The Lakers Can’t be Done Just Yet

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 7^th 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.