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lamar is getting 8ppg...what is this???? the lakers should ship him off for some more fire power...

It's their BENCH-
what do they want to have all-stars?
they are 17 & freakin 2

yes they need some toughness....
but you can pick up a bruiser off the waiver wire

They need to trade lamar odom, and the last year of his contract for a specialist

They need to change Derek Fisher back to the 6th man role and let him calm down the second unit. Move Farmar to starter. The first team has Kobe as their leader.

The bench play is no real concern. Jackson says that Odom is to ensure that the second unit is "calm, focused and efficient'" That translates into: They need a leader who isn't just looking to get his numbers but is willing to "rally the troops" when they have off nights offensively, someone they respect. That's why Odom is joining the second unit, that plus the fact that he hasn't played well enough to break through as a starter.

The Lakers are stacked like the 2002 Sacramento teams - we all know what happened to that team. Too much of everything is bad... yes too much talent is bad... just ask Isiah.

Yeah I agree with Guam baller, put Fisher to 6th man and Farmar starter. I would take the Lakers bench over basically 90% of other teams benchs in the NBA. The Lakers second unit could probably make the playoffs in the East..

They just need a big body, like a Leon Powe sorta player or a Millsap to come off the bench and bang about with the opponents around the basket. Turiaf was good for that... they shouldn't trade Odom, he fits in nicely with Ariza, and his numbers are obviously gonna be down, due to him coming off the bench, but he can still hustle and bring a little bit of everything to the table, points, rebounds, assists.

might as well move vujacic to the starting lineup and play kobe as their sixth man.

Lets not get too excited here.The lakers are 17-2 right now and doing real well. The defense needs to get more consistant but hopefully time will help that.One things for sure.If they dont play tough defense they will end up beaten again.This is a better team then last years though!!! GO LAKERS!!!

Vujacic is the wild man. The guy plays out of control the majority of the time but I do agree with Guam Baller that Fisher should be moved to the second team. He would be a much better leader for that team then Lamar is.

QUOTE(#9):

Originally posted 11:54 AM ET  12.09 by Tee-Dub

Lets not get too excited here.The lakers are 17-2 right now and doing real well. The defense needs to get more consistant but hopefully time will help that.One things for sure.If they dont play tough defense they will end up beaten again.This is a better team then last years though!!! GO LAKERS!!!

agree- other than the 'go lakers' part

Not sure what contract status is of some of these guys like-
Etan Thomas, Nazr Mohammad, etc....
just role players who are big & can board-
even see if old Ben Wallace is available.....

The Lakers are fine! Yes they need to fine tune their defense but this whole they gotta be thugs out there mentality has to stop. Powe is a thug, big baby is just that a big baby. Perkins is wack. Boston is wack. I've watched some Boston games and they have not exactly been stellar on the defensive end either its just that they have become the new Detroit now. Everyone is in love with their so called physical toughness. The Lakers should activate Benga and then you'll have your big body to bang with people and he can hack very well. The lakers are playing fine right now let them play. Boston is feeding off emotion and intimidation...they will come across a team that is not afraid of their tacktics. GO LAKE SHOW

The defense needs some tuning, but don't get ahead of yourselves. They still only allow teams to shoot 43% from the floor. That's near the top of the league. While the points allowed has gone up, that's caused more the by the pace at which they play. And while I agree that Fisher would be great with the second unit, I don't think Farmar is suited to take the starting spot yet. He's not consistant enough of a free throw shooter and is erratic at times with the ball and on defense. Fisher is a steady hand who can basically be an extention of Jackson on the floor at times.

The second unit DOES need a bruising, energy type big man (like Turiaf, as was mentioned), though. Josh Powell and Chris Mihm are the Stanislav Medvedenko and Travis Knight of this team and shouldn't get a whiff of the floor unless the Lakers are up 30 and there are 5 minutes or less left in the game.

Sun Yue... whats the story w/him

they r still soft , even bynum , they wont make it out of the west this time , lol

Their bench is one of the best in the league, so I wouldn't be too worried about them. I mean, c'mon their bench could have started for the Thunder and would have won at least half of their games.

the scary thing is that the bench has played brilliantly and lousy at times... what happens when they become consistently good?

and to Jay, Sun is just a developmental work in progress. He's the 12th man this year, is 6'9" and a natural point guard, and isn't expecting to contribute this year or next... bringing him up slowly, which kind of worked for Vujacic and Farmar (although Farmar started in the playoffs as a rook because of the horrid Smush parker)