Andrew Bynum: Why Laker Star's Big Night Won't Equal Long-Term Success

Andrew Bynum is a special talent. If Dwight Howard wasn't in the league, he would be the NBA's best center by a long shot. His 17-point, 30-rebound performance in a big win over the San Antonio Spurs Wednesday night showcased how good he can really be.

However, Bynum's talent will still be outweighed by his immaturity and anger issues in the long run.

Don't forget, Bynum has been the go-to guy at the end of games for Los Angeles Lakers coach Mike Brown at certain points during the season. Even with Kobe Bryant, the epitome of the NBA's "closer," Brown has elected to put the ball in the big man's hands with confidence.

But that confidence doesn't seem to last for long stretches.

Just two weeks ago, Bynum was benched for taking a three-pointer against the Golden State Warriors. The issue was a nationally debated question of whether it was the right move by Brown. The better question is, what is Andrew Bynum, a guy who moves other centers in the paint at will, even doing behind the arc?

Less than seven days ago, Bynum was ejected in the Lakers' loss to the Houston Rockets. Since then, he's on record as claiming no remorse for the incident, failing to understand that had he kept his mouth shut and played, his presence might have been a deciding factor in the outcome of team trying to move up the Western Conference seeding ladder.

This is the same guy that close-lined JJ Barea in the final game of the Western Conference Finals against the Dallas Mavericks last season. That incident cost him five games, and would seem like an anomaly if he didn't have some of these other issues on his record. 

Bynum doesn't consistently put up numbers like the 30 rebounds he collected last night. But he does consistently continue to make decisions that don't seem smart for a guy that is expected to be the anchor of the Kobe-less Lakers in the future.

He again made news after the his historic rebound effort, cursing on live TV when asked about his performance. While this is something that some players do with more frequency than others, it still has no place in the NBA.

The issues will continue to pile up for Bynum until he decides to act like a big boy. If he can't stay on the court, he can't produce numbers that put him in elite category, or help his team win big games in the pursuit of a championship.