All About Bynum
Kurt is holding down the fort at TrueHoop for Henry today. He just threw up a nice post on the progression of Andrew Bynum. It inspired me to throw in my two cents on his development.
Bynum becoming the player he is now is no surprise to me. Check what I said about Bynum after watching him during the 2006 Summer pro league:
“I spent most of my attention during the game on Andrew Bynum. I can see that he is going to be a solid NBA center for years to come. He has GREAT footwork, and a willingness to contest shots and crash the boards. Any center with those things is way a head of the game. However, I see one major weakness in his game, and that is his lower body strength and conditioning. Throughout the contest “Drew” was rooted out of the post several times by journey man Jelani McCoy. If he’s letting McCoy root him out, what is he going to do against a guy like Ben Wallace or Tim Duncan? As well, Bynum had trouble getting off of the ground. It’s almost like he has no ups at all. Seriously, with his crazy wingspan, if he had any sort of elevation, he would be unstoppable. Because the post moves are already there. He just needs the explosiveness to be able to finish, and to be able to explode for put backs. The problem with his explosiveness could have something to do with the fact that he is still growing. I recall playing with a guy in high school that grew way too fast for his own good. His knees were always killing him, so although he was quite athletic, it was difficult for him to get off of the ground. Hopefully his lack of leaping ability is something that he and the Lakers strength and conditioning staff can overcome.”
Back in 2006, I knew that Bynum was going to be a successful center because he was very skilled and decently athletic. NBA teams usually pray that they can find a center that is at least one of those things and by the summer of 2006, Bynum had both. Yet, his conditioning was atrocious. He was long and athletic, but couldn’t get off the ground quickly enough or run the floor fast enough because he was out of shape. He and everyone else around him could see this. That's why he took it upon himself to work so hard during the off-season. The best thing that could happen to Drew is the results he’s seeing right now. Knowing that his hard work has put him in the position he is in today is going to give him fuel to continue to work hard during the year.
It’s about time that everyone gives Ronnie Lester, Mitch Kupchak, and even Jim Buss some credit for their job discovering and then drafting Andrew Bynum. It takes stones to draft a 17 year old kid with only a few years experience playing ball with your first lottery pick in ten years. We also need to give credit to Kareem for teaching the kid good fundamentals (because as Kurt mentioned, that footwork wasn’t there in the summer of 05) and Bynum for his willingness to learn and work hard.
The Lakers are one damn lucky franchise. They got the best player in the 1996 draft with the 13th pick and likely the best player in the 2005 draft with the 10th pick. It's almost not fair.
Bynum becoming the player he is now is no surprise to me. Check what I said about Bynum after watching him during the 2006 Summer pro league:
“I spent most of my attention during the game on Andrew Bynum. I can see that he is going to be a solid NBA center for years to come. He has GREAT footwork, and a willingness to contest shots and crash the boards. Any center with those things is way a head of the game. However, I see one major weakness in his game, and that is his lower body strength and conditioning. Throughout the contest “Drew” was rooted out of the post several times by journey man Jelani McCoy. If he’s letting McCoy root him out, what is he going to do against a guy like Ben Wallace or Tim Duncan? As well, Bynum had trouble getting off of the ground. It’s almost like he has no ups at all. Seriously, with his crazy wingspan, if he had any sort of elevation, he would be unstoppable. Because the post moves are already there. He just needs the explosiveness to be able to finish, and to be able to explode for put backs. The problem with his explosiveness could have something to do with the fact that he is still growing. I recall playing with a guy in high school that grew way too fast for his own good. His knees were always killing him, so although he was quite athletic, it was difficult for him to get off of the ground. Hopefully his lack of leaping ability is something that he and the Lakers strength and conditioning staff can overcome.”
Back in 2006, I knew that Bynum was going to be a successful center because he was very skilled and decently athletic. NBA teams usually pray that they can find a center that is at least one of those things and by the summer of 2006, Bynum had both. Yet, his conditioning was atrocious. He was long and athletic, but couldn’t get off the ground quickly enough or run the floor fast enough because he was out of shape. He and everyone else around him could see this. That's why he took it upon himself to work so hard during the off-season. The best thing that could happen to Drew is the results he’s seeing right now. Knowing that his hard work has put him in the position he is in today is going to give him fuel to continue to work hard during the year.
It’s about time that everyone gives Ronnie Lester, Mitch Kupchak, and even Jim Buss some credit for their job discovering and then drafting Andrew Bynum. It takes stones to draft a 17 year old kid with only a few years experience playing ball with your first lottery pick in ten years. We also need to give credit to Kareem for teaching the kid good fundamentals (because as Kurt mentioned, that footwork wasn’t there in the summer of 05) and Bynum for his willingness to learn and work hard.
The Lakers are one damn lucky franchise. They got the best player in the 1996 draft with the 13th pick and likely the best player in the 2005 draft with the 10th pick. It's almost not fair.
1 comments:
"likely the best player in the 2005 draft with the 10th pick. It's almost not fair."
Chris Paul or Deron Williams ring a bell? I agree Bynum will become a very good player, but it's not likely he'll be the best player from '05.
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