Andrew Bynum Not Healthy

[LAKERLAW]

Drew only played 9 minutes tonight and didnt score a basket. When he went down he was playing very well. He was a monster on defense and was scoring and showing progress on offense. Now it looks like he is out there with only one working leg.

For drew to only play 9 minutes against a team with a 7''7' opponent can only lead to one thing. the kid is not healthy..

Do you guys think if phil keeps playing him he can improve enough to make a difference in the finals? im assuming that is what phil is going for here.

[YiYaoYue]

Bynum is a puss... he won't play well unless he starts... so might as well start him.

Get Bynum/Gasol/Odom/Kobe/Fisher (Farmar/Brown if Fisher suspended) in Game 3.

[TylersLakers]

The way his status changes and when he only gets 10 minutes.. it's tough to build a rhythm.

If Phil is so set on him coming off the bench.. this should be his minutes.

1st quarter- come in with 4 minutes remaining for Pau.
2nd quarter- play until around the 7 minute mark.
3rd quarter- come in with 5 minutes remaining.
4th quarter- play until the 8 minute mark.

There, he gets 20-24 minutes a night.

[realfung]

He is not confident at all.
Lakers don't look like they going to win it all this year.

[Dr Aki]

i honestly thinks he plays infinitely better when:
1. he starts
2. he scores
3. everyone is feeding him baskets
4. he has 3 months of consecutive games to build conditioning and timing

if anything, if hes going to get injured, he should time it so he gets injured early in november, that way, when hes back in february, he'll have a good 2 months of games under his belt heading into the playoffs and a couple more months of beasting into form leading up to the finals series

[KObe Bryant]

He should be benched. I think he's thinking of scoring for himself. Not hating but I think it's true. He should have dunk that alleyoop attempt last night.

[dingclancy]

Remember Bynum tweaked something after going 5 for 5 in game 2 against the Jazz after that he became utter garbage. I thought he was fine before that. Shame though because we need him.

[Sting3r]

Bynum is just making excuses for his poor play. He was all confident before the playoffs claiming he was better than ever before. Initially his excuse was the foul trouble, now his excuse is hes still injured? He needs to man up and stop making excuses for himself. If he still injured then he needs to suck it up because majority of the players right now are playing at about 80% at this time of the playoffs.

And lets be honest, you dont need to be 100% to grab rebounds....his rebounding has been flat out embarassing for a 7 footer throughout the playoffs.

[Sting3r]

For drew to only play 9 minutes against a team with a 7''7' opponent can only lead to one thing. the kid is not healthy..

Or that hes not listening to Phil and providing him what the team actually needs which is defense and rebounding and Phil is just trying to send a message out to Bynum. Im glad Phil is benching Bynum. Bynum seems to think hes entitled to a starting position for some reason. He needs to learn that he has to work for that position or at least play your role. So far hes been below average in terms of effort. Give him more of the Jordan Farmar treatment please...

[AmusingFiddle]

I don't know why all the hate on Bynum. Given his injury and recent revelations about his conditioning, I thought he did okay against Yao in Game 2. I only saw issues with his timing; which will come with playing more and practicing more with his teammates. He will be a factor if not in this series the next one - Mark my words.

[Sting3r]

its not hate, its criticism. Hate would be saying Bynum sucks and is a bust!!111!!

Bynum is receiving criticism because quite frankly hes been horrible and unimpressive thus far in the post season. Granted hes still not their yet with his timing and offensive game but that doesnt mean he cant put the effort into it. Effort can get you rebounds. He just looks lazy and unmotivated.

[biggamejames2]

While his offense and rebounding has been significantly disappointing I watched him pretty closely while he played D vs. Yao and he was really busting his ass off. Phil must have made it clear that he wanted Pau/Andrew to front Yao in the post and Bynum was working really hard to make Yao's lie miserable and denying him the ball in the post. I agree we need to get the kid more minutes so he can regain that sync, confidence, and swagger he had pre-injury

[AmusingFiddle]

While his offense and rebounding has been significantly disappointing I watched him pretty closely while he played D vs. Yao and he was really busting his ass off. Phil must have made it clear that he wanted Pau/Andrew to front Yao in the post and Bynum was working really hard to make Yao's lie miserable and denying him the ball in the post. I agree we need to get the kid more minutes so he can regain that sync, confidence, and swagger he had pre-injury

I concur. I thought he was doing what he could. He is guarding arguably the best center in the league while being injured. I thought defensively he did okay. Though I do agree he needs to box out to get those rebounds. That is one thing I distinctively remember him excelling at (grabbing offensive rebounds and converting them into dunks). I don't care what he says he appears to be bit apprehensive in being aggressive.

On another note. I am really sick of the refs not calling the pushing fouls on the other teams when they go after rebounds (I saw the same thing in the Utah series - Boozer was getting away with murder). Everyone is talking about Kobe's elbow but did u see Ron Ron pushing and elbowing Kobe right before that?

[fareweatherfan]

He should be benched. I think he's thinking of scoring for himself. Not hating but I think it's true. He should have dunk that alleyoop attempt last night.

+1. This is the playoffs, I'm not coddling anyone. Andrew needs to forget about scoring and focus on defense and rebounding.

Be more active!! You don't need confidence to be active. Pull your head out of your a** and make your own way. No excuses in May/June!!!

[Erik Eleven]

He actually played good defense for stretches on Yao, yesterday. But here he's getting criticized for his lack of defense because, what, he didn't score enough?

Remember 26 and 13 for a month before he went down? He's not healthy yet.

Yes, I think he will have a big impact in the NBA Finals.

[Sofa King]

Bynum's hops are still not there yet. I remember seeing a lob go to Bynum but he did not elevate high enough to dunk it. He's definitely a former shell of himself.

[dockingsched]

the first two rounds have been probably the worst two matchups bynum could have had in the entire western conference. this is a perfect storm of tough luck for him.

[realfung]

If you get to the Finals, maybe he will play one or two great games like Powe did last year for the Celts.
But this is what you want from him???

[Dr Aki]

we just want him to clog the lane to change a whole buncha shots

[The Prodigy]

Phil needs to get Bynum into a better rhythm. We need him. However, when Bynum has played he's seemed more concerned with scoring that rebounding and blocking shots, which is what he should be focusing on.