Bynum's Back!

So this is what the Los Angeles Lakers were missing.

Andrew Bynum returned from a four-game suspension to power the Lakers over the Denver Nuggets and he played big. Bynum scored a team-high 29 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, along with a pair of blocked shots.

Coach Mike Brown said that he wasn't going to ease Bynum in and was stayed true to his word. He allotted 32 minutes of playing time for the returning big man and this had effect on the Lakers prior rotation in their firs four games. This meant Josh McRoberts slid down to the bench and Troy Murphy barely played.

But Bynum's dominance offset the McRoberts/Murphy combo, especially in the low blocks. Whether it was dunking the ball over the Nuggets or altering shots, it's clear that the Lakers are indeed better with Bynum on the floor. To wit: Bynum had a +11 +/- stat with the Lakers winning by only 3 points.


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Lakers Notch Season's First Win

Finally.

It took three games before the Los Angeles Lakers got their first win of the season and avoided a 0-3 hole in the standings. They beat the Utah Jazz in convincing fashion, 96-71.

Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol led the way for the Lakers, combining for 48 of the team's 96 points. The Jazz played their first game of the season and looked very rusty. Thirty-two percent from the field and 7% form three-point range paint an ugly picture for the Jazz's game.

The Lakers also got key contributions from Metta World Peace (14 points and 5 rebounds) and their two new power forwards, Troy Murphy and Josh McRoberts (combining for 17 rebounds). World Peace dialed the time machine a few years and showed a flash of the young Ron Artest when he drove the lane and flushed the ball through the hoop strong.

As an added bonus, the Staples Center crowd chanted "We Want Barnes,"a reference to coach Mike Brown's refusal to play the volatile Matt Barnes.


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Lakers Drop to 0-2

Two games into the 2011-2012 NBA season, the Los Angeles Lakers are still winless.

The Lakers lost to the Sacramento Kings last night, 100-91 and it was a mixed-bag effort. The Lakers clawed back from a double digit lead in the second half and got within two points in the last five minutes, but the Kings stepped on the pedal and went on a 11-4 run to close the game.

Folks can cite that this was the second of a back-to-back-to-back (The Lakers play the Utah Jazz at home tonight), but this is no excuse. The Kings are projected to go back to the lottery and the Lakers should be able to handle them.

Three quick notes about the past two games:

1. Kobe Bryant showed doubters that he can still put the ball through the hoop, even with an injured wrist and rehabbed knee. In two games, Kobe has averaged 28.5 points on 45% shooting.
2. Even with the addition of Jason Kapono and Troy Murphy, the Lakers are shooting blanks from the three-point range. In the two losses, the team has made 5 threes out of 32 attempts (15%).
3. Coach Mike Brown plays young guys! Devin Ebanks and Andrew Goudelock are getting a lot of burn and the results have been pretty encouraging. 

Speaking of Goudelock, this guy needs a nickname and I think it should be "Glock" (from the pistol) because he's a shooter and it's fits his name. What do you think?


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New Lakers Signings Shore-up Frontline

For a while, the Los Angeles Lakers' frontline was becoming a mess. There was uncertainty in the tenure of Andrew Bynum as a Laker and the departure of Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom in a trade that left the versatile frontline into a reed-thin shadow.

But since then, only Odom was traded and Gasol and Bynum remain. The loss of Odom is mitigated by two new free agent signings: Josh McRoberts and Troy Murphy.

Josh McRoberts is a solid power forward that gets makes the hustle plays and does above average defense. He's pretty adept in deflecting passes in the paint and blocking shots. In limited minutes, he produces on a decent level. His glaring weaknesses are his limited offensive game and inability to get more offensive boards. I see him getting 15-20 minutes a game backing up Gasol.

Troy Murphy's game is more specialized than McRoberts. For a big man, he has developed a long range shooting game that you'd normally find in small forwards and he rebounds at a very good rate. If he's healthy enough to log 20 minutes a game, I'm expecting him to contribute on the three-point shooting and quality minutes backing up Bynum.

That said, both those players have very different games and skills compared to Odom. In Mike Brown's system, those two can be big contributors in the Lakers' pursuit of a championship.


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