10: LA Lakers: Incomplete
Andrew Bynum, C, St. Joseph High School (#10)
In possibly the most interesting story from the NBA draft, the Lakers shocked almost everyone (except us) by taking the 17 year old high school beast Andrew Bynum. Bynum worked out for both the Blazers and Lakers twice, with one secret workout which was never reported to go around for each team, and received a promise that he would “not slip past the tenth pick”. According to sources, Bynum was in the mix for the Portland pick at #6, but John Nash was reportedly afraid of being criticized for taking the high school kid that early. Regardless, Bynum was the coolest and most confident 17 year old in the world while sitting amongst the crowd at Madison Square Garden waiting to show the NBA why he should have been invited to the Green Room. The most ridiculous part about this is that he was allegedly told by the NBA that he could not be among the 29 players invited to Chicago for physicals and measurements unless he came to play at the actual pre-draft camp. The fact that he did not do physicals lead to a rash of filthy rumors, some of which were published on ESPN, regarding knee problems that Bynum is suffering from. The “official word” that was being spread, possibly by an NBA team hoping to see Bynum slip to the their pick, was that he has cartilage that needs to be removed in his knee and that he will already require knee surgery at his young age immediately after being drafted. Another rumor was that Bynum refused to do any physicals for NBA teams, hoping that he could hide his condition from them.
Lol at the Blazers out of all teams really wanting him... and all bad rumors about him being focused on his knees..