Big man, small steps
Lakers' Bynum shows flashes, but is brought along slowly
BY ROSS SILER, Staff Writer
EL SEGUNDO - What nobody heard were the words before Andrew Bynum announced himself to the NBA.
They came in a timeout late in the second quarter of the Lakers' Jan. 16 game against the Miami Heat. Bynum was in for Kwame Brown and about to match up against Shaquille O'Neal when Kobe Bryant issued a challenge.
"I had 30 the first time I played against Mike," Bryant said. "What are you going to do?"
What was Bynum supposed to say? He was 10 years old when Bryant scored 33 points in his second season against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. The next thing Bynum knew, O'Neal was using him as a pogo-stick for a mega dunk.
Everyone knows the story from there. Bynum picked himself up, raced to the other end, took a pass from Bryant and used a spin move learned from all those mornings with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to leave O'Neal in his wake on a dunk.
"The city of L.A. loved it," Bynum said.
Three months later, it is still the defining moment of Bynum's rookie season. But time didn't stop after Bynum skipped down court after the dunk and traded elbows and technical fouls with O'Neal.
He didn't play in the next game. Or the one after that. Or the one after that. The question of whether Bynum - the youngest player ever drafted in NBA history - is capable of greatness remains unanswered.
"There's no reason that he can't play until he's 36," general manager Mitch Kupchak said. "But he's still an unknown quantity at this time. ... We like what we see to date, but he's not there."
What they do know is that Bynum seems to have an appetite for challenges. He dunked on O'Neal. He played 21 minutes against Tim Duncan in San Antonio. He had 16 points in the fourth quarter in New York against Eddy Curry and the Knicks.
The expectations for Bynum coming to the Lakers as the No.10 pick were head-spinning. He was supposed to be the next in the franchise's long line of Hall of Fame centers, from George Mikan to Wilt Chamberlain to Abdul-Jabbar to O'Neal.
If Bynum had gone to college for a season, the Lakers said, he might have been a top-three pick in this year's draft. Phil Jackson flew back to Los Angeles from his summer home in Montana to watch Bynum work out in person.
There is no simple way to evaluate Bynum's rookie season. He has grown an inch, learned how to lift weights, played hours of Xbox, bought a Mercedes, earned the nicknames "Socks" and "Big Baby," and lived life as a kid in a man's world.
He also has picked up the things you only can in the NBA. On a recent trip, Bynum found himself sharing an elevator ride with Bryant. The two were talking when Bryant asked Bynum if he ever watched - really watched - game tape.
Bryant's message: Bynum should focus on "playing the game before he plays it."
That was all Bynum needed to hear. Now he is taking home DVDs weekly from the video staff. They are filled with tape of his games, as well as games with other big men in the NBA, including Duncan, O'Neal and Cleveland's Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
The Lakers' video coordinators have the playoffs to prepare for as well as the draft. Yet they are also preparing a compilation of NBA greats for Bynum to take home this summer. Every time he can, he asks for another DVD.
