As I'm sure all of you know...the Lakers lost today (or yesterday the time I'm finished posting this)

Kobe had 21 points on 10-18 shooting and had 10 assists and 4 rebounds to go with his points.

Unfortunately, that is not enough.

Kobe never seems to get it right. 10 assists sounds pretty nice, but Kobe needs to score more! He deferred way too much to his teammates! Yes, in the past, everyone complained about his shot selection and about Kobe's taking of too many shots, pointing out that the Lakers almost always lose when Kobe takes more than 25 shots. But Kobe's supposed to will his team to victory! That's what Michael Jordan would have done and Michael Jordan NEVER loses.

And yes, Kobe scored efficiently with a 55.5% fg%, but if Kobe didn't miss those 8 times, the Lakers would have won. If Kobe didn't miss those 8 shots, then the Lakers would have scored at least 16 more points and it would have been a 116-109 win. Clearly, the stats are on my side. Kobe made the Lakers lose this game.

Also, if Kobe couldn't do the (almost) impossible, he should have tried to force more shots. With a 55.5% fg%, if Kobe shots at least 9 more shots, he would have scored around 5 more, giving the Lakers at least (since there are 3s) 10 points. Then it could have been a 110-109 win for the Lakers.

Kobe just can't get it right. In the past, he used to be ONLY a high volume shooter, with some impressive high point total games, but he was ALWAYS inefficient in EVERY SINGLE GAME (I mean - even Henry Abbott says so using stats and we all know stats don't lie http://espn.go.com/blog/truehoop/post/_/id/23980/who-has-scored-like-blake-griffin-did). Now it's good that he's listening a bit to those around him as he is going on a hyper-efficient rampage and boosting his PER as well (since we all know PER is the greatest invention of mankind). But why can't Kobe combine high volume AND efficiency like Blake Griffin, LeBron James, and Dwyane Wade? I mean...if he scores 50 points with just 25 shots, then the Lakers will probably win every game!

We need to trade Kobe...he brought 5 rings to the Lakers, but if it had been someone like LeBron with Kobe's amazing teammates, then we DEFINITELY would have won every year of the last decade.

This is my personal opinion but I think Andrew Bynum getting injured is no longer an option for the Lakers. Everyone claims our front court is our strongest weapon, but we have yet to fully use it, especially in the playoffs. Our championship grit and experience along with Kobe Bryant's and Pau Gasol's offensive skills, Ron Artest's defense, Derek Fisher's intangibles, Lamar Odom's inconsistent flashes of brilliance, and Adam Morrison's enthusiastic cheer-leading have been enough to carry us through this year's playoffs, but I think that those might not be enough anymore. Other teams are constantly reloading after each season and targeting the Lakers; each summer they are trying to design their teams not just to get better but also specifically to dethrone the Lakers. It's part of the reason why winning consecutive championships are so difficult. Our talent and experience will help, but unless we somehow get better as well (or find a way to de-age our best players), the Lakers will fall. Unfortunately, we don't have cap space and we're deep in luxury tax land, so a quick fix via free agency isn't really an option. And while I'm excited for Ebanks and Caracter, even Mitch won't be able to find steals in the draft each year.

SO...the point is...the one sure way we CAN get better is for Bynum to begin stepping it up. Despite his amazing potential, Bynum has been injured for three important seasons now: he missed the 2008 Finals, he was a small factor in the 2009 Finals, he was an important factor but we still could have used more from him in the 2010 Finals. 

Especially with the Heat on the rise, we'll need Bynum to exploit their weakness at the center position.

The sky is not falling and won't be until the Lakers lose in the playoffs, but if Bynum doesn't live up to his potential, we might not know the sky fell until it's too late. And Ammo won't be there to save us =P.