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playa2
Posts: 34922
Alba Posts: 15
Joined: 5/15/2003
Member: #407
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Andrew Bynum sneaks out of practice to go eat
Where was Andrew Bynum?
The time: last season. The place: the Lakers' El Segundo training headquarters.
The missing person: the team's first-round pick in the 2005 NBA draft.
"Right in the middle of practice, he just disappeared," Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis said.
Rambis finally found the 7-foot, 285-pounder sitting on a table in the trainer's room eating handfuls of Froot Loops cereal.
After doing a double take, Rambis asked Bynum why he wasn't out on the floor with his teammates.
"I was feeling lightheaded," Bynum told him.
"So you're eating Froot Loops?" Rambis said. "You don't just leave practice without telling somebody."
Rambis smiled as he told the story last week. It's hard to be upset with Bynum, whose raw talent is matched by a congenial personality. The Lakers' front office and coaching staff are impressed by Bynum's size, excited about his potential, and pleased with his attitude.
As for those Froot Loops moments, they keep telling themselves, he's still a kid.
He was only 17 when the Lakers selected him with the 10th pick, the youngest player ever taken in the draft. Bynum came directly out of St. Joseph High in Metuchen, N.J. He was six days past his 18th birthday when he appeared in his first NBA game, the youngest ever to take the court.
And then this season, after having averaged only 7.4 minutes in 46 games last season, all as a reserve, he suddenly found himself thrown into the starting lineup at 19 when ankle surgery ended Chris Mihm's season before it started and an injured shoulder sidelined Kwame Brown.
"Forget basketball," Rambis said. "There's a lot going on with any kid at this age just in terms of maturity. They are still developing. They have a lot to learn about life and about themselves. Having to grow up on a stage like this can be very difficult."
As Bynum discovered.
He started the first 14 games this season, had 18 points and nine rebounds in his first game, then went on to block four shots in a single game and have two double-doubles.
But after getting 12 points and 13 rebounds against the Chicago Bulls on Nov. 19, Bynum began to fade, producing a total of only 16 points and 18 rebounds over the next four games.
His energy level noticeably changed.
"You could see him running well up and down the court for the first three minutes he was in there," Rambis said, "and then he seemed to get slower and slower and slower."
When Bynum was late to a pregame warmup, Coach Phil Jackson pulled the plug, replacing him in the starting lineup with Brown.
"The biggest thing we could teach him … is a work ethic," Jackson said in explaining his move to the media. "That's what we really are striving for."
JAMES DOLAN on Isiah : He's a good friend of mine and of the organization and I will continue to solicit his views. He will always have strong ties to me and the team.
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12/13/2006 10:52 AM
