Life with Bynum: the good, bad and scary

[iamworthy]

When there was nothing really wrong with Bynum in the regular season, Jackson still tried to hold him to fewer than 30 minutes per game ... just to minimize exposure to possible injury. Bynum is already and will continue to be extremely valuable, but you can't change the reality that he can never be a franchise player.

A true star doesn't just bring it at the highest level three out of four games, with the one clunker usually not even very loud. He is there every night for the fans to revere and the role players to surround. He is spectacular and dependable in a game Jackson notes fundamentally gives you "feet under feet and collisions."

Bynum has been playing so well that it drives people to imagine how dominant he'd be if he didn't have to defer so much to these other great Lakers. They speculate about how commanding he'd be if he had the same opportunities as Dwight Howard – overlooking that Howard has played 567 of 574 possible games in his NBA career. http://www.ocregister.com/sports/-297685--.html

Pretty slow day on the board. I read this article and thought I would share it.

[Doormatt]

Sooooo Bynum can never be a franchise player is the point of this?

Not exactly breaking news. IMO he's already our 2nd most valuable player, I'm sure that's good enough for him.

[iamworthy]

Sooooo Bynum can never be a franchise player is the point of this?

Not exactly breaking news. IMO he's already our 2nd most valuable player, I'm sure that's good enough for him.

If thats all you got from the article then, well, you didnt read the article. Points that I found interesting are as followed:

-Phil released the whole team when Bynum went down to show him support.
-Phil is "keeping his fingers crossed" in hopes Bynum can remain healthy pass the first round.
-Phil was trying to hold Bynums minutes to under 30 per game.

All this points to Phil awareness of how important Bynum is to the lakers team this year. Bynums always been important to the team but the last couple of years we got away with having a sub-par Bynum due to injuries and Bynum not really knowing or excepting his roll. As of today Bynum totally understands his roll and has become a much better player imo. This year more than anything Bynum will have to play big for us...be a impact player. I thought the article kind of displayed Phil jackson awareness of that fact.

[Doormatt]

Lol no I didn't. I just read the excerpt.

[iamworthy]

Lol no I didn't. I just read the excerpt.

I edited my last post to kinda explain what I got from the article.

[TruSkool]

it shows how high the lakers are on bynum...hes been babied by LA....i dont know if its for a good cause....as phenomenal as he's been as a 4th option...I probably would have pulled the bynum/kidd trigger in 2008...

[SashAlex]

If he finally finds a way to be healthy for much longer periods of time, then our future looks brighter after Kobe decides to hang up his shoes imho.

[dockingsched]

Bryant is the guy who once came out to the court the day after Devean George writhed in pain under the basket after spraining his ankle and sprawled out there in the same spot George went down, rolling around and flailing about and cracking up teammates with utter mockery of George's miscalculation as to his injury severity.

[Mamba Venom]

Howard is the exception. Bynum and Shaq missed about the same amount of games for 4 seasons in a row.

[SLiCK_TALKA_19]

That is probably true, Im too lazy to pull up facts. But Bynum is a youngster what is he 21? 22? When Shaq was in his 20's was putting the Orlando Magic on his back and taking them to the finals against the great Olajuwon and my personal favorite Big Shot Bob. You can't compare. Even when Shaq was in LA I don't remember him missing more than a couple games at a time.

[10scott10]

That is probably true, Im too lazy to pull up facts. But Bynum is a youngster what is he 21? 22? When Shaq was in his 20's was putting the Orlando Magic on his back and taking them to the finals against the great Olajuwon and my personal favorite Big Shot Bob. You can't compare. Even when Shaq was in LA I don't remember him missing more than a couple games at a time.

Except all of those years where he missed the first 20+ games a season to heal on "company time"

[SLiCK_TALKA_19]

Ya Shaq always took company time to heal, I do remember that, but as you can tell below he has been ok. Not as bad to begin his career as bynum. Had a slip for a couple seasons but one of those was a lock out year. Besides that he has been pretty consistant considering how huge the guy is.

92-93 ORL 81
93-94 ORL 81
94-95 ORL 79
95-96 ORL 54
96-97 LAL 51
97-98 LAL 60
98-99 LAL 49
99-00 LAL 79
00-01 LAL 74
01-02 LAL 67
02-03 LAL 67
03-04 LAL 67

[NextToJack]

Sooooo Bynum can never be a franchise player is the point of this?

Not exactly breaking news. IMO he's already our 2nd most valuable player, I'm sure that's good enough for him.

Pau Gasol is and always has been our second most important player. And when Kobe retires in 3-4 years. Pau will be our #1. Sometimes I wish Pau would get hurt or be traded to prove to all those fans who believe Odom and/or Bynum are more important. Pau's absence would greatly diminish our effectiveness on offense. Not to mention our reputation as a contender. But we are spoiled. He never gets hurt.

Show Pau some respect. He deserves it.

Bynum on the other hand is nothing but potential. Flashes here and there. But never anything consistent. Don't give me this nonsense about his consistency post allstar break. Gasol has been killing it for us for 3 years straight.

27 out of 27
81 out of 82
65 out of 82
82 out of 82 regular season games. Not counting playoff games.

Must we list Bynums games played?

Pau is a machine. And his "softness" contributes to him being available every night from game 1 of the regular season to game 7 of the nba finals. Pah-lease.

Another thing. Bynum is mentally weak. Always has been. He needs to be in the starting lineup or he will bitch and moan and not be able to focus coming in as a bench player. He is the text book example of a player needing a sports psychologist. To keep him in good spirits or to inspire him to be agressive. I have been saying things along these lines since the day he blew up for 28pts in the long beach summer league then followed it up with 8pts or something in that range. I went to that game with buddies, who to this day, are still on his jock for no good reason.

