tsherkin wrote:-= original quote snipped =-
Ah, but that's inadmissible because Bynum was 18, a full year younger and lacking in a year of college seasoning.
By the time he was 19, in his second season, he was something like 26% better at the free throw line and shooting 56% against NBA defenses. He was also a lot larger than is Jordan, who's just your standard 7', 240, 245 player in terms of raw mass and weight distribution. He's got a nice frame but Bynum was and remains a very big man.
More to the point, how many other teams in the league have Kareem Abdul-Jabbar?
That's a rather critical factor; Patrick Ewing has been OK and there's the Pete Newell and Hakeem Olajuwon big man camps to attend but Bynum's been working closely with Kareem for several years now and Kareem's a guy who wanted to eventually get into coaching himself. Remember, he was an assistant for the Clippers, was the head coach of the USBL's Oklahoma Storm (leading them to a title), just missed out on a coaching opportunity at Columbia University, worked as a scout for the Knicks and he's been an assistant coach for Alchesay High on a reservation in Arizona for like a decade now. This is a guy who knows about player development and has achieved at the highest of levels. He's the greatest college baller of all-time, one of the three best basketball players of all time, one of the two best centers of all time... I mean, his resume is endless and he's the special assistant to Phil Jackson who's basically in charge of making Bynum good.
You're not going to find that ANYWHERE else in the league.
Not in Moses Malone on Philly, not in Patrick Ewing, not in Clifford Ray, not anywhere.
Well, there's been a couple of exceptions though. Clifford Ray did absolute wonders with Al Jefferson in one season, and he's not even a big guy, only 6'10" and about 260 lb. Pat Ewing is doing wonders with Dwight Howard right now, and he's not as big as Bynum (height wise)
