Lakers Andrew Bynum: The $50 Million Pout

It didn’t take a crystal ball to know what Andrew Bynum’s box score would be in Game Two of the playoff series between the Lakers and Rockets.

All you had to do was look at the young center’s face wearing the 'Why should I care if I’m not starting?' expression.

While the rest of the Lakers were huddling together getting charged up for their game with the Rockets, Bynum stood lackadaisically in back and showed as much energy as a dead battery.

When he finally did get in the game, his production matched his attitude.

No points, one rebound, three personal fouls.

No one can say that Bynum lacks talent. He has that in abundance. But he also has  attitude and immaturity to match.

No one can deny that Kobe Bryant came into the NBA 10 years ago with a me-first attitude, and over the years the Lakers have certainly benefited.

But Bryant also had a couple of things in abundance that Bynum lacks: energy and a work ethic that were off the charts. And they haven’t tailed off while his immaturity and attitude certainly have.

No one knows if Bynum will ever acquire a work ethic and attitude that equates with the $50 million the Lakers are paying him over the next three years. But they certainly could have cut that huge price tag down considerably had they waited until the season ended to re-sign him. They signed him at the start of this season.

Considering Bynum’s propensity for injury, his slow healing process, and his poor gamesmanship in the playoffs, I doubt any teams would have put up that kind money.

Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak is is basically a one-deal GM.

He pulled off the trade that brought Pau Gasol to the Lakers and sent Kwame Brown and Gasol’s brother, Marc, to the Grizzlies. Other than that, he has let players like Von Wafer, Maurice Evans, and Caron Butler get away. We won’t even talk about the Shaquille O’Neal trade.

Kupchak even fell in love with this 6-9 point guard from China, Sun Yue, who will never make it even as a spot player in the NBA, and he released Coby Karl, the son of Denver’s head coach, George Karl. Karl, who is now playing in Europe, may never make it in the NBA either, but he stands a far better chance than Sun Yue.

Instead of using his mid-level exemption to sign a quality free agent in the offseason, Kupchak re-signed Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic to three-year deals. Neither one has paid off for the Lakers this season.

While Kupchak’s judgment has been suspect, Lakers’ owner Jerry Buss, known as a pretty shrewd poker player, could have stepped in. The Bynum family and their advisers were putting pressure on the Lakers to do a deal then instead of in June.

Buss could have called their bluff. But he and Kupchak feared Bynum would go through the season with a poor attitude. So now the young center has gotten his big payoff and still has a poor attitude.

And what have the Lakers gotten? A $50 million dollar pout.