duncan228
02-03-2009, 01:10 PM
Roundtable: Bynum injury fallout (http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/basketball/nba/02/03/writers.roundtable/index.html)
SI.com NBA writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the league each week. (All stats and records are through Monday's games.)
1. Andrew Bynum is expected to miss 8-12 weeks with a torn knee ligament. Do the Lakers need to make a trade or signing in the wake of Bynum's injury?
Ian Thomsen: I guess the case can be made that San Antonio will be chasing the Lakers for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. But right now the Spurs are into the worst road stretch of any team this season -- they play one game at home over one month -- and they're going to be more concerned with maintaining their two-game lead over No. 3 Denver than with trying to overtake the five-game lead of the Lakers. And even if the Lakers should finish No. 2 in the West, Kobe Bryant will go into any playoff series believing they can win.
Instead of shopping for help, the Lakers should look within their team for the answers. By not making a trade, they're telling Pau Gasol they believe in him to lead the frontcourt. They'll also be showing Bynum his importance to the team. If they brought in another big man to replace him for the short term, they'd be telling Bynum they don't believe he can make it back. But by refusing to make a deal, they're reinforcing that he's no longer a young project; instead, he's a highly valuable player who simply can't be replaced and they're counting on him, so he needs to do everything he can to rehab and return as soon as possible.
Jack McCallum: The franchise's answer is a definitive no. Kobe is already on record as saying that L.A. is "better prepared" for the postseason than it was last year, but perhaps what he means is, "The door is now open for me to get 61 every night," as he did Monday against the Knicks. But I'll accept the party line for this reason: There is a clear expectation that Bynum, who will not be getting surgery, will be back at least a week or two before the end of the regular season. It will not be a replay of last season when a kind of he's-coming-back-no-he's-not-ready ambiguity took hold. So, my guess is that the Purple and Gold will stay the course with this aggregation, set their sights on winning the West without him, and pick up at full strength in the postseason, rather than threaten the status quo with a trade.
Chris Mannix: Yes, but it doesn't have to be as significant as last year's trade for Gasol. The Lakers like to point out that they made the Finals without Bynum last season. But L.A. also beat up a wounded San Antonio team in the conference finals and didn't have to face the dangerous Hornets in a playoff series. Add the fact that this year's Denver team is markedly better, and the path to the NBA Finals is a lot rockier for the Lakers. Any deal would have to bring back a serviceable big man (no, Chris Mihm is not that) who can play at least 10-15 minutes. Joe Smith? Add the Lakers to that wish list.
Steve Aschburner: No deal. It would be nice if the Lakers could catch lightning in a bottle -- or rather, relampago en el frasco -- in another Gasol trade, landing an impact player midseason without tearing up their rotation. But soliciting another such "donation'' will be very unlikely, which means GM Mitch Kupchak would have to send back some real value this time. That could wrench the team's chemistry and balance as severely as Bynum's knee.
***
2. If the Lakers stand pat and Bynum doesn't return to form in the playoffs, can L.A. win the NBA championship?
Ian Thomsen: Kobe's job is to galvanize the team defensively. What will be the Lakers' identity over the next two months? Will they be waiting for Bynum's return, or will they be a hardworking team defensively? They can definitely win a championship without Bynum, but only if defense becomes the priority. They have to defend as a team as if he isn't going to be coming back, as if this is now the lineup that must carry them to a title.
The Celtics always looked like they were playing harder than the Lakers in last year's Finals. The Lakers can win if they shift that advantage their way. That was true before Bynum's injury and it's true now.
Jack McCallum: We get to the "can" and "will" issue. I can't definitively say that they can't win the title without him -- that would be ludicrous; we're not talking about Wilt Chamberlain here -- but they won't. True, Bynum is young and makes youthful mistakes, but he's more predictable than Lamar Odom, whose minutes will now be going up. The Lakers have more of a classically defined team with Bynum, who started all 46 games at center before he got injured, than they do with Odom, who's some kind of strange amalgam of shooting guard/small forward/power forward/center. Though Bryant says the Lakers will be better prepared for the late rounds of the postseason, and specifically mentioned Gasol, they will need the young big man to go all the way. Bynum averages 14 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.87 blocks and shoots 56 percent from the floor and, just as important, 70 percent from the line, so teams can't play bash-a-Bynum at the end of games. Those numbers would be hard to replace.
Chris Mannix: Probably not. Without Bynum, the Lakers are still a highly skilled but doughy-soft team. They may not have enough to get out of the West, but if they did reach the Finals, I couldn't envision a scenario in which they defeat Boston or Cleveland in a seven-game series. Maybe they get lucky and Orlando comes out of the East. That might be the only one of the three East contenders that the Lakers can beat.
Steve Aschburner: Sure they can. A team that made it all the way to Game 6 of last year's Finals -- OK, Game 5 competitively, then that lopsided clincher -- has enough talent to win twice more this June. Remember how many of us were picking the Lakers as the playoffs began in 2008? The key will be whether Bynum's loss is crushing psychologically, as well as damaging to their frontcourt maneuvers.
