You would think that a 7-foot center who is slightly knock-kneed and has missed an average of almost 40% of his teams games due to injury throughout his career would not really matter to a team that has won two straight NBA championships. In the case of Andrew Bynum, however, the guy just means so much to a team that is loaded with talent at every position. Bynum brings height, young-ness and a defensive presence in the lane to the team, characteristics that had become an obvious deficiency in their team of late (having given up way too many points in losses to highly mediocre teams). Andrew Bynum returned to a limited bench role for the Lakers two nights ago in Washington, and played another mid-teen minutes in the second game of a back-to-back last night in Indiana. He looked rusty and did not make much of an impact on the stat sheet…other than the 2 straight wins by the team that is.

While I’m not suggesting that Bynum is the savior for the Lakers, I am saying that he makes the team more complete and creates a wider margin for error on a team that should contend for the 2011 NBA championship…..which if won would be their third in a row and sixth in the last decade.