L.A. Lakers: Why Steve Nash Will Make Andrew Bynum Best Center in the NBA

Every player on the Los Angeles Lakers just got better as they acquired Steve Nash for a handful of draft picks and the remnants of the stench left from Lamar Odom as he sulked his way out of Los Angeles.

Kobe Bryant doesn't have all the pressure to be the creator on offense, Pau Gasol suddenly turns into one of the best offensive power forwards in the game (as if he wasn't before) and Andrew Bynum becomes the best center in the NBA.

Wait, what?

That's right, with what Steve Nash can do to an offense, especially with what he can do to big men, Andrew Bynum has the chance to become the best center in the NBA, both because of Nash's offensive prowess and his defensive deficiencies, which should make for a very interesting season.

Let's first look at what Nash does to big guys on offense.

From 2005 until 2010, when the Suns were dangerous to every team in the Western Conference, there was a player in the top five in field-goal percentage five times, and the top 10 seven times. Shaq led the league once, while Stoudemire finished second, fourth (two different times), seventh and ninth, which is even more amazing when you realize that Amar'e has always been a jump shooter.

What's even more impressive is the fact that Shaq had fallen into a bit of a slump offensively with injuries and waistline growth, but Nash brought him back up over the 60 percent mark.

Nash is best at pairing with an athletic wing who can shoot the three, but he's also great at getting big men their due.

What makes him so good is the fact that he can get the ball to them in the ideal spot to spin immediately toward the basket and put it in, or get it elevated to the perfect height so that catching and jumping becomes one smooth motion.

That's just scratching the surface, however. His facilitating is so accurate that he can turn anyone into a good pick-and-roll player, leading them precisely to where they need to go with a perfect pass.

Beyond that, there's the fact that his presence on the floor leads to bigger gaps in the defense and the alley-oops, so many alley-oops.

However, that's not all Nash can do for a team. Nash is even capable of making the big guys on his team better defenders, or at least make it appear that way.

Nash is so bad on defense that guys continually get past him and into the paint when he's on the floor, only it's become something to be expected over the years.

While Bynum is going to have to be better on the pick-and-roll, which is definitely his biggest weakness on defense, he should be able to block more shots this year purely stemming from smaller guys getting into the lane and forcing him to rotate.

He may not actually become a better defender, but his numbers could see a slight increase.

It should be interesting to see whether or not Steve Nash can turn the Lakers into a team threatening to win a title, but there's no doubt he's going to make them better, and Bynum should be one to reap the awards.