The Lake Show

Looky looky, guess who's the number 1 seed in the Western Conference if the NBA season ended today? That's right, your Los Angeles Lakers. And if your name isn't Ronny Turiaf, you need to get a little bit more excited about that.

It's a skeptical jubilance though, as Andrew Bynum will be out for 8 weeks due to a leg injury. I'm not sure whether to be happy that the Lakers are capable of this, or wary because the Lakers seem on the verge of a Dodgers-esque collapse after losing an emerging superstar to injury. Who knows if the Lakers can regain the mojo that they had with Bynum in the line-up. All I can say is that we are a hell of a lot better off than any Laker fan thought we would be at this point in the season.

I still think that Kwame needs to go, and I hate that Bynum's injury has put off any chance of getting rid of him or Odom (I almost broke my brand new TV when Lamar was taking crucial 4th quarter and overtime shots against the Sonics, and of course bricking every GD one of them!). But what the Lakers need now is another big man, and the rumors are flying that the Lakers have contacted Chris Webber, who I can suspend some mild hatred for and let him play for the Lakers, because at least he knows how to run a pick and pop, can rebound, and can actually hit a 19-21 footer. Vlad's injury seems to be hurting the Lakers a bit more than I thought, and I even found myself looking for Phil to put in Sasha during a game before remembering that he was hurt as well. Farmar is still playing tremendously but that second unit now looks a little more lost than it did earlier in the season. With Javaris Crittenton getting more PT, the second unit is now Farmar, Crittenton, Trevor Ariza, Ronny Turiaf, and either Lamar or Kwame. Where is the offense coming from in that unit. Usually only Farmar, with Crittenton making some one on one plays but not really running the offense, and Ariza making some slashes here and there. More depth at this time is definitely the priority.

Now for Kobe. I understand that Kobe will take over a bit more, and that's fine with me. But what I don't want to start happening, is for the other players to regress back to the last previous years, and just stand around waiting for Kobe to make a play. During the Sonics game, Kobe had no choice but to take over, as no one seemed to want to run the offense and create anything for anyone else. The need to play the same way that they were playing while Bynum was there, and just shift Kobe into the post role and give him a few more plays. But all the Kobe haters (like Steve Hartman) need to see what Kobe does for the Lakers, even when he is forced to take over the offense and shoot more: He hits the big shot. That's what he does. So as much as people can criticize him for being selfish or whatever they want to criticize him for, they need to realize that he wins games for us.

So get on board with this team, and start praying that Bynum's injury only really lasts for 4 weeks, and we maybe add another piece along the way.