Los Angeles Lakers Will Be Fine Once Andrew Bynum Returns

Dear Lakers fans,

I should have known better than to think I could actually count on you to be reasonable about this year's team in the first part of the season.

Leave it to all of you to go into complete meltdown mode after two games. Two games!

Although I'm sure you're completely aware of the fact that the Lakers have started off 0-2 five times in team history (resulting in three trips to the NBA Finals and two titles), please allow me to remind you one last time as a courtesy.

You see, this year's team has a different set of goals than what we've grown accustomed to in years past.

So as a Lakers fan, you must now change your own mindset as well. Now I know that's not quite as easy as it sounds—but when you really think about it, life is all about making adjustments.

Just as our Lakers make adjustments at halftime of a game, we too must learn to adjust.

During the last three years of the Phil Jackson era, the regular-season goal was to do whatever it took to get home-court advantage for the playoffs—even if it meant sacrificing both the mental and physical health of the team.

This year, the Lakers have three clear goals in mind: make the playoffs, be completely healthy heading into the postseason and most importantly, be playing your best basketball at the end of the regular season, not the beginning.

Think about that for a second: When were the Lakers at their best last year? It was the stretch of games from February 2nd to April 1st, when a healthy Andrew Bynum helped guide them to 17 wins in 18 games.

Is it mere coincidence that a certain 7'0", 285-lb center has been MIA during the Lakers' 0-2 start?

Look, if Mike Brown can produce a team that's working together as one cohesive unit and peaking after 66 games, we are going to be just fine this year, my friends.

The team we've witnessed lose its first two games this season bears little resemblance to the team we will be watching come late April.

Bynum's absence has a negative impact on the entire team, but it doesn't affect anyone nearly as much as it does Pau Gasol.

Pau isn't soft—he proved that against a rugged Celtics team in the 2009 NBA Finals, where he refused to back down to Kevin Garnett and Kendrick Perkins' repeated attempts to frustrate him. Any attempt to characterize Gasol as a "softie" is completely unwarranted and beyond ridiculous at this point.

Now, is Pau a more natural fit at the 4 than he is at the 5? Absolutely—and that's where Bynum comes in. I know it sounds simple, but no Bynum and an out-of-position Gasol is a far cry from a frontcourt that boasts a healthy Bynum and a world-class Gasol playing his natural position.

I don't care if the Lakers start out 0-4 without Bynum. Once the Lakers welcome him back into the fold, look out, because he is going to be a man on a mission this year.

The same man who went 11-of-15 from the field and 4-of-5 from the free-throw line for 26 points. The same man who grabbed 11 rebounds and two blocks in 31 minutes of play in the Lakers' second preseason game.

Bynum will be out to prove a point this year. His point? That Dwight Howard is not worth a trade for him straight up. Forget the rumblings (which have never actually been discussed) that the Lakers would offer Gasol and Bynum for Howard. Bynum wants to show you and the world that he's better than Howard on his own.

As a matter of fact, the last time Howard and Bynum squared off, Bynum had 10 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks while forcing Howard into nine turnovers in a 97-84 Lakers win.

Once again, we can point to that game as a jumping-off point to a two-week period during which the Lakers peaked. They won nine games in a row during that stretch, including two wins over the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks.

Right around that time when Bynum was slowly working his way back into playing shape, he went through a 10-game stretch where he averaged 13 points, 13.7 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game.

Now fully healthy, you can expect the scoring numbers to be closer to 18 points per game—only this time, it will be over 62 games instead of 10.

So here I am just one week later, once again, begging with you, pleading with you to step back off the ledge. The Lakers just need to make the playoffs. They don't need to be the No. 1 seed; they can be the No. 8 seed for all I care.

As long as they are healthy and peaking at the right time, Andrew Bynum will be the difference-maker this season—the one we've been hearing about for the past three years.

Kobe will be Kobe and Pau will go back to being Pau, but it's Bynum that will lead this team back to the NBA Finals to square off with the Miami Heat. I promise.

Sincerely,

Reality

***The Lakers defeated the Utah Jazz 96-71 on Tuesday night to up their record to 1-2 on the season.  See, what did I tell you?***