Bynum’s Big Test. What a game from Andrew Bynum last night, obviously his best as a Laker — 20 points with a true shooting percentage of 74.6%, pulls down 14 boards, blocked three (changed many more) and is a team-best +14 on the night. He anticipated well on the defensive end and controlled the boards. It was a breakout-type game, I could spend the rest of this preview on superlatives.
But the biggest challenge for Bynum has been conditioning and focus game in and game out —he needs to be ready to go tonight.
A couple nights ago I caught a chunk of the Portland game against the Clippers (mostly the part where the Trailblazers went to a zone that confused the Clips for a while). The front-line combo of Jamal Magloire and Zach Randolph are a force inside. Randolph really impressed me, in the past he has not been able to put his entire offensive game together (a career 46.8% eFG% shooter) but this season he seems to have put it together (51.4% on the season), is just lightning quick off the block and is showing a hustle off the ball that I don’t remember. While he is the four and Bynum may be assigned Magloire, he is going to help out on Randolph or he will put up another 35, like he did on the stout Clipper front line.
Other Trailblazers who impressed. Brandon Roy just looks professional, like a veteran. The Lakers catch a break however as he is not going to play due to a foot problem. Jarret Jack will take is place and looked very quick, which could be trouble if our guards don’t stay in front of him. Travis Outlaw seems to be doing everything (and the team is +30. points better per 48 minutes better when he is on the floor).
This is a very athletic team now, who could be very good in a couple of years.
Is Tex right? Was it just me, or did Odom just seem more aggressive when Kobe was resting? Odom started slow, 0-4 in the first quarter. But some of that was just missed open looks, by the end he has warmed up and was 3 of 3 in the fourth quarter. Now, in Odom’s defense, he had the assignment to guard KG all night and that needed to be his focus, but still he just looks tentative when Kobe is out there.
And it’s not just him, when the T-Wolves made their fourth-quarter run it was in part because the Laker offense stopped moving and became Kobe (or Odom or Smush) trying to beat a guy one-on-one with few cutters or other semblance of an offense. It works, they need to run the thing
Kwame nearly ready. Kwame Brown is expected to be cleared to play Friday night against Detroit. I’d wait a couple games to start him, bring him in behind Bynum for a while, until he proves he’s really ready.
Blazers bloggers rock. Portland, in my mind, has the best team of bloggers out there (with the Celtics a close second). Blazer’s Edge is one of the best in the biz (well, biz implies he gets paid, but you know what I mean). The Oregonian’s blog changed writers but still has more info than 99% of the other blogs on the planet. Blazers Blog is very solid, and the Rose Garden Blog is also a quality read. And they also have the “King of all NBA bloggers†Henry of True Hoop. If the Blazer team ever catches up the quality of their bloggers, watch out.
Give the man a blog. I’m a little late to this party, and it’s off topic, but let me throw this out there — Kelly Dwyer should have a blog. See, this is where mainstream media editors just seem to miss the boat, they have Dwyer writing (well done) features and standard fare stuff, but when he just rants, as he has done in two emails to Henry at True Hoop, the stuff is gold. KD is witty and knows his hoops. Editors, let your talent breathe, give it room to do what it does best. That’s how you drive original traffic to your site, not rehashing what I can read elsewhere.
Things to look for tonight. First, even when the Trailblazers sucked the Lakers struggled in the Rose Garden. The Blazers have won just 41% of their home games overall the last two seasons, but have taken three of four from the Lakers. This is not a gimme win.
The Lakers need to push Randolph away from the basket — he’s got a jumper but it’s not nearly as good as when he’s in close and can use his quickness in the post. He’s shooting 61% in close but just 38.3% on jumpers. Easier said than done, but it’s a goal. Use Odom, Turiaf, Bynum, whoever it takes but keep this guy off the boards.
The Laker guards have got to stay in front of Jack, if he gets into the lane, forcing bigs to rotate off their men, things will really open up for the Blazers. Smush and Farmar have to play their best defensive games in a while.
Second game in two nights, the Lakers need to move the ball and themselves in the offense. If they get slow, if it becomes isolation rather than crisp passing, it could be a long night. These aren’t the Blazers of three years ago, these guys can play.
Casey Holdahl says
Dang, my old blog gets mentioned, but the new blog gets snubbed. That’s cold man, real cold.
