From Those who went to Summer League

Kobe2006mvp · by **Kobe2006mvp** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:54 am

Ive been to both SPL Games and have been impressed but not blown away by Bynum. I originally wanted to trade Mihm for a guard but when I think about it now, I think we need to hold onto him. I only want to hear back from people who have actually seen Bynum play this summer...do you feel comfertable with him backing up Kwame or would you rather hold onto Mihm?

BLAZINLAKERFAN · by **BLAZINLAKERFAN** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:03 pm

The only guy i'm not sold on is Wafer.In 2 games Pinnock has looked better and comfortable playing. Bynum could help, just his presence on the court changes the way the oppenent has to play. So I would feel comfortable. I'm kinda on the fence with Mihm, he his a good tradeable piece but i think he still could be had for some help.

revgen · by **revgen** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:09 pm

Kobe2006mvp wrote:Ive been to both SPL Games and have been impressed but not blown away by Bynum. I originally wanted to trade Mihm for a guard but when I think about it now, I think we need to hold onto him. I only want to hear back from people who have actually seen Bynum play this summer...do you feel comfertable with him backing up Kwame or would you rather hold onto Mihm?

Bynum won't get better if he doesn't play. He won't be playing if Mihm is playing.

Does this mean we should trade Mihm? I'd say yes, because he's going to be gone after this season and Bynum can be better than Mihm if he gets more playing time.

And honestly, (don't laugh) I think Kwame may be able to help Bynum since Kwame also had to come in out of High School. Whatever Bynum is struggling with, Kwame should be able to help him adjust. It's tough enough for a kid who's 18 and feels pressure to be the "savior" of the franchise. Kwame has gone through this kind of pressure and hopefully can council Bynum on it. I think Bynum will succeed where Kwame struggled.

hoopschick03 · by **hoopschick03** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:14 pm

Bynum is at the point now where the only way you'll see significant improvement is if he plays. He's gotta get the minutes.

LUUUKE · by **LUUUKE** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:14 pm

did u forget bynum is playing with a bunch of scrubs?

imagine him with starters or in the 2nd unit...

i remember when D fish was put into the 2nd unit his fg% went down cause he was playing with a bunch of scrubs in the 2nd unit...

girlsfavtoy · by **girlsfavtoy** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:23 pm

LUUUKE wrote:did u forget bynum is playing with a bunch of scrubs?

imagine him with starters or in the 2nd unit...

i remember when D fish was put into the 2nd unit his fg% went down cause he was playing with a bunch of scrubs in the 2nd unit...

If you don't know already, Bynum is also a scrub. That's how most players start out. You improve from there.

Bynum hasn't proven anything in the nba yet, so stop treating the guy as an all-star.

KB24 · by **KB24** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 12:32 pm

hoopschick03 wrote:Bynum is at the point now where the only way you'll see significant improvement is if he plays. He's gotta get the minutes.

crucifido · by **crucifido** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:05 pm

The main hitch in Bynum's game right now is that the kid just plays flat out timid. He seems scared or just really unsure of himself at the moment./ A lot, I'm sure, due to his age, but with his size, I'd love to see him "go after it" a bit more.

Both of the first 2 SPL games, he was sauntering up and down the court and wouldn't really get rolling until he got shown up in the game by someone / anyone.

He needs a fire in his belly right now to take the next step.

revgen · by **revgen** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:23 pm

crucifido wrote:The main hitch in Bynum's game right now is that the kid just plays flat out timid. He seems scared or just really unsure of himself at the moment./ A lot, I'm sure, due to his age, but with his size, I'd love to see him "go after it" a bit more.

Both of the first 2 SPL games, he was sauntering up and down the court and wouldn't really get rolling until he got shown up in the game by someone / anyone.

He needs a fire in his belly right now to take the next step.

I think he's thinking too much and not playing. He stops thinking and starts playing once somebody starts getting in his face like Shaq did last year. He's probably trying to remember all of the things that a center is supposed to do. Somebody needs to tell him to play basketball, stop worrying, and take it one step at a time.

MarkMadsen · by **MarkMadsen** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:24 pm

Bynum is only in his second year. He doesnt need to get exposed to large minutes yet to improve. He has yet to develop a go to post moves and his foot work is still iffy. Basically his game is still RAW as heck. Lakers are working him slowly. If they want to give him playing time, just send him to the D-League.

revgen · by **revgen** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 7:27 pm

MarkMadsen wrote: If they want to give him playing time, just send him to the D-League.

They probably will. They were going to send him last year but Kwame, Chris, Turiaf, and Slava were out with health issues at one time or another.

Johnnyboy · by **Johnnyboy** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:27 pm

Clearly he's improved his game. ANd clearly we should still hang on to Mihm.
I saw Bynum tonight and I still think he has no idea how to get position. ANd he doesnt always play as hard as he can. THat bothers me. He stands around way to much. But a couple times he got mad, and demanded the ball. That's when he played well. I think he should have that fire all the time. But again, he is getting better for sure.

On another note, Farmer has a great Bball IQ. I was impressed by him.

