 Andrew Bynum's latest injury is a disaster for both him and the Lakers. According to the Lakers, Bynum's torn medial collateral ligament will keep him out for 8-12 weeks. The playoffs, of course, commence in roughly 11 weeks.The scary part for the Lakers is that Bynum had a similar prognosis when he injured his patella tendon last season. Bynum was not on Los Angeles' postseason roster when the team lost to the Celtics in six games in the NBA Finals. Could it be that Bynum is a slow healer? Or that the Lakers publicly minimized the severity of that injury for their own purposes? Surgery, of course, would end Bynum's season, and might jeopardize his career as well.Either way, the Lakers' championship hopes will be drastically dimmed, and could even be extinguished. Let's examine the consequences. One immediate result is that Lamar Odom will return to the starting lineup. Count on this move to bolster Odom's chops and make him more aggressive and more productive at both ends of the court.Pau Gasol now becomes the Lakers' center. The positives he brings to this switch are incredible court-awareness — which translates into a more proficient running of the triangle — and an ability to stretch defenses by hitting mid-range jumpers. The negatives include his lack of physicality, and the Lakers having to provide more help against post-up players than they did when Bynum was available — which translates into the stretching of their already unreliable defense. |
Mihm is relatively healthy.What, then, might the Lakers expect for the duration?
Since their surviving roster is a tad better than the squad that came out of the West last year, it's reasonable to assume that they could easily duplicate this feat. They might still be too deep, quick and athletic for the Spurs — and too smart for the Nuggets. However, if Yao Ming, Ron Artest and Tracy McGrady have all their respective body parts functioning at a high level come the playoffs, then the Lakers' lack of a big bopper could prove fatal against the Rockets.
Still, the Lakers could be lucky enough to avoid facing Houston in the money season.Given that they make another appearance in the Finals, what might happen then?
Without James Posey and P.J. Brown, the Celtics lack a necessary degree of toughness that they possessed last season. Which means that Boston could be had.
Against the Magic, the Lakers would have to counter the inside prowess of Dwight Howard with slickness in lieu of power. Having to two-time Howard would open up a bounty of 3-point shots for Orlando and could be fatal. Even so, the Lakers' still-considerable depth could conceivably bury Orlando.
Since Zydrunas Ilgauskas is another finesse center, and the Cavs will always be LeBron-centric, the Lakers' versatility should be able to overcome Cleveland.
Overall, the Lakers are once again vulnerable in the paint — with long but leansome post-up scorers, and no dangerous shot-blocker — but they just might have enough stuff to win a ring for each one of PJ's fingers.
Author: Fox Sports
Author's Website: http://www.foxsports.com
Added: February 3, 2009
