The real Andrew Bynum

Posted by: SPQR on Apr 06, 2012 - 02:43 PM
lakers-blog

You know, one thing that is so very far from the truth is that perception that Drew is just some kid or duffus without any backbone or hint of being a man. Or that he has no maturity at all.

That could not be further from the truth.

You have to think about what he overcame to be where he is. And also think of all the easy ways he could have gone instead of the path he chose.

First off, he was the youngest player ever drafted. He had very little basketball skills because of his age and background. So here he is, now set adrift with men, the best players in the whole world. Not so easy. Second, here is this kid, that young, given all this money. That can lead to problems. The worst kinds of problems, including that party drug lifestyle that has destroyed so many careers.

Then you have the injuries. Not one, but several. Bad ones. And to top it off, you had that misdiagnosis of that one injury. And then, when he could have sat when the knee damaged was correctly diagnosed, when he could have done what was best for his own health, not the teams, he played on one leg for the year and into the finals, because the team needed him.

Not tough? Not selfless? An immature baby or kid? Really? His actions didn't back up that assenment, did it?

Now he had to go under the knife, pretty much as a kid to get these things fixed. Then he had to do that extensive, endless rehab, several different times. And.....he also had to find time to work on his game.

The actions of weakling, some immature baby? Of quitter? A fool?

To make things even tougher, you had Kobe. A guy who is not so easy to deal with in the best of times both on the court and off. Not going to get into the Kobe vs Drew who should lead thing, but we all understand that if Kobe were not here, Drew would be getting even more ball time on the court than he is now and back in the past. Then throw in Kobe's ridiculous, stupid rant to those guys with the vid camera about Drew, a young kid, his teamate, saying "ship his *ss out!"

Now given all this, Drew could easily have said, "Screw Kobe, screw this scene. I want traded."

It would have been the easy way out of a not great situation. But he didn't. He didn't say a word. Didn't ask out.

Think about what else Drew could have done through all these events. He could have become just a money grubber. Just this guy who never worked on his game, just went through the motions, standing there, collecting six or seven boards a game, scoring 8 or ten points, defending the basket some. And he would have gotten paid huge money to do it. Because at his size, the NBA pays you huge money just for that.

He could have been an Elden Campbell or Darius Miles, just another guy who was happy to be there, collect his fat check and not really care about anything else, let alone his game.

He could have taken that easy way to riches too. But he didn't. He worked through the injuries, he worked on his game and now you are seeing the results of this.

And when you think about all this: his age when he came to the league, fighting through the injuries, going through that Kobe crap, playing on that misdiagnosed, damaged knee because the team needed him, working on his game when he could have made a career without doing that, you realize something. This kid has a certain steel to him. He has a backbone. He is not some juvenile, lazy, immature kid with no work ethic or substance.

Many, many players would have given up or taken the easy road faced with what Drew was faced with.

He took the hard road in every single instance.

Has he done some stupid things? Sure he has. Is a kid feeling his oats? Yep. And that sometimes comes with mistakes. And he's made some.

But so many great players have. I could list them and their transgressions. Including Kobe for one who made more than his share of stupid mistakes, into his 30's.

It was ironic that the reporter mentioned how Drew blast his stereo. Hell I do that and Im a little bit older than Drew, lol.

You know what other Laker did that, much to the annoyance of the Cap, Kareem Abdul Jabbar? A 24 year old Magic Johnson.

Nobody is perfect. And Drew will make mistakes. You just hope and expect the mistake will decrease as he ages and matures. And why wouldn't we expect that to happen? It usually does to most adults.

Andrew Bynum may have the faults of a young, rich athlete, but anyone who thinks he is some child, some baby, some weak minded fool, better take a good long look at what and where he is at the age of 24 and what he had to overcome to get there.

Because anyone who underestimates him and the steel core that the smiling, young face hides so well, will end up like his opponents on the basketball court; getting a faceload of the real Bynum in ways they don't like or didn't expect.