“The philosophy of trading Andrew Bynum - ESPN.com” plus 1 more

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The philosophy of trading Andrew Bynum - ESPN.com Posted: 08 Feb 2011 12:58 PM PST They're baaaaaaaack! Last week, with the Lakers struggling, trade talk was put front and center in no small part by GM Mitch Kupchak (and, to a lesser degree, Magic Johnson, although he sold his minority ownership and has no official say). Not exclusively something around the margins, either, but perhaps something bigger. Which, generally speaking, is code for trading Andrew Bynum. The rumor du jour- both last week and again rekindled this morning- involves importing Carmelo Anthony for L.A.'s young center, but it could be anyone, really. Bynum's name has been front and center at every deadline and during every offseason, going back to the days before Kevin Garnett made his way from Minnesota to Boston. Which begs the question: What does unloading Bynum mean for the Lakers? Doing so in the middle of the season, even for a more established star like Anthony, makes a three-peat for the Lakers less likely. Short the highly improbable scenario of swapping Bynum for another high-end 7-footer, removing him from the equation and integrating (likely) another A-list wing or backcourt scorer, Anthony or otherwise -- reworking how the Lakers operate on both ends of the floor -- fundamentally changes LA to the point it would be tough to jell in time to go all the way. If the goal of any trade is to win this year, a blockbuster deal involving Bynum isn't the best route. It's more the emergency-chute option, and despite legitimate concerns about the Lakers, they're not at that point. They haven't even jumped out of the plane, yet. The Lakers remain elite as constructed and prominent in any credible championship conversation, and I firmly believe this core deserves a chance to keep the streak alive. Except teams, like people, don't always get what they deserve. The Bynum Question is a great example of how goals for today and needs for tomorrow may not mesh all that well. The central issue is simple: In the long run, is Bynum a guy with whom you'd be willing to go all-in? From a financial standpoint, as a go-to player around which a team can be built, all of it. After next season, the Lakers have to decide whether to exercise his $16 million-plus option, and in two they'll truly have to fish or cut bait. No matter what the next CBA looks like, a new deal for Bynum is likely to cost a ton of money. If the answer to any of these questions is no, isn't it in the team's best interest to move him? My money, my team? I still don't trust Bynum enough to build around him. First, he's yet to show an ability to consistently dominate games in ways franchise players must. It's not all his fault -- the Lakers aren't designed to let him do it -- but while there have been glimpses and the talent is undeniable, the on-court product has been uneven. Mostly, though, it's about his health. At 23, Bynum has already suffered major injuries to both knees, plus trouble with his Achilles tendon and a variety of other maladies. With his frame and history, as the mileage piles up it's hard to see him evolving into a sturdier player, particularly as the heart of a team's attack, where the minutes and physical demands increase. Garrett W. Ellwood/Getty Images Could Carmelo Anthony be making his way to L.A.? Meaning if the right deal came along, I'd pull the trigger. Doesn't have to be today, but a credible, constructive offer coming across my desk would be difficult to pass up, even if the timing was less than ideal (meaning it threatens short-term goals). The Lakers shouldn't settle but can't afford to be excessively greedy, either. Anthony, for example, is a flawed star and not my first choice as the franchise's next core element. Dwight Howard would certainly be the ultimate replacement for Bynum, but despite the rumors of interest in LA, he may not become available in a workable fashion. In the meantime, Anthony is a very solid return, arguably as good as it'll get. Melo is a dominant wing scorer, is capable of brutalizing smaller defenders in the post, and in combination with Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom would make the Lakers nearly unguardable. Defensively, he's not great, and his arrival would likely leave the Lakers at least temporarily thin in the frontcourt, but rarely do trades achieve the Utopian ideal, and all come with risk. In the end, Anthony is an upper-echelon NBA player whose skill set fits well with the guys they have. The enemy of good is always better. Remember, the concerns perhaps motivating the Lakers to move Bynum are the same other GMs have in trading for him. Finding a favorable swap isn't as simple as it sounds. So while I don't love Bynum-for-Melo, I'd do it. Moving Bynum is not an easy call. Brutally tough, actually, particularly if the "right" deal comes midseason, when changes in chemistry and continuity are most difficult to address. In the modern NBA, Bynum represents something increasingly rare -- a true, back-to-the-basket center with the athleticism and skill to change games at both ends. If he manages to stay on the court, Bynum still has the potential to be, at worst, the league's second-best center for the next decade. Moreover, while Bynum's health risks are real, there's a tendency to view his problems in a vacuum, as if the other stars potentially available don't have injury issues of their own. Anthony, for example, has played 70 games once in the past four seasons. Chris Paul suited up for only 45 games last year, and while he's played in each of his team's 52 this season, he is doing so with a brace on his knee the size of a Buick. A collision with the thing dropped Derek Fisher to the ground Saturday night. Not easy to do. No player, save perhaps the supernaturally durable Howard, comes without significant questions in that department. As for the question of who fills the void eventually left by Kobe, is there a franchise in sports more adept at finding their next star than the Lakers? Fear of a starless future shouldn't be the primary motivation behind moving Bynum. They'll find a guy, one way or another. All-in or (at some point) get out. That's the question. Everyone loves to play armchair GM. We all love plugging names into the Trade Machine and magically enhancing the Lakers' juggernautiness. The Bynum conundrum, though, is the sort of real-life, make-or-break decision with the potential to cost whatever execs are involved their jobs if things go wrong (or make them stars if it all works out). Personally, I'm glad the only fallout for me will come with angry e-mails, perhaps telling me how stupid I am. After all, I'm already getting those, anyway. 