Andrew Bynum Epitomizes What's Wrong with Professional Athletes

Take a bow, Andrew Bynum, you've officially become a member of the selfish professional athletes club. Of course, you've been working on this for a few years now.

Reports circulated today stating Bynum has been fined by the Los Angeles Lakers for numerous infractions.

Being disrespectful is nothing new for Bynum.

In 2009, Bynum essentially shunned Kareem Abdul-Jabbar during the offseason. Instead of picking Kareem's brain and trying to learn as much as possible, Bynum decided to go on a European vacation. One would think a promising young player would put vacation plans on hold to take advantage of having somebody of Kareem's stature at his disposal.

In fairness to Drew, he did utilize Kareem's services for a period of time before 2009, although you'd be hard-pressed to find any genuine praise from the student (Bynum) towards the mentor in this case.

The lasting image we have of Bynum last year was of him ripping off his shirt and walking off the court after a flagrant foul in last year's Western Conference Finals. Personally, I've never felt more disdain for one of my beloved Laker players than I did at the moment I saw the selfish Bynum knock Barea to the ground.

The roller coaster has continued this year. Not only has Bynum become one of the three best centers in the NBA, but he has also become the prototypical example as to why the casual fan (and perhaps even you, the diehard) is turned off by most professional athletes.

The Laker center has adopted a drama-queen attitude that is going to continue to cause unneeded chatter about the security of Coach Mike Brown's job.

It's unfortunate that whenever Bynum throws a fit or Kobe makes a tongue in cheek comment about Coach Brown people start to blame the coach.

Mike Brown, in my opinion, has done a great job in his first year as coach of the Los Angeles Lakers. As of this writing, the Lakers are 33-20 and sitting in third place in the Western Conference. Does the NBA community forget where they thought the Lakers would be at the end of this season?

Most publications, and you can check them for yourself, have the Lakers finishing third or fourth in the Western Conference. It looks like Coach Brown is right within the realm of expectations.

Unfortunately, he now has a problem child on his hands in Andrew Bynum. Hoisting up a three-pointer is the least of Brown's worries. He has to deal with a selfish individual who doesn't participate in team huddles, misses meetings, and will continue to grow into the most cancerous individual on the team.

His entrance into the NBA straight from high school has had the most negative impact on his maturity. It's time to get fed up with people giving him a free pass for being "young". Drew is a 24-year-old man who conducts himself on a daily basis like people owe him something.

Whatever happened to the coach being respected? I guess that idea got lost somewhere around the early 90's when players started to routinely sign multi-million dollar contracts.

The Lakers would have been better off with Dwight Howard at center. Perhaps Orlando knew that not only was Bynum injury-prone, but also a player who doesn't give a complete effort on a daily basis.

I hope Drew comes around and molds into a professional athlete that shows appreciation for what he does. I hope he learns how to respect his coach, and I hope he doesn't continue down this path of becoming a bad boy for the sport.

It's not looking good though.

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