Was it always obvious that one of the bigs has to stretch the floor? I lack theoretical understanding of basketball so I don't know, but everyone takes it for granted these days and I suppose I'm not convinced. Could HGH+Pau+3 outside threats (like Kobe Nash and someone) work if the Lakers had a coach with a brain? Does modern NBA really have no space in the paint for two bigs?

Kobe, Pau, Dwight, Nash and a guy like prime Ron Artest would be awesome. Assuming of course Dwight was fully recovered from back surgery. Instead what the Lakers are working with is a very similar lineup but a far from prime Metta World Peace that's now slower than molasses and a Dwight that is also yet to get himself back into 2011 form. Top that off with a Pau Gasol that has been dealing with foot injuries all year and you're left with a team that can't defend in the open court so teams just get out and run all over them. Every time the Lakers miss a jump shot the other team seemingly gets an easy runout or an easy pull up 3. It's quite frustrating to watch really.

If Pau returns from his torn fascia looking better than he did earlier in the year the Lakers should be an interesting and tough team to beat in theory anyway. If however, Pau returns and is still having trouble defending stretch 4's, the way he has all year when forced to play the PF position while Dwight's on the court playing center, then Lakers will still be very vulnerable to younger, more athletic, faster teams. With the exception of Dwight our whole starting lineup is older than dirt. It shouldn't be surprising guys like RWB run circles around them.

Kobe older than dirt? Really?

Kobe ages like fine wine.

#KobeVino24

I mean, who shot threes, Robinson or Duncan?

LOL neither. It would be interesting to see how that SA team would fair in today's NBA.

You mean forced to play his natural position? Injuries are part of it and yes he's older but the system is the main thing. Pau won two rings playing the 4 with Bynum, there's no reason he can't do it with Dwight. It's great that he can play center with the second unit - as he did under Phil - but D'antoni needs to crack getting those two to be successful on both ends of the floor together and then this team could be dominant.

This.

Not counting PJax or Pop, which NBA coach would be best suited to maximize a HGH + Pau lineup with ease?

Bynum didn't play a ton of minutes in either of the two NBA finals the Lakers won. For the most part Pau played center with Lamar Odom as PF iirc. Bynum did start at center with Pau playing PF but Bynum didn't log heavy minutes and frequently wasn't even on the court late in games during those NBA finals.

Bynum averaged under 20 minutes a game in both NBA finals. In fact it might have even been closer to 15 minutes per game.

Just for the record, he averaged ~19min in the first finals they won, and ~25min in the repeat.

EDIT: Averaged 6ppg and 7.4ppg respectively.

I know, it wasn't a real question

And regardless of his finals minutes, having him and Pau playing successfully on the floor together was why they were so good in general for both of those seasons.

You are correct. That's what I get for being lazy. I looked up the last two games of the 09/10 NBA finals and assumed the other five games would be similar and of course they weren't close except game 4.

In the Lakers vs Boston Finals series Bynum played:
gm 1 28 mins
gm 2 39 (very impressive for Bynum)
gm 3 29
gm 4 12
gm 5 31:30
gm 6 16
gm 7 18:30

i'd say there has never "really" been enough space for two bigs in the paint in an offense. i remember reading an article, that i can't find now unfortunately, about how much ralph sampson's offense suffered after the rockets drafted olajuwon. sampson was a post player, but olajuwon was the better one so sampson was pushed farther away from the hoop (check his rookie stats vs the next couple years b/f he got hurt). think sampson was also considered to have better skills away from the hoop which made the move even easier. pau has had this happen two times now-- first bynum (last year), then dwight. he's versatile enough that he can play farther away from the hoop and still be a good offensive player though*.

anyway i digress, this concept is not as new as screw is saying. teams have always known that the interior is cluttered and that offenses run more optimally with space. bigs shooting 3's is fairly new, although i can think of some guys like sheed or sam perkins off the top of my head, but a big who can shoot has always been a nice commodity. think about how often the scouting report for a big references the ability to step out nd hit a face up jumpshot. difference now is that the bigs are moving farther out, but again it's not like no one ever thought to get a big who can shoot

*btw this is why i'm always confused by laker fans complaining about pau turning into a jumpshooter. he was pretty much relegated to the role. skilled as he is he's not going to take guys off the dribble from 15 feet out. so if he's stuck out there, which is most of the time now, he's probably going to shoot jumpers


edit: actually found this grantland article about sampson/hakeem. this is different than the one i recall reading in that this one says hakeem/sampson fit really well, whereas the other said sampson's skills weren't used optimally even though it was better for the team(sounds familiar doesn't it?). anyway, this article notes how sampson moved out of the post to accommodate olajuwon and also has this interesting quote

i'm thinking of guys like pj brown whose offensive roles consisted of setting screens, rebounding, and hitting open jumpers. going further back someone like horace grant was a "spacer". rick smits. can't think of anymore b/c i am not old enough ldo. again you see guys actually on the perimeter now instead of the elbow area or down the baseline. however i'd describe it more as the evolution/logical progression of a longstanding offensive tenet, rather than a paradigm shift

1, 2, 3, CHAMPIONSHIP

Dwight shoots 39 fts. League is rigged obv.

Fantastic post heels. Thank you.

stan van or phil jax would be great fits. two bigs can work (look at memphis) but dantoni doesnt like to run stuff from the post as much as he should. pau should start working out of the mid to low post when on the floor with dwight. much like kobe has been doing. kobe is pretty much unstoppable 1on1 from there, and teams must double. same can be said for pau when hes actually aggressive.

Been thinking about this wrt Dirk. Easily the best shooter at the PF position in recent years. Mavs had decent CEV for many years with Dirk paired with mediocre Cs (Dampier, Haywood, Bradley). They picked up Chandler and pushed it over the top.

17 games til the playoffs!

Kobe is the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be

Beautiful and true words.

Kobe > Roy frickin Hobbs

Lakers +1.5 tomorrow as free as free money gets

Buuuuuuuuump!!!!!!!

What the Lakers win a few games and Dwight finally starts looking like Dwight and this thread isn't on the first page anymore? I'm disappoint!

Hope you got on this heavy right when you posted. Line's up to Lakers -3 after the announcement that Josh Smith is sitting out.

so excited can't wait

everything you said is 100% correct and the truth its not up for debate