The King of Suck

Who would have thought at the beginning of the year, that we'd be saying, "Man, we need Andrew Bynum back desperately."

It's not just the absence of Bynum though. It's the presence of Kwame Brown. It's like having a great professor and then having that professor leave and be replaced by a professor who's not only bad but is teaching the wrong information.

Here is Kwame's play by play during the first 5 minutes of the third quarter in the Lakers 106-98 loss to the Suns. If you don't believe me, check the actual play by play. The Lakers were -6 during that stretch.

11:40 Commits foul
11:22 loses ball (turnover)
10:32 misses one of two free throws
10:03 called for traveling
9:37 misses dunk
9:10 loses ball (turnover)
8:18 misses layup
7:52 throws away pass (turnover)
7:16 commits foul

There was not one point in that stretch where did something positive. Not one.

Kwame's final stat line: 8 points, 7 turnovers, 0 assists, 0 blocks, -17

Check out Kwame's layup drill. It's hilarious.

greenmachineAZ (10:07:51 PM): Kwame Brown is the Smush Parker of centers

greenmachineAZ (10:07:55 PM): would that be a fair assessment?

romoballa (10:08:18 PM): that's being mean to smush parker

greenmachineAZ (10:08:30 PM): is it?

greenmachineAZ (10:08:33 PM): I mean

greenmachineAZ (10:08:44 PM): they are both probably the worst in the league at their respective positions

Kwame's a winner: In the Sports Illustrated Players' Poll this week, the question asked which player gets the least out of the most talent?
The winner: None other than Kwame Brown with 17% of the vote. The next four were Tim Thomas 10%, Eddy Curry 7%, Vince Carter 6%, and Dark Milicic 5%.

The Lakers shot just 38 percent, partly because they had only five assists in the first half. The triangle looked more like a rectangle and the defense allowed the Suns to shoot 52, 50, 81. Field goal, 3-point and free throw percentage.

As always, an updated Lakers +/- (through 38 games) Lakers: 26-12, 3rd in West

Fisher +149
Kobe +249
Turiaf +28
Odom +133
Mihm -16
Walton +129
Bynum +236
Farmar +94
Radmanovic +144
Brown -20
Vujacic +22
Crittenton -31
Karl +5
Ariza +5

Up Next: vs. Denver Monday 7:30 p.m. PST TNT

Arizona not quite as bad as Kwame: But the Wildcats are now 1-3 in the Pac-10 and hurting. Even Jerryd Bayless couldn't save Arizona from shooting 37.5% in a 56-52 loss to Stanford.
It's not often an Arizona team scores just 52 points. When your senior leader (Jawann McClellan) scores 0 points though, it's not a surprise the offense is struggling.

Up Next: at California Saturday 5 p.m. PST FSNAZ

Kurt Rambis talks triangle: An interesting Q&A with Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis on True Hoop. Rambis discusses what the Lakers try to accomplish in the triangle offense and how it differs from other offenses. Here's an excerpt.

True Hoop: If I'm a fan watching on TV, how can I tell if the triangle is "working?" How can I tell if you're running it well?
Rambis: Any time you see that ball is not being dribbled a lot in the half-court set, it's probably working. If you see the ball being moved around, and players making their respective cuts, those are good signs.
That said, within the triangle, you can do almost anything that you see other teams do, whether it's a high screen and roll or a wing screen and roll.
You can do all that within the triangle. We can do it, however, without yelling out "FIST UP, FIST UP!" and then the opposing coach is screaming to his players "HIGH SCREEN AND ROLL!"
We can get into a high screen and roll through the reactions of our players.