<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> EL SEGUNDO - The Lakers just hired a coach to get things moving today, then drafted a high school player for tomorrow. This team that won 34 games last year and needs immediate help took a 17-year-old kid who won't be ready for the NBA, presumably, for several years. A franchise that has the rapt attention of a huge and demanding fan base is now asking its antsy faithful to be patient after the team missed the playoffs for the first time in 11 years. Last week, General Manager Mitch Kupchak said it was unlikely the Lakers would pluck a baby out of the prep ranks, for all the obvious reasons. Tuesday they did just that. Kupchak had the usual clich?s ready. They didn't think Bynum, a 7-foot, 285-pound center, would still be there at the No. 10 pick. He was too good to pass up. Players who have a chance to be a very good NBA center don't come along often. Maybe, maybe, maybe. In the meantime, the Lakers still have to address the fact they will be playing the 2005-06 season, and then the 2006-07 season after that, without getting immediate help from their highest draft pick in a decade. Two weeks ago, the Lakers brought Phil Jackson back to coach, a move that seemingly addressed the urgency of making them competitive again as quickly as possible. The next obvious step would have been to draft a player with a reasonable chance to contribute this year or next, building around a player, Kobe Bryant, whom Jackson called the best "floor player" in the NBA at his welcome-back press conference. Among the more polished older players (then again, everyone was older than Bynum, the youngest kid ever selected in the NBA draft) still available were New Mexico's Danny Granger, Syracuse's Hakim Warrick and Fran Vazquez of Spain. And with their two second-round picks -- power forward Ronny Turiaf, of Gonzaga, and shooting guard Von Wafer, of Florida State -- the Lakers may have hedged their first-round bet, going traditional. But for their high-profile lottery pick, the Lakers went down the other road, the one toward proms, letter jackets and SAT scores. In fact, Bynum said, he just got his driver's license. The kid will be driving solo for the first time summer, then playing against Tim Duncan this fall. "I think I'll be a rebounder and shot-blocker at first," Bynum said in a conference call to the Lakers' headquarters Tuesday night. "Then I'll have to get my offensive moves down, to play against other 7-footers." Asked if it was intimidating, being a 17-year-old and heading off to play in the NBA, Bynum didn't back down. "It's not intimidating," he said. "I'm ready to go." Nice answer. One still imagines Jackson, relaxing in his Montana get-away home Tuesday, watching the draft on TV, hearing Bynum's name, and coming off his couch so fast he loses his sandals. Not really, Kupchak said. The GM said Jackson watched Bynum work out at El Segundo and gave his approval to draft the man-child. Which apparently says something special about Bynum, according to Kupchak, and not just because Jackson is known for his distaste for young players. "You can imagine how hard it is to impress a coach who wants to win, somebody thinking in the next two or three years who he might coach, being on board drafting a player like Andrew," Kupchak said. One can understand Kupchak's attraction. A former NBA big man himself, he would know from personal experience how hard it is to be a true back-to-the-basket center, a player who can dominate the lane and control every game. </div> Source
