He is definitely one of the top-two big men in the league, if not the best, when he decides to play. While Bynum's numbers are great, averaging 18.7 points and 11.7 rebounds, there is still much to be desired.
Bynum often seems to be disengaged from the game. Benjamin Hochman of the Denver Post wrote:
“In one [playoff] game, Bynum was minus-16, in another he was minus-24. He never scored more than 20 points. He shot 2-for-13 in Game 3 — and that was the game L.A. won.”
Is it the gray hair? Is Bynum too comfortable? Or maybe he wants to be “the man” but knows he won't as long as Kobe is around. No matter what's going on with the young star, the Lakers obviously need to address this situation when rebuilding the team.
Mitch Kupchak said as far back as March that they would pick up the team's $16.1 million option on Bynum's contract. This means he will be a Laker next season.
"He's the starting center on the West All-Star team," Kupchak said back in March, "Why wouldn't we do everything we could to keep him here? We're ecstatic to have him on the team."
So does this mean that the team plans to use him as the Lakers' center next season, or is it simply to gain a pawn in Kupchak's offseason chess game?
Bynum is the West All-Star center and All-NBA second-team center. These are both firsts in his six-year NBA career. He's clearly skilled enough to be the Lakers' center. While Dwight Howard may get better numbers, Andrew Bynum is much bigger, and when he chooses to impose his will, not even Howard can stop him.
However, Bynum showed in the last few games of the playoffs that he doesn't seem to care about winning. While he was heavily guarded, he was ...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
