. Although he does not pass like Lamar, he is giving us Lamar’s rebounding, or more, and his size. And a toughness as well. With Hill, suddenly, we have another huge body in the front court. But right now, it’s a third huge body that can really play and contribute.
Steve Blake once again came through with clutch outside shooting which is of paramount importance to this team because of the way the defenses will stack up inside to take away our biggest edge.
With the play of Ebanks, Blake and Hill, we are getting solid contributions to form an effective bench we really didn’t have for most of the year. It is a welcome addition at this late date. Another welcome addition was the very tight and energetic defense the team played for most of the game. A must if we are to have any chance the next series.
This series is not just something to get through in order to get to the next level; it is one last shot at honing a method, an identity, an ability to learn to impose a style and will on the other team that we will so desperately need in the next series against Oklahoma. It is one last chance to get to where we need to be if we are to get another title this year.
It was good start in all regards. Let’s hope it’s something this team builds on as the games continue and move to Denver.
Mountain climbing can be dangerous, fatal even, if you are not prepared. Many have attacked mountains with confidence, only to disappear in the cold mists, the thin air and unforgiving and dangerous terrain. And today Denver learned that Colorado isn’t the only state that has a very big, very large, very difficult mountain to climb. Denver, say hello to Mt. Bynum and strap on that mountain climbing gear, because it's easy to just disappear up there.
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The LA Lakers:Can a team with no identity win the NBA title?
Posted by: SPQR on Friday, April 27, 2012 - 12:48 AM
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“The value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose.”
-Richard Grant
With the shortened regular season over, the playoffs are just about upon us; so I have picked this time to ask the members of LTB the most important poll question we will ask all year: Do you think the this team, the current version of the LA Lakers we have watched all year, will win the NBA title? Now, our answers won’t be important, just opinions asked for and given; but the true answer we will all know soon, will tell us much about where this teams stands, what lies ahead, and what it may need to do.
Remember now, I am not asking if you THINK we can win the NBA title. Not do think we have a CHANCE to win the whole deal; not if we do this or that, or if the other playoff series’ break one way or another, CAN we win the NBA Championship. Those questions are hypothetical’s with an escape clause built in. Easy manners of eggress to hedge your bets.
I am asking the direct, singular question: Do you think they will win the NBA championship? Period. And I am looking for honest answers. Not emotional answers, not answers the heart may want all of us to believe and give, or what your LTB brothers may want you to say, but the answer your head, your intellect gives back when you ask it that question.
Like all of you, I have watched this team all year, sifting through good performances and bad. Wading with distaste through the bitter waters of dark times, drinking deep of the sweet waters of the good. There were certain periods, moments of time, snapshots of perfection and accomplishment where I felt there may be hope. That this team, with a new coach, a new system, a new direction and subtle changing of the guard with Drew and a sledgehammer removal of Derek Fisher in a move for youth with Sessions, could perhaps put it all together and do what we couldn’t do last year with the old way, the old coach, the old players in their some role that was so successful the previous three years.
But now, with the playoffs dead ahead and truncated year of evidence behind us, my head it is telling me the opposite of what the heart so dearly desires. If I had to make a guess, with my life on the line in giving the correct answer, I would say, no, the Lakers will not win the NBA championship.
I’m not going to break this team down to its molecular level in dissecting why it won’t. We all have ideas about each player, the coach, the system, and the flaws we have exhibited in a micro level. We all have talked about, debated and discussed these micro issues: players we don’t think are playing smart, or working hard, or can hit open shots, a lack of defense or intensity; coaching decisions the left too many vets playing too many minutes for good young players like Goudelock not playing enough. Those are just some of the issues we feel plague the team depending on our view points. But I will give an overarching reason of why my answer to my own question not the answer I wanted to come back to me.
On paper, this team seems to have the individual component parts to win the title. In today’s NBA, we have three stars who match up with the stars of any team: Kobe Bryant, Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. There really is no team that has more top tier star power than we do. And when you throw in very accomplished ancillary talent like Ramon Sessions, Metta, Blake, Barnes and others, we would seem to have the component parts to go all the way. But the major problem with this team, after a year’s worth of observation, is not with its component parts, but rather, the team does not add up to the sum of its component parts.
The real problem that I suspect presages a minatory fate in our playoff journey is a lack of a team métier; the inability to develop an identity, a personality to fall back on, to rely on, when things get tough. Despite the componet talent, It never figured out a way to mess its individual parts into a effective, efficient system to impose its will on other teams.
When you think of this year’s Lakers, it becomes strikingly clear that they lack any identity at all.
