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The first time the Lakers saw Bynum, at the McDonald's All-American Game three months before the 2005 draft, they were unimpressed. "He was a chubby kid, 40 pounds overweight, a big lump of clay," says Kupchak. Just to be safe, the team sent assistant general manager Ronnie Lester to New York City for Bynum's individual workout in early June. Lester found the clay hardened and chiseled. He called Kupchak urgently. "This is not the same kid," he said. Bynum had gone from more than 310 pounds to 285 by running in combat boots every morning along the beach in Laurence Harbor, N.J. Nevertheless, he did not receive much affection from teams and reasoned that he should enroll as planned at UConn.
Before Bynum could pull his name out of the draft, the Lakers invited him to work out with two college seniors in Chicago. Bynum was easily winded. He struggled to jump twice in succession. When he caught the ball in the post, he knew only how to face up and shoot. But he did not mind contact, and as the workout progressed, the two college seniors drifted out to the three-point line. "They didn't want to get embarrassed," says Jim Buss, L.A.'s executive vice president of player personnel. Buss, a son of Lakers owner Jerry Buss, had worked in the team's front office for seven years, but he had never taken a hard stance on a player. "Shut down the rest of the workouts," he told fellow officials. Bynum was flown to L.A. for an interview, and as he strolled through the team's headquarters, he stared at photos on the wall of Chamberlain, Abdul-Jabbar and O'Neal. "Wouldn't it be nice if there were a picture of you up there someday?" Kupchak asked. Bynum beamed.

The Lakers were high on his potential, but not on his timing. Jackson was returning from a one-year hiatus. Bryant was in his prime. The team was built to win, not wean. Trainers learned that Bynum underwent his first knee operation when he was 12 and were concerned about his Q angle—the relationship between his pelvis, leg and foot. According to head athletic trainer Gary Vitti, a wide Q angle can affect the way the kneecap glides along the thigh bone and can also cause increased foot pronation, both common sources of injuries. "Andrew is challenged in terms of his skeleton," Vitti says. "But we can work with those issues to some degree. What you can't do is take someone with a normal Q angle and make him 7 feet, 285 pounds."

According to Synergy Sports, since Bynum's meeting with Jackson, opponents shot just 32.8% and averaged .73 points per possession on half-court plays in which Bynum was the initial defender. "What people wanted him to do, he's been inspired to do," says Mumford. "No one person can give you that inspiration. It's been incubating in him for quite a while."

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