SI.com NBA writers analyze the latest news and address hot topics from around the league each week. (All stats and records are through Monday's games.)
1. Andrew Bynum is expected to miss 8-12 weeks with a torn knee ligament. Do the Lakers need to make a trade or signing in the wake of Bynum's injury?
Ian Thomsen: I guess the case can be made that San Antonio will be chasing the Lakers for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. But right now the Spurs are into the worst road stretch of any team this season -- they play one game at home over one month -- and they're going to be more concerned with maintaining their two-game lead over No. 3 Denver than with trying to overtake the five-game lead of the Lakers. And even if the Lakers should finish No. 2 in the West, Kobe Bryant will go into any playoff series believing they can win.
Instead of shopping for help, the Lakers should look within their team for the answers. By not making a trade, they're telling Pau Gasol they believe in him to lead the frontcourt. They'll also be showing Bynum his importance to the team. If they brought in another big man to replace him for the short term, they'd be telling Bynum they don't believe he can make it back. But by refusing to make a deal, they're reinforcing that he's no longer a young project; instead, he's a highly valuable player who simply can't be replaced and they're counting on him, so he needs to do everything he can to rehab and return as soon as possible.
Jack McCallum: The franchise's answer is a definitive no. Kobe is already on record as saying that L.A. is "better prepared" for the postseason than it was last year, but perhaps what he means is, "The door is now open for me to get 61 every night," as he did Monday against the Knicks. But I'll accept the party line for this reason: There is a clear expectation that Bynum, who will not be getting surgery, will be back at least a week or two before the end of the regular season. It will not be a replay of last season when a kind of he's-coming-back-no-he's-not-ready ambiguity took hold. So, my guess is that the Purple and Gold will stay the course with this aggregation, set their sights on winning the West without him, and pick up at full strength in the postseason, rather than threaten the status quo with a trade.
Chris Mannix: Yes, but it doesn't have to be as significant as last year's trade for Gasol. The Lakers like to point out that they made the Finals without Bynum last season. But L.A. also beat up a wounded San Antonio team in the conference finals and didn't have to face the dangerous Hornets in a playoff series. Add the fact that this year's Denver team is markedly better, and the path to the NBA Finals is a lot rockier for the Lakers. Any deal would have to bring back a serviceable big man (no, Chris Mihm is not that) who can play at least 10-15 minutes. Joe Smith? Add the Lakers to that wish list.
Steve Aschburner: No deal. It would be nice if the Lakers could catch lightning in a bottle -- or rather, relampago en el frasco -- in another Gasol trade, landing an impact player midseason without tearing up their rotation. But soliciting another such "donation'' will be very unlikely, which means GM Mitch Kupchak would have to send back some real value this time. That could wrench the team's chemistry and balance as severely as Bynum's knee.
***
2. If the Lakers stand pat and Bynum doesn't return to form in the playoffs, can L.A. win the NBA championship?
Ian Thomsen: Kobe's job is to galvanize the team defensively. What will be the Lakers' identity over the next two months? Will they be waiting for Bynum's return, or will they be a hardworking team defensively? They can definitely win a championship without Bynum, but only if defense becomes the priority. They have to defend as a team as if he isn't going to be coming back, as if this is now the lineup that must carry them to a title.
The Celtics always looked like they were playing harder than the Lakers in last year's Finals. The Lakers can win if they shift that advantage their way. That was true before Bynum's injury and it's true now.
Jack McCallum: We get to the "can" and "will" issue. I can't definitively say that they can't win the title without him -- that would be ludicrous; we're not talking about Wilt Chamberlain here -- but they won't. True, Bynum is young and makes youthful mistakes, but he's more predictable than Lamar Odom, whose minutes will now be going up. The Lakers have more of a classically defined team with Bynum, who started all 46 games at center before he got injured, than they do with Odom, who's some kind of strange amalgam of shooting guard/small forward/power forward/center. Though Bryant says the Lakers will be better prepared for the late rounds of the postseason, and specifically mentioned Gasol, they will need the young big man to go all the way. Bynum averages 14 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.87 blocks and shoots 56 percent from the floor and, just as important, 70 percent from the line, so teams can't play bash-a-Bynum at the end of games. Those numbers would be hard to replace.
Chris Mannix: Probably not. Without Bynum, the Lakers are still a highly skilled but doughy-soft team. They may not have enough to get out of the West, but if they did reach the Finals, I couldn't envision a scenario in which they defeat Boston or Cleveland in a seven-game series. Maybe they get lucky and Orlando comes out of the East. That might be the only one of the three East contenders that the Lakers can beat.
Steve Aschburner: Sure they can. A team that made it all the way to Game 6 of last year's Finals -- OK, Game 5 competitively, then that lopsided clincher -- has enough talent to win twice more this June. Remember how many of us were picking the Lakers as the playoffs began in 2008? The key will be whether Bynum's loss is crushing psychologically, as well as damaging to their frontcourt maneuvers.