There has been a lot of talk about Andrew Bynum around me as of late. I remember when he was drafted straight out of high school in 2005 during the Lakers "rebuilding years". Despite that he wasn't anything close to a star by the spring of 2007, the Lakers were getting many trade offers for Bynum. The most publicized one was the one with New Jersey, which involves one Jason Kidd. Mitch Kupchak refused to pull the trigger. And we all know about that infamous video of an angry Kobe Bryant saying, "Ship his ass out! We talkin' 'bout Jason Kidd!"
The 2007-2008 season wasn't looking any different. Lakers got off to a 9-8 start.
But a funny thing happened along the way. Andrew Bynum was showing much more game than he ever did. He would score a then-career high 28 points against Phoenix on Christmas Day of '07. Bynum would show flashes of dominance as he had five 20-10 games by January 13. But Bynum would be shelved for the rest of the year after that knee injury on Jan. 13. It led to the thievery of trade for Pau Gasol.
I would overhear about Andrew Bynum wanting a 20-10 this year before the season started. Of course, proclaiming stuff like that publicly would only lead to trouble. He ended up getting off to a slow start despite the Lakers' gaudy record. There are times where he would question Phil Jackson. So question marks were raised about whether he can take it to the next level or not.
Well, in the last ten games, Bynum's averaged 19.9 points (including a 42-point outburst against the Clippers). He's looking like he's making a late push for an All-Star berth. This begs the question: how high is Andrew Bynum's ceiling?
There are people saying that Greg Oden is eventually going to be a Hall-of-Famer. And there are people saying that this is as high as Bynum is going to go.
What I think? As long as guys like Kobe and Pau are there, his production isn't going to be as high because there's only one ball to go around. Still, he's putting up good numbers for a 21-year-old. He's averaging 13.7 PPG, 8.1 RPG, and 1.8 BPG in 29.3 minutes per. In this loaded Laker team, I don't think Bynum will get 35 minutes per game for a few years.
I think Bynum will be, at least, an All-Star for about two or three times in his career. At the most, I think Bynum may make the All-Star team eight or nine times but it all depends on how much he can show during the years Kobe and Pau are there. He may even get that 20-10 goal he desires one of these years. Of course, there are guys like Yao Ming, Shaq (for one more year, at least), Nene, or even Al Jefferson. And who knows about Oden? Nevertheless, the center position has gotten deep in the Western Conference... and Bynum, as long as he's a Laker, may have trouble making the All-Star team because of the depth of the West and the situation that he's in. Of course, didn't I just say he's only 21?
Still, I think us people in L.A. are glad that his ass wasn't shipped out.
