Can The Lakers Pull Off A Blockbuster For Bynum?

Last season, around this time, there were rumblings that the Los Angeles Lakers were attempting to deal for Chris Bosh. The key to the deal would be center Andrew Bynum had any trade gone through but after a week or two of speculation (but no actual evidence from the Lakers that they were interested in Bosh), the rumors died and Bosh ended up going to Miami in the off-season. While there was never any confirmation that the Lakers were willing to deal Bynum in a deal for Bosh from the team, it was widely believed that he was on the market.

With the Lakers going through a bit of a rough patch right now (which isn’t saying much, for the defending champs in February, but still), trade rumors are starting to come up again. General Manager Mitch Kupchak mentioned last week that if he felt a trade needed to be made, that he would pull the trigger and ESPN’s Marc Stein reported today that Lakers’ forward Ron Artest is actually rooting to be traded by the defending world champions.

Clearly, Artest is not someone that teams will be calling the Lakers about, rather, if Los Angeles is going to deal him, they will be the ones having to sell Artest’s potential contributions across the league. But if Kupchak is serious about making an in-season deal with more than just a financial impact (like the Sasha Vujacic-Joe Smith swap), he does have one piece that every team in the league should be at least somewhat interested in.

If Andrew Bynum was on a team that wasn’t loaded like the Lakers and if he had avoided injuries to this point in his career, there’s no doubt in my mind that we are talking about Bynum as one of the best if not the best center in the league along with Dwight Howard. Offensively, he’s extremely talented with a bevy of moves in the post and the strength of an ox that allows him to back down almost any post defender that has the tall order of guarding his backside. On defense, we have seen just how valuable Bynum can be this season as the Lakers have been a much better defensive team when Drew is guarding the weakside.

Despite the lengthy list of injuries Bynum has suffered at such a young age, he is still just 23 years old, and as the top big man on a team with good role players and a star on the wing, he can be one of the most effective players in the entire league. Thus, almost any ballclub that isn’t already in the title chase would do well to acquire such a promising young big man.

Hit the jump to see the players I think the Lakers should target in a deal involving Bynum…

Josh Smith would be the perfect fit for the Lakers but it would take Bynum and something else to get him. He’s a hype-athletic shotblocker that can play both forward positions effectively offensively and defensively. The Lakers are being hurt most on offense when Ron Artest is on the floor because he hasn’t been able to score the ball effectively in any way this season. Adding Smith would allow the Lakers to ditch Artest from the starting line-up (maybe they could even include him in the deal) and start a group that includes Derek Fisher, Kobe Bryant, Smith, Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol.

The bench may take a bit of a hit in terms of its depth but with a starting group that powerful, reserves like Shannon Brown, Matt Barnes, Steve Blake and Marvin Williams (who I added in the deal for salary reasons). The Lakers’ big man rotation would be shortened significantly and Theo Ratliff and Derrick Caracter would likely have to play some important minutes over the course of the season, but if Phil Jackson could split minutes between Matt Barnes/Smith at the four, then you still have a pretty deadly roster. As a salary cap filler in this deal, Jordan Crawford would come over to the Lakers. He wouldn’t bring much to the table this year but scoring bench assets won’t be a bad thing down the road.

Smith’s ability to play either forward position (and perhaps a tad bit of center in small line-ups) comes thanks to his defensive prowess at the four and his improved outside shooting that you’d normally get out of a small forward. I’ve gone over how Smith’s tendancy to play on the perimeter is a little troublesome for the Hawks, Here’s a bit of information from my article on Smith’s outside shooting earlier in the season:

This year, Smith is on pace to set a career high in long two’s attempted, obliterating his previous career high by 50. Additionally, Smith is also on pace to tie his career high in three pointers attempted. For a player that had seemingly changed his came to best take advantage of his athletic gifts by attacking the basket, some may see this as a regression point for the sixth year forward. Smith had always been criticized a bit for hiSs attitude and the fact that he took the time to reconstruct his game last summer thought that was a sign Smith had changed.