Ask yourself, what is our identity? Some would say a low post team. But are we really a true, effective low post team? In today’s NBA, with the defensive rules as they are, you need three properties to really be a low post team. First, you need the low post players. That we have. And it can open an avenue of attack most teams can’t match. But as we know, when the low post is doing excessive damage, defenses will collapse to counteract it. And at that point, you need that second component to make that next chess counter move: steady, reliable outside shooting to take advantage of those open shots. To make the defense pay, to bring them right back out and start the low post cycle all over again. When Kobe, Blake and Sessions are hot, we can take advantage of this. But it hasn’t been enough. Which makes the benching of Goudelock all the more mysterious and strange. For a team so dependent on the low post, why was one of our most effective outside shooter just disregarded and shunted to the side? And third, of course, the team, the entire team, needs to be committed to the low post game, blood sweat and tears. All the way in everyway.
Are we a perimeter shooting team? Once again, we are not. We just don’t have the reliable outside shooting. Are we a running team? Once again, no. When we first got Sessions, one of moments of sweet water that buoyed my hopes, we did start running. Yet in another mysterious decision, Coach Brown as told Sessions to slow it down. This not only takes away one of his most potent assets, but for no good reason, disposes of an avenue of attack, an identity this team could have embraced. If most of the Lakers can’t run with Sessions, so what? Let him run with one or two teammates or even by himself where he go from end to end, basket to basket, in the blink of an eye. If they can’t convert the run, the rest of the team will eventually follow and the half court offense can go from there. Running the ball doesn’t change the clock, somehow limit our time on each possession. We can’t establish the half court offense until the bulk of team comes down anyway.
Are we a defensive juggernaut? We played good defense for two thirds of the year, but during the last third, this too broke apart, drifted away like a morning mist burned off by the rising sun.
A ball movement identity? Just look at San Antonio to see how lacking we are in that department. We just have too many players who have their hands on the ball too much, who like to hold the ball too long to develop that indemnity. Kobe will hold and hold, dribble and dribble, looking to break down the defense as though he were engaged in playground game of one on three. Drew will hold the ball, like a fisherman with rod in hand, waiting forever for a fish to bite. Metta will ponder with the ball as though he were a philosopher with the world in his hands, contemplating the solutions to bring about world peace. We know the names of the main culprits. There are others as well. With the Spurs, its bam, bam, bam, that ball is moving, always in a rapid fire trip to punch that hole against the defense. No matter who we thing is responsible for this deficit, players or coach or system, we are not close to being a top flight passing, ball movement team.
Are we the offensive machine of a few years ago? Not even close. Scoring is down, all year. We are not a team that can bury a team with an avalanche of destructive points. Not anymore.
When you watch this team and ask, what is their identity?... the answer comes back: they have none.
And in the playoffs, when you face tougher and tougher opposition, you better have that identity you trust, that you can fall back on, that you know you can rely on to impose a style and will on the team you face. Because if you don’t, then you are just relying on component parts to carry you to victory; and history shows, component parts, no matter how good, rarely if ever beat other talented teams that have a tried and true identity, a way of life, a system they have perfected, to get them through the hard moments, the rough games, a brutal series.
One of the great component parts teams without an identity in NBA history were the 1977 Dr. J-George McGinnis lead 76ers. And those component parts almost got it done. Until they met a team with a very powerful identity, the Bill Walton led Portland trailblazers in the NBA finals. And when the going got tough, when they fell behind two games to zero, those Blazers had an identity they knew, trusted and how to execute to fall back on to slowly expose and take apart the component parts of that Sixers team, who had nothing but their individual talent to fall back on. The Blazers won four straight games to win one of the biggest upsets in NBA finals history. And it was their tried and true indemnity that they developed that was the difference.
All year long I have asked myself, why is this talented, veteran team, so poor on the road? On paper, they should be one of the top road teams in the league. And make no mistake; the road record of a team is one of the most accurate diagnostic tools to evaluate playoff success. Their road performance has vexed me all year. I just couldn’t come up with a reasonable explanation. But now I think I have. It is hard to win on the road. You have to have an identity to overcome the road. That system, that ingrained method of execution and substance that you fall back on in tough times. And when you realize this team has none, that it is component part team, relying only on individual talent to win, then the road woes become understandable.
When I honestly look at this Lakers team, I see a team of tremendous component parts, of perhaps unrivaled individual talent and star power, but a team fatally lacking in that identity they will most certainly have to fall back on when the real challenges appear late in the playoffs.
When I look at this team, I don’t see a low post team identity, because half that equation is missing. I don’t see a running team, a scoring machine, a defensive team, nor a ball movement team. I see a team lacking that most crucial identity that you need to win the long playoff crucible.
When I look at this Lakers team, I see a team without an identity, a bad road team that will almost certainly have to play and win two playoff series, on the road, against teams with strong identities, to win the NBA championship.
I guess the one hope I hold out is that during the long playoff season, this team will find what it could not throughout the entire regular season: a personality, a identity that will see them through the tough times, difficult games, desperate series ahead.