Also Bynum is very effective now....because he plays off Gasol. Without Gasol Bynum would revert to something weaker than what we all expect.

[NextToJack]

If he finally finds a way to be healthy for much longer periods of time, then our future looks brighter after Kobe decides to hang up his shoes imho.

Lakers future lies in Pau Gasol. You heard it here first. Tell you about it later. Basically his effectiveness will be the same today at 30 as it will be at 38.

Put your money on Pau not Andrew Bynum. Believe me.

[LA Forever]

Sometimes I wish Pau would get hurt or be traded to prove to all those fans who believe Odom and/or Bynum are more important.

You want him to get hurt or traded just to prove a point?

[Doormatt]

Sooooo Bynum can never be a franchise player is the point of this?

Not exactly breaking news. IMO he's already our 2nd most valuable player, I'm sure that's good enough for him.

Pau Gasol is and always has been our second most important player. And when Kobe retires in 3-4 years. Pau will be our #1. Sometimes I wish Pau would get hurt or be traded to prove to all those fans who believe Odom and/or Bynum are more important. Pau's absence would greatly diminish our effectiveness on offense. Not to mention our reputation as a contender. But we are spoiled. He never gets hurt.

Show Pau some respect. He deserves it.

Bynum on the other hand is nothing but potential. Flashes here and there. But never anything consistent. Don't give me this nonsense about his consistency post allstar break. Gasol has been killing it for us for 3 years straight.

27 out of 27
81 out of 82
65 out of 82
82 out of 82 regular season games. Not counting playoff games.

Must we list Bynums games played?

Pau is a machine. And his "softness" contributes to him being available every night from game 1 of the regular season to game 7 of the nba finals. Pah-lease.

Another thing. Bynum is mentally weak. Always has been. He needs to be in the starting lineup or he will bitch and moan and not be able to focus coming in as a bench player. He is the text book example of a player needing a sports psychologist. To keep him in good spirits or to inspire him to be agressive. I have been saying things along these lines since the day he blew up for 28pts in the long beach summer league then followed it up with 8pts or something in that range. I went to that game with buddies, who to this day, are still on his jock for no good reason.

Also Bynum is very effective now....because he plays off Gasol. Without Gasol Bynum would revert to something weaker than what we all expect.

certainly pau is a more productive player than bynum offensively, and is healthier, but in terms of value to winning a championship, bynum is #2 to kobe. lakers cant win a title without him anchoring the D. as far as value to this team winning a championship, bynum>gasol. and please dont bring up past years. obviously pau was more valuable, but not this year, lakers are a totally different team when bynum brings the D. he elevates us from pretenders to contenders, but thats just my opinion.

in other words, we arent winning a championship if we get the same injured bynum we've seen the past 2 seasons. in that regard, he's gone from #4/#5 in terms of value, to #2.

lakers arent doing anything with pau as the #1, especially if kobe isnt around.

[NextToJack]

Sometimes I wish Pau would get hurt or be traded to prove to all those fans who believe Odom and/or Bynum are more important.

You want him to get hurt or traded just to prove a point?

Sometimes I do. But in the end I don't.

Rather see ours Lakers win. But not at the cost at proving some of you wrong or mis-influenced.

[NextToJack]

certainly pau is a more productive player than bynum offensively, and is healthier, but in terms of value to winning a championship, bynum is #2 to kobe. lakers cant win a title without him anchoring the D. as far as value to this team winning a championship, bynum>gasol. and please dont bring up past years. obviously pau was more valuable, but not this year, lakers are a totally different team when bynum brings the D. he elevates us from pretenders to contenders, but thats just my opinion.

in other words, we arent winning a championship if we get the same injured bynum we've seen the past 2 seasons. in that regard, he's gone from #4/#5 in terms of value, to #2.

lakers arent doing anything with pau as the #1, especially if kobe isnt around.

Bynum moves the dial from contenders to contenders.

I understand your man love for bynum. Mine is the same for Pau.

What comes first? The chicken or the egg.

Lets just say....Whats more likely? For conversations sake.

Lakers championship winning probability higher with Bynum or Gasol. Other player not being available. Gotta be higher with Gasol in my mind. We know all the facts. My preference is peanut butter and strawberry jam. Yours is peanut butter and whatever the hell bynum jam taste like.

Lakers are 20-7 with Bynum out of the lineup in 2011.

Whats the sample size with Gasol out? There is none. He is always available.

Bynum is a good player. But the Lakers can win without him. I don't think we can say the same about Gasol.

[Mamba Venom]

Whatever happened to the nicknames?

A-Bomb
Bynumite
Bryant's Giants

Bynum deserves a nick name the way he has been playing. I have always liked Bynum BUT I finally feel comfortable being a huge fan. Its hard to fall in love with a player when a player has injury after injury and the player doesn't give his all and it seems in the best interest of your team to trade him.

All it took for me to want to make Bynum a lifetime Laker was the effort he has shown in just about every game since the AS break. I want effort and hustle.

[Atmanne]

Sooooo Bynum can never be a franchise player is the point of this?

Not exactly breaking news. IMO he's already our 2nd most valuable player, I'm sure that's good enough for him.

Pau Gasol is and always has been our second most important player. And when Kobe retires in 3-4 years. Pau will be our #1. Sometimes I wish Pau would get hurt or be traded to prove to all those fans who believe Odom and/or Bynum are more important. Pau's absence would greatly diminish our effectiveness on offense. Not to mention our reputation as a contender. But we are spoiled. He never gets hurt.

Pau missed 17 games last year, remember? Bynum was a beast while he was out.

I think most understand that Pau's a better player, but no need to be dramatic about it.