Do we really NEED an elite Center?

Noone has won a ring with a dominant C since we did it with Shaq.. Dwight still hasn't sniffed a ring & it's clearly no longer a big man's league.

As much as I love his potential, I don't know if I want to continue with Bynum.. Between the injuries & attitude I think we'll be better off trading him. The problem is, the only 1 for 1 swap that made sense is with a guy coming off back surgery.. I don't want to gamble on either one of these guys.

You can get alot of star players for Bynum in my opinion.. I know they say you don't trade big for small, but when you do, you can usually get alot in return. Deron is the 2nd most likely target for in a 1 for 1 swap with not much else included from either team.

I think our best bet is getting a package of a young star & a few good role players. I would also consider sending out both bigs if the right deal comes along. I think alot of teams with good PG's would consider it

I'll start with the most unrealistic, Bynum + filler for Love + Pek

Bynum + Pau + filler for Hortford + Smith + Teague

Bynum for Lawson + Chandler + McGee

Bynum for Hibbert + George + Hill.. or Bynum + Gasol for Hibbert + West + George + Collison

Bynum + Pau + Blake for Noah + Gibson + Deng + Watson

Bynum + Pau for Marc + Zbo + Rudy

I only focused on deals where we get back a replacement Center.. If we can somehow get a C for Gasol (maybe Pek thrown in Beasleys place in MIN deal), We could expand it to a good enough amount of offers that I think we can find one that works.

What is your take on this? Do we need one of the 2 dominant Centers, or would we be better off getting multiple pieces for Bynum? Also, what kind of deals would you take for him?

I'll never understand why so many Lakers fans are so desperate to get rid of Andrew Bynum. The guy had an incredible year this last season. In his 1st year as the #2 option he nearly put up 20 & 10. He's only gonna get better. He's a little immature so what? He's 24 years old he'll mature as he ages no doubt in my mind. There's absolutely no reason to trade him and if we did it wouldn't be garbage deals like the ones above.

They don’t need two of them. Pau Gasol can still be a elite player, but only at the center position. That’s where he has value, to a team that needs a center.

If Pau was elite we'd still be in the playoffs

I dont think Pau will ever be an all star again so that means Bynum stays (or gets traded for Howard) but Pau has to go. He has lost a step and he can't take the physicality and grueling nature of the NBA season + playoffs.

The Rock wrote:If Pau was elite we'd still be in the playoffs.

Look at the remaining top 4 teams. San Antonio moved Duncan to C. Boston moved Garnett to C.

JUST-MING wrote:

The Rock wrote:If Pau was elite we'd still be in the playoffs.

Look at the remaining top 4 teams. San Antonio moved Duncan to C. Boston moved Garnett to C.

I know but Im just saying if Pau found other avenues to contribute even if his offense is going south (he used to do that from 08-10) then we'd still be playing.

The Rock wrote:

JUST-MING wrote:Look at the remaining top 4 teams. San Antonio moved Duncan to C. Boston moved Garnett to C.

I know but I’m just saying if Pau found other avenues to contribute even if his offense is going south (he used to do that from 08-10) then we’d still be playing.

He used to be the center from 2008-2010.

Well, we don't NEED an elite center to compete. But we don't NEED an elite starting shooting guard to compete either. We also don't need an elite PG to compete.

There isn't any position where you NEED to be elite to compete. Being 'elite' at any position though helps your chances of victory.

If you had to pick some positions where having a positional advantage is most beneficial then it is probably at center and power forward generally speaking.

KeepBynum wrote:I'll never understand why so many Lakers fans are so desperate to get rid of Andrew Bynum. The guy had an incredible year this last season. In his 1st year as the #2 option he nearly put up 20 & 10. He's only gonna get better. He's a little immature so what? He's 24 years old he'll mature as he ages no doubt in my mind. There's absolutely no reason to trade him and if we did it wouldn't be garbage deals like the ones above.

I'm not desperate to get rid of him.. His knees still terrify me. His value is extremely high as basically 1B at the most coveted position in the league. We could get a boatload of value out of him.