Well, Smith did change, if only for a season, and though it just so happened to be the best year of his career, he has decided to take his talents back to the perimeter, where he has found some surprising results so far this season. Smith has never shot above 34% from 16-23 feet before this season but on the year Smith is actually shooting above the NBA average from that range at 41%. From beyond the arc, Smith is also performing above the league average, stroking the deep ball at 40%.

Defensively, Smith is still as good as just about any power forward in the league. He’s still blocking a good number of shots per game and has posted a career high in rebounding percentage so far this season. But offensively, Smith’s personal efficiency has declined, which has affected Atlanta’s team efficiency. Last year the Hawks had the third most efficient offense in the entire league but this season they have fallen all the way down to thirteenth overall. A lot of the blame for this drop cam be placed on the injury to Joe Johnson, one of Atlanta’s most consistent and efficient players, that kept him out of nine straight games but Smith’s lack of inside attempts has also been a factor.

Though the Hawks are a pretty good team as they are currently constructed, the major problem with them in recent years has been that they are good, not great, with little room to make the jump into title contention. Trading Smith would give them a core group of players not too different than the Lakers’ group from last season. They’d have an all-around star at shooting guard, hyper-efficient and under used power forward, a stud in the middle, a defensive stopper and a versatile sixth man with Joe Johnson, Al Horford, Bynum, Artest and Jamal Crawford. That’s not the worst crunch time line-up and you can argue that the Hawks would be a better offensive team with Bynum and Horford on the block rather than just Horford downlow while Smith floats on the wing.

I think a Bynum-Smith swap – with Artest, Williams and Crawford thrown in as well – makes sense for both sides, on both ends of the floor. It would be hard for either side to part with what seemed to be franchise cornerstones but Smith’s motivation has always been in question with Atlanta and it seems as if Bynum has outstayed his welcome in L.A. to a certain extent.

Sideplot: With Smith in Los Angeles, the Lakers may have a better chance of landing Dwight Howard in the 2012 off-season. Howard, who has already said publicly that he would like to play for the Lakers, played on the same AAU team as Smith back in their high school days. With Bynum and Artest’s contracts off the books, perhaps the Lakers could maneuver Gasol’s contract around in two years to get Dwight Howard to come over. A final year in the league with the likes of Smith and Howard would be nice for Kobe, I’d say.

Instead of going after one big time player that produces at a similar rate to Bynum, the Lakers could choose to acquire a few productive players with specialized roles. The 76ers have been (reportedly) shopping Andre Iguodala on and off over the last couple of seasons and if presented with the opportunity to acquire such a building block like Bynum, you have to think they would pull the trigger. This deal would also involve explosive scoring threat Lou Williams and potential packed point guard Jrue Holiday. This may seem like a lot for Philly to give up, but they’d be getting Bynum and Shannon Brown back, one potential superstar and one very solid reserve (Brown has actually been better than Williams this season). Ron Artest would also be headed to Philly, which can be seen as a good thing or as a deal breaker, depending on the day of the week.

Iguodala proved this summer during his time with Team USA that he is the perfect complement for a team filled with star players, an indefinable quality for a team like the Lakers. Part of the problem with the Lakers right now is that Ron Artest has still not found his niche within the team because he isn’t used to having such limited offensive freedom. Of course, that may have changed had he produced in the role the Lakers initially placed him in, but since he has struggled mightily in it, there is little reason for Phil Jackson to call Artest’s number more. With Team USA, Iguodala was satisfied with one or two outside jumpers a game and a handful of transition opportunities while playing the best individual perimeter defense on the team. That’s exactly what the Lakers need out of their small forward and the fact that Iguodala is younger, more athletic and a better offensive player is a huge plus.

Williams and Holiday would give the Lakers a very dynamic pair of guards going forward. Holiday is a youngster right out of UCLA and though his lack of knowledge about the triangle offense may keep him on the bench for the rest of this season, when Phil Jackson retires at the end of the year, having a guy like Holiday to start over Fisher would do wonders for the (likely) more traditional Lakers. Williams is the modern day microwave guard, capable of coming off the bench and scoring 20 on any given night. He’s a little less efficient than Brown because of his volume of shots but with the Lakers around him perhaps a few more wide open looks will come his way.