But since I find that eventuality unlikely, when I see this team, when I ask myself that all important question, will this team win the championship?..the answer that comes back to me is not the one my heart screams to give, the one I so desperately want to believe. The answer that comes back is no. It’s not the answer I want to hear, nor is this post I was hoping to write at this time, but as always, it’s my honest answer.
How do you feel?
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LA vs Oklahoma: Now that was fun!
Posted by: SPQR on Sunday, April 22, 2012 - 06:42 PM
Lakers Blog
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Sometimes we get too involved in debating each other, scrapping with each other, arguing with each other about all things Lakers: Does Kobe shoot too much? Is Drew mature enough? Do we pass enough? Do we defend good enough? Is Brown a good enough coach?
But then you see a game like todays, a game that reminds you that we are all Lakers fans and that we all watch hoops because we love it. It brings you back to the beginning. Why you became enamored with the game, how it got in your blood. What drove you to become a life long, die hard Lakers fan. Yes, Oklahoma is a problem for us. No, it’s not the greatest thing to struggle so hard to beat them, just once, at home. But man, watching that game, I wasn’t thinking about that, or Brown’s coaching, or Kobe’s shooting, or Drew’s maturity or any of those other things.
I was just enthralled by a great, great game where the Lakers came back from their biggest deficit to win in the entire season and the heart and determination of the Lakers to finally put a notch in the gun belt against that team.
What stands out in my mind? What are the indelible images that still are in my mind as I write this? Kobe hitting that clutch three and some other must make shots to keep us going. Jordan Hill and Steve Blake playing their**es off In every way, giving us 14 points and 15 boards and 13 points respectively. And we needed each and every one of them. Hill played like a man possessed, like he was screaming after all this time, “I can play basketball, damn it!” Blake doing his best Clutch Kobe impersonation. Devin Ebanks chipping in 8 points and five rebounds, playing that hard D in lieu of Metta World Peace, who was anything but peaceful today. Andrew Bynum, blocking shots like he was hitting at a volleyball. All these things stand out in my mind’s eye as replay the double overtime triumph over Oklahoma, who thought they had the game wrapped up.
I also have to give Coach Brown creds. Yes, he has come under scrutiny and I think some well deserved criticisms. But he showed some real guts, real character in keeping Hill, Ebanks and Blake on the floor throughout the fourth and both overtimes, when he could have easily gone back to his security blanket of starters. He rewarded those guys for their efforts, and the reciprocated by turning in big play after big play in earning the victory.
Finally of course, I can still see that monster elbow of Metta World Peace nearly decapitating Harden. World Peace has come to an end, at least for the one, brief moment of history. Yes, he will get a suspension. And yes, we will see the elbow forever, all night, on ESPN. And yes, we will read a few overstated, overblown, hyped -up columns about Metta, talking about him as though he pulled a gun and killed twenty fans in the audience, not that he threw an elbow in a basketball game.
And no, I am not downplaying or absolving what he did. It was wrong and he will pay a hard price. But I have to say, in all honesty, when I watched those endless, slow motion replays, saw the look of pure, atavistic joy, triumph and emotion on his face, running down that court, after that dunk, yelling and then throwing that blow on Harden, I laughed. It looked all the world to me like the emotion our far off ancestors felt, at that moment of ultimate triumph when bringing down a mastodon and knowing they would eat well indeed.
I am glad Harden is OK. And I will accept Metta’s punishment without complaint or qualm. And I am glad I watched such a tremendous game and performance by our team. It was the most fun I have had watching a Lakers game all year, elbow included.
No matter how it goes in the playoffs, no matter what feelings I have about this team and their ultimate fate, today was fun. Today was a day to revel in the Lakers, every single man who played in that game, to glory in that win, to just flat out love being a fan of the NBA.
Man, that was fun!!
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Ramon Sessions: What is he, really?
Posted by: SPQR on Saturday, April 21, 2012 - 01:58 PM
Lakers Blog
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With the acquisition of Ramon Sessions, the Lakers took a very large incremental leap up in improving the most glaring hole in their lineup: starting point guard.
I doubt there are too many Lakers fans who would want to go back to ancient Derek Fisher in lieu of what Ramon does.
But after getting a pretty good look at Sessions, we can now start to draw some conclusions and ask some questions that will reverberate loudly in the Lakers future.
First off, Sessions on offense is certainly a far cry from old Derek. Sessions is fast, fast for anyone. He can penetrate and finish, something Derek couldn’t do. He is athletic and can both create shots and make them for himself, on the move, something Derek could not do. He also is not shy about spreading the ball around, not just being a caddie for Kobe, something Derek did a lot. All these things, on offense, are a big improvement over what we had before.
