EL SEGUNDO - As only an 18-year-old could, Andrew Bynum summed up Thursday why he was looking forward to the start of the summer league season by saying, "The funnest part of basketball is being on the court, not on the bench."
After spending so much of his rookie season on Phil Jackson's bench, Bynum will get the chance to show how far he has come in the year since the Lakers drafted him out of high school with the No. 10 overall pick.
On a team of first-year players, rookies and free agents, Bynum will get the minutes he never did in the regular season, when he played in only 46 of 82 games. It also could be the first step in showing what kind of role he can play come November.
"That's definitely my goal is to get some more minutes next year," Bynum said. "Fifteen to 20 (per game) at least."
The Lakers will play their first of eight summer-league games Saturday against Memphis at the Pyramid in Long Beach. Bynum figures to be the featured attraction once again, much as he was last July when an overflow crowd came to see his debut.
Bynum took two weeks off after the season but has been a regular at the Lakers' practice facility since. The question is how much can be expected from a 7-foot teenager matching up against older, stronger players, even with a year of NBA tutelage.
"I think he's made tremendous strides," Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis said. "He's been in here every day over the summer. He's lifting weights. You can see how his body has changed. He's more mature, he's definitely more mature.