(Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
Although the Lakers staff didn’t make a big deal about it, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was one to voice his disappointment over the way the Lakers’ young $57 million-dollar man, Andrew Bynum, spent his summer.
"I think there are things that have to do with basketball that he could learn but he's getting on in years,'' Abdul-Jabbar said.
The Lakers had expected Bynum to spend time honing his basketball moves with his mentor Abdul-Jabbar and had encouraged him to participate in the USA Basketball senior national camp in July.
Instead the 21 year-old Bynum had other ideas.
Shortly after the Lakers’ championship parade, Bynum took off on a 41-day trek across Europe and Asia like a lot of young people do before they get down to the serious business of fashioning a career.
"I went all over, we did a whole bunch of sightseeing,'' Bynum said. "I loved it. My favorite city was Rome. Just the history there, and the art is unbelievable.''
According to Bynum, he was just following doctor's orders. They had advised him to rest his knees. He had injuries to both knees over the last two seasons.
Two years ago, Bynum did not return to finish the season. Last year he did. But it was obviously a mistake.
"I wasn't 100 percent,” Bynum admitted. “I had to get back, give us another body,"
And that’s pretty much what he looked like during most of the 2009 Playoffs, just another body.
When he returned to the States this summer, instead of joining Abdul-Jabbar in Los Angeles, Bynum went to Atlanta to work with his personal trainer, Sean Zarzana.
Their workouts weren’t exactly what the Lakers had in mind. Zarzana had Bynum forego the usual upper body conditioning and instead spend more time on the track, running.
"Other summers I came back a bit bigger up top,” Bynum recalled. “My legs were strong, but they aren't like they are right now. Right now I feel very good, I'm definitely in shape.”
Not only are his legs in better shape, but the Lakers are enjoying an unexpected byproduct of his workouts on the track in Atlanta.
While he is no Usain Bolt, Bynum is beating smaller, fleet-afoot forwards players up and down the court.
“I need to focus all year long on being the first one up the floor on both (offense and defense),” Bynum remarked after a workout. “Because if I stay ahead of the ball and stay healthy I think the sky is the limit.”
And Derek Fisher agrees. "I don't think that, because of injuries and just his growth in this league, we've seen him reach his full potential. One thing that is apparent is that when he is healthy, he's willing to do the work that's necessary to be as good as he can be.”
And just how good is that?
After six exhibition games, Bynum is the Laker’s leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 20.3 points and 7.7 boards in 30.2 minutes of play per game.
Overall, Phil Jackson likes what he sees from Bynum..
“He’s completing at the basket,” Jackson said. “I think he’s stronger. At times his defense has been really good (although) there are always areas to work on.”
Bynum, who believes he can make an impact on defense, understands how important that is. "Really, if we can just stop teams from scoring, shoot, it (repeating as NBA Champions) should be easy for us.”
What is Bynum’s personal goal this year?
"Personally, I want to make the all-star game…Be that player I know I can be."
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