Lakers fans want something interesting? Here's something interesting, I think the Lakers won't improve with Bynum and may actually get worse?
Sound crazy? Not really. It actually makes quite a bit of sense when you think about the way the Lakers are constructed and how their high powered offense actually functions.
The problem with their current construction is their frontline. On paper, it sounds nice, three 6-10+ guys who all have decent hoops skills. But think about the way they play. Gasol and Bynum both get all their points down low and Odom doesn't possess a good 3 pt. shot and gets most of his points 15 feet and closer to the basket. That's really going to make it very easy for good defensive teams to pack the lane on these guys. Now extend that to Kobe. If his frontline can't spread the floor, how is he ever going to drive to the basket? Look for Kobe to have issues getting to the lane with such a lineup on the floor, as he not only runs into the opposition, but also his own players.
As much as I think Radmanovic is a soft wimp, I think we're really going to see the Lakers miss him playing with the starters strictly because of his ability to spread the floor.
Yes I agree, there's lots of big questions and uncertainties regarding the Lakers this coming season.
It's a huge change from Gasol-Odom to Bynum-Gasol-Odom with so many effects. Their offense will completely change but change isn't always bad. The pieces could fit nicely, or they could struggle ... lots of interesting theories with good cases on both sides of the argument. Either way there's lot of questions they have to answer.
I think they'll be be fine in the regular season. That even if there are problems they'll be so good that they'll be able to work around them and put up a huge regular season .... But in the playoffs with a quality opponent honed in on their weaknesses, then it become a huge problem. I feel like we'll almost have to wait for the playoffs to find out for sure, we should get to see some warning signals in the regular season though.
I think LA made a huge mistake not acquiring a defensive minded small forward. That hole is huge, and very important because of the East (Boston, Cleveland, Orlando) in a possible Finals matchup, it takes away a lot of their positives. Unnecessary complication, Kupchack should have fixed that. It'll be very interesting to see how Odom does defensively at small forward, and also if Ariza can take steps forwards. Big risks taken by the Lakers in this regard.