DYi says
How do you think Kwame will handle Bynum’s emergence? Will we be seeing Etan Thomas v. BRENDA Haywood II?
Kurt says
Casey, my bad. The horrific error has been corrected. And, for the record, I’m blaming the Dayquil for clouding my mind today.
Kurt says
2. I think this is the nightmare scenario — Kwame comes back half a step slow, Bynum subs him out and then outplays him, forcing Phil to keep cutting Kwame’s minutes and adding to Bynum’s nightly. That could upset what in the past has been Kwame’s fragile mental state. On the other hand, he could have matured and want to really fight for his job, which will be good for all of us.
Craig W says
Kwame has been given a lot of support in LA, not least by Phil. I suspect it has helped his maturity process. Before he was growing older, but not allowed to mature (different from demanding someone mature). Since he came out of high school to the #1 pick in the draft, the pressure was immense. Now he is on a team where two high schoolers have apparently succeeded. My intuition says he is thinking, ” If they can succeed, why can’t I?”
If the team isn’t pressuring him, and the fans aren’t pressuring him (they will be pressuring AB instead), my guess is that he is on the way to being the best he can be.
Rob says
Call me crazy, but I’m not worried about Kwame. If anything, having Bynum playing well takes some pressure off of him. The Lakers don’t need Kwame to be the second coming. That’s gotta be a relief. Plus, there’s some old phrase about winning curing all ills.
JONESONTHENBA says
With Bynum scoring inside, they just need Kwame to worry about rebounding and blocking shots. As well as making his LAYUPS. As long as he is able to do that, everything will be okay. But I really hope they keep the starting five they currently have and don’t automatically give Kwame his spot back when he returns. PJ has indicated that the returning guys are going to have to work for their minutes, so we’ll see.
On another note, have you guys seen the way D-Fish is playing in Utah? Man I wish we could have him back. I think an addition of a strong, outside shooting, tough minded point guard such as Derek Fisher would really put us over the top. Hindsight being 20-20, not signing Fish to the midlevel when he was a free agent a few years back seems like a mistake now. Imagine our starting line up with him in there instead of the Smusher. Our three point shooting and on the ball defense would improve. As well, our offense would be run that much smoother, cuz Fisher knew the triangle like the back of his hand.
Maybe we could use Mihm to get a shooting/defending veteran PG? I still say Delonte West in Boston or Chris Duhon in Chicago would be perfect fits for our offense. Duhon is BJ Armstrong with better defense, and West is a taller point guard with a solid stroke who shoots at a very high percentage.
Rob says
I just can’t think about not signing Fish, ’cause that makes me think about Gary Payton.
Kurt says
I have soft spot for Fish but he is way overpaid: $5.8 mil for this season at age 32, and his contract runs for three more years and ends at $7.4. Utah is using him right, off the bench for 20 minutes a night (22.3 so far) and let him be a spark plug.
I would love to have kept him, but not at the prices he was being offered by GS.
JONESONTHENBA says
I couldn’t agree more with you on his contract, but so many worse players have been getting mid-level type deals (See:Antonio Daniels in Washington), that when you compare him to them, it really isn’t that bad of a deal.
Fisher could play 20-25 min a night here, and have Smush/Farmar fill in the other minutes. I think that would be a major improvement.
Obviously Fisher won’t be leaving Utah anytimes soon. But my point is that I really believe this year’s team is on Duhon/Fisher/Delonte West type player away from being very special. If this were next year, I wouldn’t worry so much because I know for a fact that Farmar will be ready to roll as the starter by then. But for now, we need someone else to fill that roll, because I really don’t feel Smush is the answer…
kwame a. says
well, it was just a matter of time before the pg debate began. i too would have loved to get Duhon for Mihm, and who knows, Chicago may still need Mihm and we still need Duhon, but let’s not forget, for any player coming in the learning curve of the tri. one of the best things about this team (although it isnt as apparent in 20 turnover games), is the triangle experience and chemistry and i would not be so quick to dismiss Smush Parker yet, remember Miami won with freaking Jason Williams at the point. Smush has to take a deep breathe, start to hit his shot and everything else will fall into place. Defensivley, most pg’s get beat, you can’t touch anyone in the NBA anymore, the goal of the leauge was obvious and its playing out more or less how the commish wanted. Laker team D is the only thing that will help defend the perimeter, and that includes Kobe’s man beating him to the lane too (nobody ever complains about his defense, but sometimes its lacking to say the least). Bottom line, Smush earned the job and my opinion is he hasnt done anything to lose it. Has he shot poorly to start the season, yes, but everyone in the leauge will have a 5 game period where there shot isnt falling. Give Smush a chance, and some fan support, it may elevate his spirits, thus elevating his game.
