We may need to take it easy on him just a little bit and this is why. The two major injuries that Drew sufferred came while he was battling for rebounds. the first time was on Lamar Odom's foot and the secopnd time he was planted while Kobe headbutted his knee. I think it's mental with him and I believe his rebounding will go up. The concern that I do have is his shot-blocking. In the game against Dallas I saw Dirk drive the lane against Lamar and finish with his left hand. I saw Drew boxing out his man, but Drew was clearly in position to challenge the layup without Dirk even seeing him. I think Howard would have sent that one flying back and that's why Bynum and Howard are in two different leagues as far as being players.

For the record, this is what 22-year-old men do while 22-year-old boys don’t:

Shaquille O’Neal (1995)
29.3 ppg, 11.4 rpg, 2.4 bpg

Hakeem Olajuwon (1985)
20.6 ppg, 11.9 rpg, 2.7 bpg

Dwight Howard (2008)
19.8 ppg, 13.5 rpg, 2.1 bpg

Kobe Bryant (2001)
28.5 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 5 apg, 1.7 spg

Bynum chose to enter the draft out of sixth period. Bynum chose to sign the 8-digit, 2-comma contract. Bynum chose an athletic trainer this summer over Abdul-Jabbar. More power to him. But as far as I‘m concerned, he’s been gifted that ring and granted that contract. Until he earns either, I sincerely piss on his current stat line as if it was scribbled by Zach Randolph or Eddy Curry.

The Bynum I saw is not the Bynum I see.

lakeshowsd people are complaining because he signed a huge contract extension and has thus so far not earned what he was given. bynum is playing well we would just like to see him get more rebounds and blocks especially sense pau is out, he needs to not worry so much about the scoring as much because when pau comes back he is the clear 2nd option and bynums touches will diminish, but thats not to say he wont still be able to dominate cuz he will probably play a lot of minutes with the second unit and he will be the main scoring option

Thank you lakeshowsd for putting things in perspective. I like what I see with Bynum so far. Greg Oden he is not. Drew is a very talented young offensive minded center. He is making a high percentage of his shots and knocking down his free throws and running the court to set up easy buckets. He is also staying out of foul trouble so he can stay on the court which is crucial with Pau out of the lineup. Maybe the critics here should consider the possibility that young Drew is playing it smart. If he got too aggressive with shot blocking or over the back rebounding and ended up in foul trouble then we would be hurting in the middle. He is a smart kid, he will find the right balance. About the only 3 players I am not worried about this season so far are Kobe, Drew and Lamar.

Urkle,

I agree that 3 does not cut it. If this becomes a habitual thing, Phil needs a serious talk with him. Also, players like D Fish and others shooting up jumpers and not getting Drew touches with Pau out does not cut it either. But you don't see much talk about that from you or others. Bad basketball is bad basketball, whether it be a lack of rebounding by Drew or his teamates refusal to utilize him on the offense end.

I don't expect him to play like Shaq yet. He ain't Shaq. When I see him run down the floor like last night, get great position, call for the ball then see Derek Fisher look right at him, ignore him and jack up a long shot and miss...again, then I think smart ball is not being played. How about you?

I really don't think its unreasonable to want your Starting center who wants to be your all star to consistently out rebound your guards. I doesn't happen every game but coutning last year and what's happen so fa I think it is a really alarming trend.

It's funny how most of you say he needs to play defense and not much offense right now, but with pau out, Bynum needs to score more. If he doesn't, you're leaving all the scoring to Kobe, Ron, and maybe Lamar. As of late, no one else has done anything offensively. So if bynum wasn't averaging 20 ppg right now, the lakers very well could be 1-2, maybe even 0-3. If pau comes back and bynum is still not playing good D and just focusing on offense, then that'll turn into a problem, but as of right now give him a break he's helping us win.

I don't understand, if Bynum is currently averaging 9 rebounds per game, and had only one game where he got only 3 rebounds, what's the worry? You cannot criticize him this bad for just one game, and I'm pretty sure Bynum regrets only getting 3 rebounds and I assure you he is going to come back and be once again a force in the paint, rebounding, blocking, doing everything to appease his critics and his team.

I agree, with Pau out, Bynum has to be that offensive force in the paint, he has to score.