First, I have to address the addition of Steve Nash to my admittedly
beloved Lakers. It’s a seismic improvement,
in Nash the Lakers get the game’s best passer, perhaps it’s best shooter, and
pair together (with Kobe Bryant) the most experienced and intelligent backcourt
perhaps in league history .
No Nash cannot defend Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker, Chris
Paul and the like, but aside from LeBron James there isn’t a player in the
league that can shut down another true star.
The point is that while Nash has his defensive deficiencies, the NBA is
much more about team defense. With so
much individual talent in the league, teams must work together to defend opposing
stars.
Nash is one of the single most efficient offensive players
in NBA history and is a consistent 90-50-40 guy (90% free throws, 50% field
goals, 40% from three). This also means
that in addition to given the clunky Lakers offense rhythm and more open looks,
Nash also provides the outside shooting this team has been sorely missing for
years.
If the Lakers don’t make another move maybe they could get the
West Finals and give the Thunder a tough time, but I don’t think they win that
series, or beat a team like the Heat, but I do think Nash makes the Lakers
clearly in the top three of best teams in the league.
Now enough about Nash and on to what the Lakers still need
to do.
Dwight Howard is clearly the next item on everyone’ s
agenda, and in terms of a sexy rumor this is about as good as it gets. And to be honest, while strong cases can be
made for either dealing Bynum or keeping him, I think the Lakers have to
acquire Dwight Howard even if he won’t sing a long-term extension
immediately.
Sure, Howard had a back injury, a result of a kind of freak accident
on the court, and has now had surgery and is recovering. Bynum is completely healthy at the moment,
and just had the best year of his career going for 19 points and 12 rebounds
per game. So why give up the younger
Bynum for Dwight?
First, because Howard has had one injury in his career, and
it was simply a herniated disk in his back.
Bynum has dislocated his knee, torn his meniscus, and torn his MCL. He has an awkward gait and may always be
injury prone. Howard meanwhile carries
his 6’11” frame fluidly, with the stride of a much smaller athlete.
Since his rookie year Howard has played in all 82 regular
season games 5 times, 79 games once and 78 games the other year. Bynum , since 2007 when he really started to
see large amounts of time on the court has played in order: 35 games, 50, 65,
54 and then finally played in every game except for 6 this year (four of which
came via suspension).
So in Howard you get a player that can safely be relied on
to be and stay healthy the duration of the season. Bynum, for all of his tantalizing potential
just experienced his first full healthy year in his 7th season, and
his numbers still didn’t quite match Howard’s.
Additionally Howard has proven that he is a dominant enough force to
take his team to the NBA Finals and on numerous deep playoff runs as the only
star on his squad. Do you really believe
Bynum could do the same?
Coming full circle, Howard is a better fit with Nash and
Gasol. Bynum and Gasol are a plodding
duo of big men that have good length but can’t get to the weakside of the floor
and defend the rim at anywhere near the level of Howard. In addition, Bynum needs the ball to be
effective because, admittedly, he is more skilled and polished than Howard in
the post. For a Lakers team that has
Nash, Bryant, and a post move artist in Gasol, another big that must have the
ball might not be the best fit.
Howard gets a lot of his touches via lobs (hello Nash) and
offensive rebounds while the set offense could still be run predominantly
through Kobe, and Nash/Gasol pick and rolls.
Howard is also probably the best athlete in the league along with
LeBron, which would be a huge boost for the long in the tooth Lakers.
Whether or not the Lakers can nab Dwight is still in
question, but even if they do, one more thing must be done. The Lakers must add an athletic swingman that
can defend and hopefully shoot the three.
LA only has their mini mid-level exception to
play with (around $3 million per year) so a great player is not going to be
signed. Perhaps a guy like Ronnie Brewer
could be had for around that Salary- he would add a tremendous athlete to the
Lakers which would take the defensive burden off Kobe, and add speed and length to
the Lakers lineup. It wouldn't add a tremendous outside shooter but
hey, you can’t have it all.
If somehow Howard and Brewer could be added and Ramon
Sessions and Jordan Hill re-signed for depth the Lakers would vault past the
Thunder as the favorite in the west, and perhaps equal or surpass the Heat as
title favorites.
