Lakers' hopes center on youthful combo
By David Leon Moore, USA TODAY
LOS ANGELES — Andrew Bynum and Kwame Brown, the Los Angeles Lakers' promising pair of young centers, are contributing 16.6 points, 13.2 rebounds and 2.6 blocks combined a game.
That, with the one-two scoring punch of Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom and the much-improved play of forward Luke Walton, has landed the 9-5 Lakers in first place in the Pacific Division heading into Thursday night's home showdown against the Utah Jazz (10:30 ET, TNT).
Long term, the surprisingly good play in the middle gives the Lakers hopes of returning to the NBA's elite faster than seemed possible, with one player (Brown) behind schedule and the other (Bynum) way ahead.
"It's a great one-two punch, but I'd love to get on the court with him, too," Brown says.
Maybe one day, but for now what's working is having Brown and Bynum alternate. "I'm kind of letting that play itself out," Lakers coach Phil Jackson says about who starts and who gets more minutes.
The 19-year-old Bynum, 7-0, 285, has lost his spot at the end of the bench in his second NBA season but hasn't lost his sense of humor.
Asked what it is like to be tutored every day in practice by the league's all-time leading scorer, Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bynum doesn't hesitate.
"It's really good," he says. "If I get the things down that he's trying to teach me, maybe I'll surpass his scoring record."
Hmmm, he's not smiling. He is joking, isn't he?
That's hard to tell at this point, because the league is just getting to know Bynum. As a rookie he played in just 46 games and scored 74 points, averaging 1.6.
Starting and playing about 21 minutes a game this season, he's averaging 8.5 points and 6.3 rebounds and showing glimpses of becoming a dominant player.
"He makes a big difference for us," says Bryant, leading the team by averaging 24.1 points (11 less than last season) and 5.2 assists.
Then there is the 24-year-old Brown, 6-11, 270, who caught much heat with the Washington Wizards for not living up to the potential that in 2001 made him the first high school player taken first overall in the NBA Draft. Last season, his first after Washington traded him to the Lakers, he couldn't catch the ball. Or make layups.
At least that's how it seemed until he rallied late in the season and contributed 12.9 points and 6.6 rebounds a game in the Lakers' near-upset of the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs.
Brown missed the first seven games this season recovering from a shoulder injury. Coming off the bench, he's averaging 8.1 points and 6.9 rebounds and showing he might not be known forever as one of the NBA's biggest busts.
"What Kwame needed was a brotherhood," Bryant says. "He needed a team that was going to embrace him and look after him, not throw him under the bus."
Bynum youngest ever
Last season, Bynum had only two claims to semi-fame. On Nov. 2, 2005, in a five-minute stint against the Denver Nuggets, he became the youngest to play in an NBA regular-season game — 18 years, 6 days. Then, on Jan. 16, against the Miami Heat, he instigated a memorable sequence against former Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal.
It began when O'Neal dunked on Bynum, knocking him to the floor. On the next possession, Bynum got the ball in the post, spun around O'Neal and dunked. He celebrated heading down the court and then pushed O'Neal, who responded by swinging his arm into Bynum's chest. Both got technical fouls.
Other than that, Bynum assumed the role typical of most Jackson-coached rookies: invisible.
But the Lakers headed into this season with major post problems. Big men Chris Mihm, still recovering from offseason ankle surgery, and Brown, with a sprained right shoulder, were unable to play. Mihm, who has had another surgery, is out for the season.
Enter Bynum as starter. In that debut Oct. 31, four days after his birthday, Bynum had 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists against Phoenix. On Nov. 19 against the Chicago Bulls and four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Ben Wallace, Bynum topped his counterpart in points (12-8), rebounds (13-12) and blocked shots (4-2). "That's all right," Bynum, eyes wide, said afterward.
Asked then if he was especially concentrating on blocking shots, Bynum said, "Not really. I mean, that's what they want me to do: rebound and blocked shots. But today during the pregame, (Bulls forward) P.J. (Brown) said we didn't have any shot-blockers, so I wanted to go out there and show him I could block shots."
So, Bynum took it as a personal challenge? "Yeah, because he was looking at me when he said it."
In need of refinement
Clearly, there's a competitive edge to this teen, who played high school ball at St. Joseph in Metuchen, N.J., before the Lakers took him with the 10th pick of the first round of the '05 draft.
It will take awhile, though, to polish him up. Tuesday, for example, the Lakers lost a home game to the 5-9 Milwaukee Bucks, as the big men failed to take advantage of openings in the zone defense.
Brown, who still has pain in his shoulder, had two points and two rebounds, but nobody pointed fingers. "He's still coming around," says Odom, averaging 19.7 points (five more than last season) and 8.4 rebounds. "He's one of the most athletic guys in the NBA. ... When Kwame comes into his own, he's going to be a special player."
In the same game, Bynum had just three points, for 193 in his career — or 38,194 shy of Abdul-Jabbar's record.
Abdul-Jabbar, hired as an assistant coach primarily to work with Bynum, is excited about the youngster's progress. "Sometimes I'm telling him things that he can do, and he doesn't really believe me," Abdul-Jabbar says. "But he listens. Then he tries it, and if it works, it becomes part of his repertoire."
How good can he be?
"We'll just have to wait and see."
I've already seen how good Bynum can be, he will be a journeyman, dominance is not in his future. He's CURRENTLY Haywood in a Laker's uniform, he'll probably become another Alton Listor or James Edwards, the Laker homer in me hopes he'll be the next Robert Parish.
