The Los Angeles Lakers head into the 2008-09 season with far different expectations than they did a year ago at this time.
Flashback to October of 2008 and all of the talk back then was about whether or not Kobe Bryant was going to get traded and to whom and for what he would be traded for.
I dare you to find me a publication that projected the Lakers to finish higher than the seventh seed in the Western Conference and yet they managed to grab the conference’s top seed and earn themselves a trip to the NBA Finals.
Of course, the addition of Pau Gasol in a mid-season trade for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, two first-round picks and Pau’s younger brother, Marc, had a lot to do with their renewed confidence. But even before Mitch Kupchak fleeced the Grizzlies the Lakers had shown the potential to finish in the top half of the conference thanks to the development of their young center, Andrew Bynum.
Bynum’s injury had put to bed any hopes of the Lakers making it to the Finals, but it also gave the Lakers a reason to pull the trigger on the Gasol trade. Kupchak has said repeatedly that had Bynum not suffered the subluxation to his patella there’s no way the Lakers would have made the Gasol trade.
If you were to look at Bynum’s statistics on the season they wouldn’t necessarily pop out at you—13.1 ppg, 10.2 rpg, 2.1 bpg. But if you take into account that Bynum wasn’t a starter for the first ten games of the season then you can get an idea as to what Bynum meant to the team once he swapped places with Brown.
In only 35 games played last year (34 if you exclude the game against Memphis where Bynum suffered his season-ending knee injury), Bynum still managed to finish 41st in the NBA in double-doubles with 18. Shaquille O’Neal, the man Bynum was drafted to replace, had only 21 combined double-doubles in 61 games for Miami and Phoenix.
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2 months ago
Excellent preview. I've picked the Lakers to win it all this upcoming season. I only thing I don't like is the loss of Ronny Turiaf. He was a good hustle man off the bench, and played pretty good defense on guys like Tim Duncan. He will be missed.
2 months ago
Championship---
2 months ago
kudos, monster article. i think bynums a bit like kaman when brand went down, that is to say, over performing because of the lack of low post talent. i wouldn't expect the inclusion of bynum to make any significant differences. if the lakers are guna compete for the title again, kobe needs to take less shots and give more love to gasol and odom. they got killed in the later stages of the play offs because those two were starved by mister "i robbed cp3 of the mvp" bryant.
2 months ago
Great article. The Lakers are going to dominate this year, and take the ring back to the west coast. I think the front line of Odom, Bynum and Gasol is unstoppble, the lake show will have the best starting five in the league. A close second would be Boston, but if you put me out there with KG, Allen and PP they would still be the second best in the league. Bynum will for sure help take the load off of Kobe and let Odom focus on being Odom, the less Odom is asked to do the better he plays. Oh and Kobe is going to win his first back to back MVP and his first finals MVP, you heard it here first.
2 months ago
Yes, this is a very impressive article. As a long-time Celtics fan, I have been conditioned to detest everything associated with the Lakers, but this was simply a fantastic read: well-researched, balanced, informative, humorous, engaging -- the works! Better than anything I've read on ESPN.com concerning the Lakers in a very long, long time. Easily my POTD.
2 months ago
Wonderful, insightful and detailed article on the Lakers. These are the kinds of analytical stories that will bring this site more credibility. You can't write stuff life this by pulling numbers from a Web site or reading ESPN.com
I always like reading articles where I can tell that the author has watched the team and isn't just writing something for the hell of it. Great stuff.
Expect articles of similar detail and length on the three Texas teams--Spurs, Rockets and Mavs--from me as their training camps approach.
2 months ago
Great article! I can't wait to see what we'll do with Bynum, it's going to be another exciting season!
2 months ago
great one. lakers can go all the way this time i think.
2 months ago
Oden
2 months ago
Go Lakers! Lakers are going to be the best this season
2 months ago
Go Lakers! Lakers are going to be the best this season
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