For the 76ers, despite being a playoff team already (solely because they are in the East), this trade gives them a great big man in Bynum and a core group of Thaddeus Young, Evan Turner, Drew and Elton Brand. Perhaps asking for Williams and Holiday is too much and I think the Lakers could pass the deal off as a success if they were to only get Holiday but in the end, the salaries work out on that six man swap and it makes sense for both sides.

This scenario is the least likely of all of these, but its the one that most casual fans are calling for. Carmelo Anthony has been linked to a number of teams this season and with the Lakers’ fans in panic mode and their GM talking about trades, it seems logical to throw out a “Carmelo to the Lakers” idea. This deal could be a simple two-for-two swap, star for star and bad contract for bad contract. Carmelo and Al Harrington for Bynum and Artest. The Nuggets get themselves a new player to center their franchise around and create on of the best big men duo’s in the league in Bynum and Nene.

This doesn’t make quite as much sense for the Lakers, though. Carmelo is a high volume scorer that needs 20 shots to score 25 points on most nights, which makes him similar to Kobe in a way. That’s not what the Lakers need. They don’t need another volume scorer that gets his points by doing the same things (mostly mid-range jumpers). Iguodala is a great fit because he would be willing to change his role to defensive stopper, transition highlight reel and occasional spot-up shooter. Anthony would likely only create problems for the Lakers, who are being criticized already for relying on Bryant isolations too often instead of triangle-based offensive sets. Thus, adding Anthony, who has been involved in 393 isolation plays this season, the second most in the league (behind Amare and in front of Kobe), would be a bad fit for the Lakers offense.

While Melo to the Lakers is a big story and though Lala might enjoy her new digs in Los Angeles, this trade doesn’t make sense for the Lakers, and the Nuggets may be able to get a little more than just Bynum elsewhere.

I’m not quite sure if the Lakers and Grizzlies are on speaking terms after what happened a few years ago with the Gasol on the left, but if they are, then maybe the Lakeshow could acquire the Gasol on the right at the price of Bynum. The Lakers would deal Bynum and key reserve Shannon Brown to Memphis for Marc Gasol, who has an obvious draw to the Lakers, and O.J. Mayo, a USC product that has previously stated his desire to play for the Lakers. Bynum has been more productive than Gasol this season and a player like Drew shouldn’t have many problems playing with Zach Randolph. With Gasol gone, the Grizzlies would be able to offer up an extension to Randolph though Bynum’s contract would eat a considerable portion of their cap space.

Gasol is in a contract year and if he were to get traded to the Lakers, odds are that he’d sign an extension to be able to play with his brother over the next few years. A line-up of Fisher/Bryant/Artest/Gasol/Gasol may not be a whole lot better than that same group with Bynum but Marc Gasol’s injury history isn’t as worrisome as Bynum’s and though he may be behind Bynum in terms of offensive ability, his offensive game is a little more well rounded. Mayo would give the Lakers a back-up for Kobe Bryant that has some room to grow. He’s had his troubles in the lockerroom (or the team plane) with the Grizzlies this season and though Brown has been a much more productive player than Mayo this season, a change of scenery may be what Mayo needs to reach the heights many thought he would already be at when he was drafted.

This trade is pretty even, if you ask me, and there’s not a clear winner in this deal. Marc Gasol is just about as effective as Bynum all around and Brown is producing at a better rate than Mayo despite not being as naturally talented. I think the Lakers would be better off with the Gasol-Mayo side of the deal in the long run simply because Bynum’s knee may never be able to hold up for a season but you can’t go wrong with either side.

The Lakers do not have to make a deal to win the NBA Championship right now. As they are currently constructed, they are still the favorites to win it all. But if they were to make a deal and they wanted to get some valuable pieces out of it rather than just dumping salary or finding a team to take Ron Artest’s corpse at the price of gaudy contracts, then Bynum is the player that will garner the most interest. These are just some of the offers I could fathom. Given how valuable Bynum is to the Lakers, there are only a few teams in the league that can make an offer with at least as much talent coming back to the Lakers and these are some of those clubs.

What do you guys think?

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