But there is another side to Sessions that is becoming obvious too. The side that begins to explain why in a point guard driven league, the Lakers are his fourth team already. While Sessions dwarfs Fish on the offensive side of things, he rather resembles the 36 year old Fisher on defense, where one would hope he would be emulating a 26 year old Fisher. To put it bluntly, Sessions can’t play defense a lick. He is not a tenacious bulldog like the young Derek was, nor can he fight through screens like Derek used to. In fact, he doesn’t really seem to want to fight through screens at all. He is also not a strong player, physically. He is easily moved.
Another thing that disappoints is that for a young, super fast point guard who can really jet to a spot or drive when he wants, he has not developed a left hand. He is strictly a righty. What does this tell me? It tells me he has not put in the work. As an example, Andrew Bynum, younger than Sessions, with injuries to delay the work he could put into his game, has developed a lethal left hand to go with his natural right hand. This is sign that somewhere, Drew put in that work to make himself more ammunition to call on, more flexibility to attack when opponents are concentrating on him. The fact that Sessions, at that crucial point slot, where his effectiveness would be so much improved with a lethal left hand, has not developed the left hand, speaks poorly of him. Instead of developing that left hand, he has found other outlets to devote his time to.
The last thing about Sessions is that his assist totals are not eye catching. Why? With a team populated with a Kobe Bryant, an Andrew Bynum, a Pau Gasol, you would expect a few more 10, 12, 15 assist games. Even the occasional monster assist game. But you don’t. For Sessions, the norm is around 7. Kind of low for a point on team with these kinds of players. Is that his fault, or are other factors involved?
So there we have Sessions, the good and the bad. I am sure many of you also have thoughts and observations about his game. And that leads to a question: Is Sessions just a stop gap measure at point, something between Derek and hopefully something much better, or is he the point of the future. Can he help lead this team to where we want it to go? Is he someone we want to see manning the point spot for the next 3 years? The next 5? The next 7?
So I would ask, what is the good you have seen with Sessions, and what is the bad? And if you were the Lakers GM, would you want him as your point guard answer for the long term, sign him as such, or would you view him as just a short term improvement until something more substantial can be gotten?
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Kobe, Drew, Pau, Ramon, Metta, Matt, Steve: We a Team, Baby!
Posted by: lakeshowsd on Friday, April 20, 2012 - 01:25 AM
Lakers Blog
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I just wanna bring everybody together and say that I'm pumped up about the playoffs, which are just around the corner. Even though we're not a top seeded team, this Laker team has been so much more fun to watch and see them grow when compared to last season under the great Phil Jackson. There's been a lot of bumps along the way, and it hasn't always been pretty but it's been a wild ride with all the drama any Laker fan could ever hope to expect.
Here are some of the positives about this roller coaster 2011-12 season:
1) Kobe has still got it in a lot of ways. Is he as good as he was when he was 28, 29, or 30? No, but at age 33 he's still one of the top 3 to 5 players in the game today. That's an amazing feat after 16 years in the league and after all the injuries and countless playoff minutes logged. For Kobe to still be right there in the discussion for MVP speaks volumes about his greatness. I've also enjoyed how Kobe has mentored Bynum in a sense and you can see the influence he's had on our young star center. Bynum is starting to play with the kind of fearlessness and confidence that Kobe displays and you can tell Bynum feeds off of Kobe's killer mentality. I see some similar qualities in their approach to the game, and Kobe has continued to show tremendous leadership this season.
2) Drew is for real. Nobody has grown more as a player than Andrew Bynum this season and for the first time in his career, most Laker fans are beginning to believe that this young man could be a franchise player worthy of building a dynasty around. He's just a monster to handle on the block and he impacts the game in so many ways that it's downright scary at times. It's exciting to anticipate what he'll do in the playoffs and how much better he'll be next year.
3) Pau Gasol has had a wonderful bounce back season and I commend him. Not only has his defense improved a bit from the non-existent D he played last year, but Pau has accepted his role as the 3rd option behind Kobe and Drew for much of the season. He's flourished in his role as that 3rd guy; the "James Worthy" of the bunch. Pau didn't make the All-Star team this year but he's had just as much impact as any All-Star and his numbers have been right on par with what we've seen for his entire career. Furthermore, I've been very pleased with how Gasol has handled himself in light of all the trade rumors and he's behaved like a true professional at all times. Go Pau!
I just wanna try to bring the LTB together as we head into the playoffs. I know we are often divided but it's time to set aside our differences and support this Laker team. Whether you've been reppin Bynum all season long, or reppin Kobe nonstop from day 1, we need to recognize that the Lakers must have both of these guys dig down deep and put forth every ounce of greatness they possess in order to win a title this year. The same can be said for Pau, Metta, Matt, Steve, Ramon, coach Brown, and the rest of our guys. Because in the end, we a team, baby and we're gonna win or lose as a team! Go Lakers!
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