If You Thought Bynum Was Good Last Year, Just Wait..

Mamba · Oct 2, 2008

EL SEGUNDO – Andrew Bynum tells you that he had been dreaming of playing in the NBA Finals “ever since I was a little kid.”

He’s 20, you think. He’s still just a big kid right now.

Well, yes and no.

He is still kind of goofy. He’s not really into the party scene – those photos of him at a UCLA frat party that circulated on the Web last April belie what a straight arrow he is – but he’s huge into computers in a very age-appropriate way.

He’s actually geeky enough to be so interested in engineering that he designed the knee brace he’s wearing in training camp and intends to design a better one (“It keeps sliding down and it’s kind of annoying,” he said).

He is not – everyone in the Lakers’ chorus jump in with a “Hallelujah!” here – just a big kid anymore when it comes to being a professional basketball player. He used to be – not eating right, not focusing enough, not showing up early or at all for extra work.

But if you were surprised by how much better Bynum was last season, prepare your eyes to be popping anew this season.

Bynum is bigger, faster and better in every possible way (again) because he worked at it (again). That’s why the personal goal he revealed Wednesday – making the All-Star team in February – is absolutely realistic. (Amare Stoudemire, the other center to make it for the Western Conference last season besides Yao Ming, will be playing primarily power forward this season with Shaquille O’Neal now Phoenix’s starting center. Minnesota center Al Jefferson, likewise looking for another great leap forward this season, could be Bynum’s main obstacle, but he also plays for one of the league’s worst teams.)

Asked if he’d be disappointed not to be an All-Star so soon, Bynum said: “I would be. It’s going to be tough in the West, but I think I’ll be able to do it.”

Caring enough to set lofty goals is part of the right attitude. Bynum is even peeking ahead to 2012, when he hopes to be on the next Olympic team with Kobe Bryant. Again, absolutely realistic.

The Lakers have had reason to doubt Bynum’s work ethic since he basically crammed for the NBA draft in 2005 at the behest of his AAU coach and lost enough weight to reveal to scouts the vast underlying skill. Last season, though, Bynum committed to a personal trainer before Bryant ever called him out in that parking lot.

And soon enough, Bynum was out on the track in the early morning just the way Bryant is. In Boston in November, Bryant and Bynum were the only Lakers to hit the weight room after the team’s shoot-around on game day – an increasingly regular occurrence – and Bryant said later: “It shows me that he has a lot of fire in his belly.”

Bynum might’ve disappointed some people by not hanging around the team throughout the playoffs – too “horrible” to bear being there and not playing, he explained – but he certainly put in his time after the season.

He rehabbed his knee in New York, he worked out like a maniac in Atlanta, and he has returned to Los Angeles with a visibly thicker frame, faster shuttle times, more weight he can squat (there’s no tougher test for a knee than that lift) and another inch on his vertical.

“It feels stronger; it feels better than last year,” Bynum said og the knee that cost him the last five months of the Lakers’ season. “I don’t have any fear at all.”

Bynum now has to translate all the NFL combine stuff into big-time basketball productivity – Phil Jackson described Bynum as “tired” Wednesday morning from morning and evening basketball work Tuesday – but the upside is mind-blowing.

Knowing he would often be interchanging the power forward and center positions with Pau Gasol, Bynum refined an already decent face-up jumper to give him an easy option with as much as opposing teams took to packing the middle against him.

With as much as those defenses will have to help when Gasol or Bynum gets the ball deep, the passing between them – and just the uncontested put-backs one gets when the other misses – will provide countless easy baskets. After one gets the defensive rebound, they’ve already agreed that the other will be intent on running the floor early toward an easy score.

“Highly compatible,” Bynum said.

Bynum also has a left hand waiting to be revealed this season, in addition to the long-awaited “skyhook.” Most importantly, expect to see unstoppable two-man, weak-side alignments of just Bryant and Bynum to become the Lakers’ go-to formations this season.

All that said, Bynum’s total embrace of Jackson’s defense-first directives offers the most compelling proof that the kid has become a real pro.

“I can’t stress the importance of defense enough,” Bynum said, “because that’s really where we got beat last year. That’s a team thing. Everybody has to be there for one another.”

Yes, a team thing, but very much a Bynum thing.

Asked what Jackson has talked to him about, Bynum said: “He expects me to be the anchor of the defense, get defensive rebounds and just make it tough on people to score on the inside.”

And does Bynum appreciate the need for him to do the Lakers’ dirty work? This is where the big kid missing out on the little-kid dream of helping his team in the NBA Finals will yet pay off for the Lakers.

“I just think it gave me an opportunity to see what I needed to work on this summer and where I could help the team most,” Bynum said.
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http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bynum-season-team-2177173-last-lakers#

League domination, coming right up!

Mamba · Oct 2, 2008

More muscle, more lower body strength, another inch to his vertical, and an improved left hand !?!?! It's not fair how talented this kid is.

DennisRodman · Oct 2, 2008

He still has a lot of potential too. If he can develop nice footwork on post moves and a consistent skyhook (no easy task to knock it down consistently). Or getting the angles down like Duncan, so people have to fear the dunk or him going of the glass. He will be very difficult to guard down low.

Really Lost One · Oct 2, 2008

I'm excited.

Bynum is only 20 years old, and thinking about all the basketball he has left in him is just crazy. I can't wait for this season to start. He looks absolutely jacked up in the media day pics. Him and Gasol are gonna dominate down there.

Btw, I'm STILL waiting on Bynum to use the sky-hook. Just once Bynum, just use it once this season! If you're too embarrassed, at least try it in the preseason! :]

CelticKing · Oct 2, 2008

I hope he has a great future.

(yeah I know, I'm a Celtics fan, but I like Bynum, so haters can bite me) lol

Shapecity · Oct 3, 2008

Thank you Kareem Abdul Jabar.

Moo2K4 · Oct 3, 2008

I'm excited to see what Bynum brings to the table this year. He was terrific last year before he got hurt, and I think he can be even better this year.

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