Derek Banducci says
The vibe I get from Kwame is that he welcomes the role of playing second fiddle. He doesn’t want to be THE MAN. In some sense, this is his biggest weakness. In anther sense, however, I think it’s exactly what makes him a perfect fit for the Lakers right now. I believe that Kwame can thrive as long as PJ gives him a clear role that he is capable of performing.
Kwame’s ideal role, I believe, will be to become a defensive specialist who also spells Bynum. If Kwame can play that role, then the fans will be happy, Kwame will get decent minutes, and the Lakers will win.
JONESONTHENBA says
Kwame A…I agree with you. I am going to start to support Smush a bit more. I just know from watching PJ teams of the past that he is not really going to ever be the answer in this system. Playing for another team or coming off the bench as a scorer, Smush would thrive, but in the triangle, we need a jumpshooting, steady PG. He’s a spectacular athlete, but not much of a thinker out there. But again, I’ll try to support him more.
Derek B…Don’t forget to add Catch the ball and Make his LAYUPS to that list.
CTDeLude says
Never was a fan of D-Fish. Always got beat by the smaller guards despite having some incredible games for us. He was just too much a liability with guard play. Sure it didn’t hurt us in winning 3 championships but it didn’t make it easy. I’m gonna have to say…Kwame is gonna have to adapt to the PF again. I know he didn’t thrive in it but considering the pressure is less this time around it may work out for him.
Wild Yams says
I’m not worried so much about Kwame’s re-integration with the team this year (Bynum needs a guy to split minutes with cause he’s not in good enough shape yet to hold down a position by himself anyway), but I am worried about Kwame’s future with the team. Kwame better dedicate himself to developing a solid mid-range jumper so he can slide over to the 4 once Bynum is able to log those starter minutes at center.
A key thing to look for tonight: Turiaf only played 13 minutes last night, and I can’t help but think that Phil may have been resting him a bit so he’d be completely fresh and ready to bang with Portland’s frontline. If Bynum is gassed at all from his career-high minutes last night, the Lakers are gonna need Turiaf’s energy.
Gatinho says
As I’ve said previously, these position battles can only help push these guys. If Kwame isn’t mentally tough enough to handle the pressure of being pushed by a 19 year old, then the problem is one a psychiatrist somehwere would be better off handling. i’m hoping that the there is still some residual toughness and confidence left over from the PHO series.
That being said, I look forward to the day when the Lakers are mostly healthy and a rotation starts to make itself more evident. Phil is a genius of sorts, but he’s also many parts mad scientist with these rotations. It’s a good problem for him to have.
I loved Magic’s comments last night.
“This team thinks it should win and gets mad when it doesn’t.”
and didn’t pay attention to a word Alexei Lalas said…
chris henderson says
if we have such a deep team, wouldn’t we be better able to handle “back to backs”? hope we don’t see them trying to play that card tonight, shouldn’t hold water in my eyes.
Dan says
Did Vlad Rad make a 3-pointer with 0.6 seconds left on the clock?
Kurt says
Looks like we get the aggrerssive Lamar tonight. Now, if the other guys could knock down some open looks…. (Walton, I’m looking at you)
Derek Banducci says
The Lakers are really TERRIBLE when Bynum and Turiaf are both on the bench.
Goo says
..or Odom and Kobe
JONESONTHENBA says
When we go up to portland we might as well just give them the win before we play. We always stink it up when we play up there…
CTDeLude says
Man….I hate those kinda foul ridden first quarters. Basically there’s no rythm (especially when al the calls are against you) and the game doesn’t really start till the second or (God forbid) the 3rd quarter. Get in foul trouble and your backs are really against the wall.
I did see this as on of Phil’s teaching moments for the second unit though. He left them out there longer then if he REALLY wanted to win. I think it wasn’t until Portland handed so many gimmes that we didn’t take advantage of that he sent in the first unit. So I think Phil isn’t worried about this loss as much as he’s worried about his team’s consistency.