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Tuberville on philosophy, theatrics and more - ESPN.com Posted: 08 Feb 2011 05:56 AM PST I hope you took some time to check out our story on Texas Tech's historic recruiting class from yesterday. Before Tuberville introduced the class to the Dallas boosters and alums, he took an hour or so with ESPN.com to discuss a variety of topics surrounding his recruiting class, recruiting philosophy, his program and plenty of other topics around the Big 12 and college football. Of course, all of that can't fit in one story. Here's a few of the other highlights: Tuberville emphasizes exactly what he wants regarding communication between players and his recruits when recruits visit campuses. "It's not going to do us any good for [our players] to try and sell [recruits] a false brand. Tell them exactly what it's like," he said. "Tell them how we treat you. We treat you fair, but we're going to push you. We're going to make you go to class. We're going to work your butt off. We're going to try and make you better. We're not going to cuss you and all that stuff, but we're going to try and get the most out of you." [+] Enlarge Kirby Lee/Image of Sport/US PRESSWIRETommy Tuberville to recruits: "I'm going to make it hard. You're going to earn your scholarship." On the other side, he tells incoming prospects to make sure and spend a large amount of time asking questions about the program to current players. "I'm going to make it hard. You're going to earn your scholarship," Tuberville said. "It's the only time in your life you'll have two full-time jobs. The academic part, and when you get done with that and you think it's time to come home, you gotta come work for me. And I'm going to work the heck out of you. You treat them like that, you tell them that up front, and when they get to campus, you treat them like men and you hold them accountable, it sells itself." My take: All valid points. There's certainly a type of player that responds to "this is going to be easy" treatment, but there's no question that to the best players, there's a certain attractiveness to a challenge like that. It's easy to see how that sounds counterintuitive on the surface, but those are the types of players you want in your program. You read how Texas Tech swiped defensive end Cooper Washington, a longtime OU commit, from the Sooners on signing day, but even when cases like Washington's end up immediately fruitless, there's plenty of value in maintaining that relationship after a player commits to another school. Even if he carries that commitment through signing day and ends up at another program. "It's huge," Tuberville said. He won three national titles at Miami, and like South Florida, Tuberville wants to emphasize the importance of keeping West Texas talent in West Texas. Granted, there's nowhere near as much there as there is in the Miami area, but even if Washington hadn't switched to the Red Raiders, those relationships could carry on to recruits that follow him in the 2012 classes and beyond. Last year, when Tuberville was on the recruiting trail at first, he spent as much time selling his assistants to high school coaches as he did anything else. Most coaches knew who he was, of course, but he put a big emphasis on making sure the high school coaches he encountered knew what to expect from his staff. One of the toughest parts of the transition from the, "Run the ball and play big-time defense" SEC to the "outscore the other guys" Big 12 is knowing exactly the type of player he was recruiting, and making sure his entire staff knew exactly who they needed to show interest in. In short, he wants taller, wider wingspans in his linemen. "Don't bother with the short, squatty bodies," he said. Different speeds and body types are necessary for inside and outside receivers. And if a running back can't catch the ball, he need not bother with the Red Raiders. Tuberville won't take him. "We're not just going to hand it to him. If he can run for 150 a game but can't catch the football, that's not going to do us any good," he said. "We throw a lot of screens. And they've got to be good pass blockers." Additionally, the makeup of his team has to be different to compensate for the difference in the Big 12 from the SEC. Tuberville wants to keep 16 scholarship defensive backs on his team at all times. At Ole Miss or Auburn, that number was usually around 12. "We can't take an extra linebacker like we could before," he said. "We need an extra defensive lineman or an extra defensive back. Those are the most valuable positions." Obviously, the hardest part of football for freshmen to grasp, which prevents them from playing right away, is the mental aspect: Doing what you know how to do without having to think about it. How can you know which freshmen will make the adjustment the best? "You can't. It just depends on how mature they are, and when they come in, what they can take," Tuberville said. "Some come in and I've seen them they think they're ready to go and they get into practice, see how fast everybody else is moving and they kind of go into a shell. You see right then, he knows. He's not ready. He wants to redshirt. ... It just depends on them, more than anything." On signing day theatrics (i.e., picking hats and showing off puppies) "It ain't nothin' but entertainment. If he does all that, but at the end, he puts your hat on, you feel good about it." Early favorite for quote of 2011: "Somebody said to me earlier today, 'Hey, did you see that kid on ESPN? He walked up there with a Texas Tech hat on and he threw it off and put a Georgia hat on!' I said, 'Hey, we're making progress. I'm just fired up he was throwing one off. He usually wouldn't have one up there to begin with in the past.'" - Tommy Tuberville This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php Five Filters featured article: Collateral Damage - WikiLeaks In The Crosshairs.

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