Disagree with anyone saying Pau can be our elite Center. I don't think he has that in him anymore. We were lucky to get his peak out of him during our 2 title runs. He's declining a bit.

The main reason I entertain the idea of trading Bynum is Gasol's trade value. I just don't think we can get the pieces in return for Pau that will put us in position to win a ring while Kobe is still here to lead our team. I hope we don't trade Bynum & he goes on to show love for the city of LA & his team, & becomes the most dominant player in the game, like we ALL know he's capable of becoming.. But between his attitude & injury history, I just don't think it's a gamble we can afford to take. We have 3-4 years tops to win a ring with Kobe.

Lets be honest, things could go VERY badly this season. By trading Gasol for role players we're banking on Bynum 100% being ready to be that #2 guy every night, & stay healthy. Lets say we get Derrick Williams, Beasley, Barea for Pau.

Williams has been very inconsistent so far & is not a sure thing to pan out. Beasley is also inconsistent but seems like a good fit for our team. Barea solid guard off the bench. Now lets say Bynum goes down with another season ending knee injury - OR starts playing with no effort because he doesn't feel he's getting enough shots. Are Dwill2, Beasley, or Barea gonna step up & play like stars? I'm sure Beas will have some big scoring games but like I said, inconsistent. If those guys were ready to be stars on a contending team, they wouldn't be trade bait for a veteran player at the same position.

We have to hit a home run with Pau & have Bynum turn around his attitude & health history to contend.. That's too many what if's for me

^ Yes but the Lakers aren't going to bet the farm necessarily on Kobe's window. They're looking beyond that. They have to, financially speaking. I know it might seem like it makes sense to move forward with an all-in type strategy to take advantage of Kobe's remaining years but as of right now we have virtually no one on the books in 2014 so unless they can pull off something that is an absolute NO BRAINER type of move to squash the 2014 plan, they're not going to do it.

The trades you suggested in your first post in here, are horrible. Bynum and Pau for Horford and Smith and Teague is absolutely horrendous when Bynum/Pau/Sessions are a better trio than that.

Then the other ones you expect those teams to blow up their roster to satisfy your need to tweak our roster?

When people pose trade ideas, can they please TRY to take into consideration the concept of sellers needing buyers in order to sell? I'm not sure if this is a result of fantasy sports but somehow people have gotten real lazy with trade ideas and have started using words like "and fillers" and shipping players off to teams who are unlikely candidates to want to participate.

lakersin4 wrote:Noone has won a ring with a dominant C since we did it with Shaq.. Dwight still hasn't sniffed a ring & it's clearly no longer a big man's league.

As much as I love his potential, I don't know if I want to continue with Bynum.. Between the injuries & attitude I think we'll be better off trading him. The problem is, the only 1 for 1 swap that made sense is with a guy coming off back surgery.. I don't want to gamble on either one of these guys.

You can get alot of star players for Bynum in my opinion.. I know they say you don't trade big for small, but when you do, you can usually get alot in return. Deron is the 2nd most likely target for in a 1 for 1 swap with not much else included from either team.

I think our best bet is getting a package of a young star & a few good role players. I would also consider sending out both bigs if the right deal comes along. I think alot of teams with good PG's would consider it

I'll start with the most unrealistic, Bynum + filler for Love + Pek

Bynum + Pau + filler for Hortford + Smith + Teague

Bynum for Lawson + Chandler + McGee

Bynum for Hibbert + George + Hill.. or Bynum + Gasol for Hibbert + West + George + Collison

Bynum + Pau + Blake for Noah + Gibson + Deng + Watson

Bynum + Pau for Marc + Zbo + Rudy

I only focused on deals where we get back a replacement Center.. If we can somehow get a C for Gasol (maybe Pek thrown in Beasleys place in MIN deal), We could expand it to a good enough amount of offers that I think we can find one that works.

What is your take on this? Do we need one of the 2 dominant Centers, or would we be better off getting multiple pieces for Bynum? Also, what kind of deals would you take for him?

It's an interesting question, but your post really just rehashes various trade ideas. You can post those ideas here:

lakers-discussion/offseason-overhaul-discussion-who-keep-who-get-t134363.html