EQualizer · by **EQualizer** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:29 pm

phil jackson should slap him in the face before every game

i hope bynum doesnt turn out eddy curry style and play unmotivated, etc....

i wish bynum could play with the same passion as say, alonzo mourning does

revgen · by **revgen** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:32 pm

EQualizer wrote:phil jackson should slap him in the face before every game

i hope bynum doesnt turn out eddy curry style and play unmotivated, etc....

i wish bynum could play with the same passion as say, alonzo mourning does

IMHO Bynum's problem isn't his passion, it's his nerves. He's thinking too much on the court instead of just playing the game. When he gets mad, he stops thinking and just plays. Kinda like he did when Shaq bounced him. The coaching staff needs to find a way to get him to stop overthinking.

crucifido · by **crucifido** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:45 pm

Yeah you can see it's not a passion problem because when he's fired up the guy is all over the palce.

Nerves may very well be his big hurdle right now. Like you said he does look to be thinking far too much about what to do correctly rather than taking instruction and just going out there to play.

Big guys are a long project when they're this young (4 to 5 years), it's just a matter of patience with the organization and the fans.

He looked much better tonight though.

Also, I get the feeling Farmar may challenge Phil's stance on playing rookies. The kid (though against SPL competition) is sinking right into the system quickly.

Alleyhoops · by **Alleyhoops** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:48 pm

Someone lit Bynum's fire in tonight's game and he overpowered people slamming down monster dunks. When he plays instinctively and doesn't over think the game, he shows signs of brilliance. He had Jerry Wets shaking his head a couple of times tonight.

Wafer seems to have left his game at last year's SPL. He looks very unsure of himself on the floor.

Farmar is going to be a special player for somebody. Hopefully it's us.

crucifido · by **crucifido** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:49 pm

Yeah, um, Wafer is going nowhere in the NBA.

He's a park player. Meaning he's great aginst lower competition, but as soon as anyone close to an NBA level comes up to him, he crumbles into a shelland looks completely lost at all times.

KB24 · by **KB24** on Tue Jul 11, 2006 11:52 pm

crucifido wrote:Yeah, um, Wafer is going nowhere in the NBA.

He's a park player. Meaning he's great aginst lower competition, but as soon as anyone close to an NBA level comes up to him, he crumbles into a shelland looks completely lost at all times.

its actually a shame. he is as quick and as athletic as anybody in the NBA :bang:

but cannot capitalize at all.

crucifido · by **crucifido** on Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:01 am

Yeah if you see any SPL games (this is SPL mind you), the guy is out of control at almost all times. He focuses well enough on defense, but is beaten with one screen or cut. Offensively he doesn't have the size to slash in amongst the trees and his shot is not as consistent as a shooting guards should be.

He'll make a great NBDL player though, if that's any consolation.

la3346 · by **la3346** on Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:03 am

Bynum is fine. Did you know that Howard shot 35% in his first summer league? Amare averaged 14 and 6(13 and 8 is his 2nd summer league)? Bynum is already ahead of both, at this point.

KB24 · by **KB24** on Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:25 am

la3346 wrote:Bynum is fine. Did you know that Howard shot 35% in his first summer league? Amare averaged 14 and 6(13 and 8 is his 2nd summer league)? Bynum is already ahead of both, at this point.

can we stop the comparisions. Bynum is also playing with a much lower competition.

la3346 · by **la3346** on Wed Jul 12, 2006 12:45 am

KB8@CL wrote:
la3346 wrote:Bynum is fine. Did you know that Howard shot 35% in his first summer league? Amare averaged 14 and 6(13 and 8 is his 2nd summer league)? Bynum is already ahead of both, at this point.

can we stop the comparisions. Bynum is also playing with a much lower competition.

How is it necessarily lower? Bad teams don't necessarily imply that their summer league guys are bad. Also, let's say that the Grizz is an average team, compared to the teams in Vegas. Now let's say you play all 8 games against them, is that worse or better than playing against all 8 teams in Vegas(assuming that there are 8)? The answer is neither, since with the assumption that the Grizz is an average team, then that means that you'll be playing against 4 teams worse than them, and 4 teams better than them, which is no different than playing an average team 8 times.

Less teams don't mean less competition. It just means that you play them more times. You can make that conclusion, only if you established that the Grizz is weaker than the average team in the Vegas league. And if you can't establish that, then I can actually argue the opposite, that the competition "here" is tougher, because now you're playing an above average team more times than you would in the Vegas league.

dj vitus · by **dj vitus** on Wed Jul 12, 2006 11:38 am

If fire in his belly is what motivates him to play, then he should be playing 30 mins a game in the NBA. The more times Shaq and Yao and Amare dunk on him, the more fired up he'll be and the more points he'll score.

strategos · by **strategos** on Wed Jul 12, 2006 1:20 pm

dj vitus wrote:If fire in his belly is what motivates him to play, then he should be playing 30 mins a game in the NBA. The more times Shaq and Yao and Amare dunk on him, the more fired up he'll be and the more points he'll score.

Maybe Kobe should posterize him directly before each game, or wait, let's Luke do it, that should motivate him even more :man1:

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