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Good read by @kevinding on Andrew Bynum's rebuilt body, courtesy (in part) of @FreddieRoach and Alex Ariza. Quick story on that training...Before one workout, Bynum showed up without a shirt. He asked Roach's security guy, Rob Peters, if he had an extra that would fit him...Peters, who is from Boston, dug out a green Celtics t-shirt. Told Bynum that was all they had. So Bynum wore Celtics green the whole day. Of course, Bynum called Peters later and told him he threw his shirt in the trash.

...More than anyone else, Bynum can remove the adjective from this dying dynasty.

And he is more prepared to do it than you know.

He lost 10 pounds to take a load off his knees while losing more body fat than Kevin Durant even carries. He strengthened his core and the muscles all around his knees, so critical for him to improve his base and make powerful moves when so weak in those knees. He ditched all the insecurities over sub-par conditioning and poor lateral movement that led him to rush things and get out of sync with his team.

He focused on developing quicker moves (drop steps, spin moves, one-dribble jump hooks, even the Dream Shake) and locked in on free throws, too.

Bynum remade his body with trainer Freddie Roach, who is in three Boxing Halls of Fame and now teaches champions Manny Pacquiao and Amir Khan – and maybe more importantly, Roach's strength and conditioning specialist Alex Avila.

Often twice a day over five months, six days a week, Bynum took this one healthy offseason that his always-failing knees finally gave him, and he bent them forward to put his nose to the grindstone. Howard can have the "Superman" theme; Bynum will take the "Rocky" music.

You could even say the results have closed the biggest gaps between Bynum and Howard, because the feet are definitely lighter and the hands are far quicker now. This was Bynum's plan – although he upgraded in trainers from Roger Mayweather to Roach – long before he revealed himself in the season finale as someone who would take a shot at a guy a foot smaller.

That's a fair context for this, too, because the feeling now is this: Bynum, 24, has a never-before-felt comfort level with his big body, less inclined to cheat when confident in what his body can do for him in attacking others and stopping them.

Bynum has trained hard before, but he believed boxing, which teammate Lamar Odom has used to such great results that he has pushed wife Khloe Kardashian in the ring to train now, would help him own his space more confidently. It has turned out to be a perfect physical extension to the mental empowerment he discovered midway through last season via consultations with George Mumford, Jackson's psychology guru.

It all goes together, ideally, as Mumford said when talking about Bynum's breakthrough in having NBA action become, in Bynum's own words, "really quiet."

"Sometimes working on the body directly is not going to get it, and sometimes working on the mind directly is not going to get it," Mumford said. "But if you can get the two to talk to each other, you're probably into some good stuff."

In Bynum's case, the mind was always running laps around the body.

He had a curious mind and a fat body in high school: Even after he'd dropped from 310 to 293, he carried about five chins when he played in the 2005 McDonald's All-American Game. One of his limiting beliefs has always been that he is, fundamentally, more mind than body...

AI-in-LA wrote:Knees ... it's all about the knees with Andrew.

I have said before and will say it again ... IF ... we could be sure that Drew will be as healthy as Dwight than I don't see any reason to trade him for Dwight as he is 2 years younger, 3 inches taller and quite a bit stronger/thicker ... but ... it's all about the knees!

CowsMoo wrote:Bynum healthy is better than Dwight Howard.

CowsMoo wrote:Bynum healthy is better than Dwight Howard.

stunnar0b wrote:

CowsMoo wrote:Bynum healthy is better than Dwight Howard.

ill second that.. remember we havent seen bynum heathly for a full season and build off of that year and year out. but to say bynum will stay heathly and keep improving is a stretch. so yeah just stay heathly big fella

Jay From LA wrote:What do either of you have to back up this statement?

Jay From LA wrote:

stunnar0b wrote:

CowsMoo wrote:Bynum healthy is better than Dwight Howard.

ill second that.. remember we havent seen bynum heathly for a full season and build off of that year and year out. but to say bynum will stay heathly and keep improving is a stretch. so yeah just stay heathly big fella

What do either of you have to back up this statement? Other than, we haven't seen him healthy, which isnt proof