POTW: Bynum and Lakers observations

Congratulations to tblzrsreturn for winning Post of the Week! Discuss his post here.

here are my observations on the lakers for the new year’s…

1) there is one fundamental offensive skill bynum must learn over the next ten months which will allow him to make the next huge jump in progress: he needs to learn how to back people down. it’s no surprise that a relative newcomer to the game wouldn’t have learned this counterintuitive skill yet. if he doesn’t have it by next october, then the rate of growth over the next 20 months of his overall skill level will plateau. but knowing how hard bynum works, i do expect him to have learned this skill by next october. this skill is the one that will allow him to become the most dominant center in the league, because this is the one that will allow him to have devastating close-to-the-basket go-to moves while also opening up his court vision.

2) for bynum to become a better rebounder, he must become physically much stronger than he is today…next year, what i’d like to see from bynum in those frequent but brief rebounding situations is for him to rapidly but slyly move opposing rebounders who have superior rebounding position out of that position and install himself there–without getting whistled. for instance, i’d like to see him move an opposing rebounder, who is stationed in front of the rim in box-out position, underneath that rim and effectively take that opponent out of the play.

this is not something you can ask out of just anybody, but i think bynum will be capable of this at some point–hopefully by next year–and he is one i would like to ask this of…

on the flip side, right now, there are a few smaller but stronger players (kendrick is one) who can physically remove bynum from rebounding position–without fouling. at least this much must stop…by next season…

3) for jordan and javaris to co-exist, both jordan and javaris must learn off-the-ball skills. the effectiveness of both players are drastically reduced when they don’t dominate the ball. i especially hope that phil will not make it such that when the two are playing at the same time, farmar dominates the ball while javaris is forced off-the ball–in other words, that jordan is designated the pg and javaris the sg–this would kill javaris who will be a better player than jordan within three years and needs to handle the ball as much as jordan. but i have a feeling that this will become a moot point by next year.

they should be able to learn how to share by then simply by playing more together…they just need reps together i think…but if they don’t learn to play together, they will effectively cannibalize each other’s development and impact…

4) i like that trevor is showing confidence in his 3-pt shooting…but if trevor doesn’t develop both a mid-range game and ball handling skills in the next ten months, the small forward position will remain the biggest liability in the next two playoffs…i like the perimeter shut-down potential of kobe+trevor, but trevor is the only sf on the team who has the potential to be a full-time 2-way player…but nobody knows yet if he has the will to become that player…

5) good people (people i like) who we shouldn’t have to expect back for next season: chris mihm and sasha vujacic…i don’t like the whiny rudeness some lakers fans have shown them over the years (and i’ve been guilty of that whiny rudeness myself at times, i will admit), but nowhere in my crystal ball do i see them back next year; so my wish is that lakers fans try to act with class and dignity and behave well towards these two good people who we will be leaving us in the summer…

6) lakers should bring marc gasol over here as soon as they can.

7) keep kwame for part of or all of the mle…if he wants more, say goodbye. kwame is now a situational luxury center for us. he makes defending san antonio and houston and miami easier, i guess, but that’s about it. he’s useless against smaller top teams such as the ones in phoenix, detroit, and boston…and bynum can already wax most of the teams in the league himself anyway. and if bynum has another growth in skill level next year as i expect he will, then kwame may not even be worth the mle…especially after gasol comes over…

8) for the draft, i am hoping for either cal’s devon hardin or a scorer at the wing (either at 2 or 3) who is long and athletic…but if mitch could use that pick in a trade for apparent-bust gerald green, i’d totally support that…