To many, Andrew Bynum seems to represent the Lakers’ sole chance of winning the NBA championship this year – and to that, I say: Balderdash! The naysayers point to the loss of a 24-point lead at home in last year’s game 4 against the Celtics and scream about lack of toughness all throughout that series, but they don’t talk a lot about whether or not they think the team has toughened over the course of this season – mainly because it’s clear that they have. Still, they nitpick the occasional bad performances by the Lakers, some against sub-par teams, and pretend that just because Bynum isn’t at 100%, somehow we’re not ready or deserving to be champions this year. That is utter nonsense, and here’s why…

Primarily, the reason that Bynum is not as crucial for this year’s playoffs is Pau’s seamless integration into the Laker’s organization. Last year, he had literally no practice or game experience with Phil Jackson’s system, and was thrust into the hunt for playoff seeding in a crazy western conference. This year, Pau is much better prepared and works even more fluidly within the offensive and defensive sets we run…and it shows. He is by no means perfect, but his spacing and anticiaption on both ends are much better, and his willingness to go hard to the rim has led to less missed “chippies” – although that definitely still happens. Are there times I would love nothing more than for Pau to dunk as hard as he can on whoever is in the key? Sure, but that’s not his game and I know that. In the european game, which of course is where Pau is coming from, there is much less emphasis on post play because of the trapezoidal key. Having a big man who can shoot from the outside is much more valuable, so that’s how Pau fashioned his game, only now he must add the inside toughness to it in order to be an effective center on an elite team like the Lakers. In Memphis, it didn’t matter so much because any success he had was icing on the cake. In LA, it’s championship or bust baby!

Secondly, the resurgence of Lamar Odom (both off the bench and in a starting spot when Bynum went down) has been crucial in keeping the Lakers’ winning percentage virtually identical with or without Bynum on the floor. This has happened even as the production of other key bench players has fallen, most notably Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar. One may point to the fact that Lamar is in a contract year as his motivation, but that one person probably hasn’t watched too many interviews with the man or met him personally. This year, more than any other in his career, has been solely about winning the championship and whatever that takes. His willingness to sacrifice his body has led to a number of great situations for the Lakers. This shows primarily in the defense and rebounding. When someone gets 17, 18, 19, and 20 rebounds in consecutive games in the NBA, it shows a desire to win that is fiercely intense, which is precisely what the Lakers were criticized for lacking last year.

Finally, and probably most surprisingly, DJ Mbenga is fast becoming a legitimate interior defender and capable, if not talented offensive option. I say this is surprising, not because I thought Mbenga couldn’t make this kind of impact, but definitely I was in the minority to think so last year and at the beginning of this year. I’d been pleading with an imaginary Mitch Kupchack to trade Chris Mihm for years, and when he finally did I knew that Josh Powell and Mbenga would get those minutes and be much more tough and productive . Admittedly, when Mbenga seemed to take over a short stretch of the 4th quarter on both ends of the floor about a month ago I was surprised, very happily surprised.

Essentially, this all boils down to the fact that the Lakers are a championship caliber team and having Andrew Bynum certainly adds significant weight to that argument, but removing him from the equation doesn’t necessarily mean that the Lakers are dead in the water…only that some people will be more surprised than others when Kobe and DJ Mbenga are holding up the Larry O. Brien trophy and smiling for the camera. I have no doubt that moment would seem eerily familiar to years not-so-far past,  but it will certainly be more exciting to me as potential foreshadowing of future glory. Maybe that’s because I’d get to say “I told ya so!”