Andrew Bynum
 | |
| No. 17 – Los Angeles Lakers | |
|---|---|
| Position | Center |
| League | NBA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | October 27, 1987 Plainsboro, New Jersey |
| Nationality | American |
| Listed height | 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) |
| Listed weight | 285 lb (129 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school | St. Joseph (New Jersey) |
| College | None |
| NBA draft | 2005: 10th overall |
| Selected by the Los Angeles Lakers | |
| Playing career | 2005–present |
| Stats at NBA.com | |
| Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |
Andrew Bynum (born October 27 1987 in Plainsboro, New Jersey) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nickname is "A-Train".[1]
High school career
Bynum originally attended West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North in Plainsboro[2], but then transferred to Solebury School in Solebury, Pennsylvania after his freshman year. He later attended St. Joseph High School, in Metuchen, New Jersey.[3] As a senior, he averaged 22 points, 16 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots per game.[1]
NBA career
Andrew Bynum was selected 10th overall in the 2005 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. After selecting him in the draft, the Lakers hired Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as a special assistant to work with the team's big men, especially Bynum. On November 2, 2005, during the Lakers' season opener against the Denver Nuggets, Bynum played six minutes and became the youngest player ever to play in an NBA game at 18 years and 6 days old.[1] During the game, he missed his two field goal attempts but had two rebounds and two blocked shots. This record will likely last for the foreseeable future, as the new collective bargaining agreement between NBA owners and the NBA Players Association requires players entering the draft to be at least one year removed from the graduation of their high school class and reach age 19 no later than December 31 of the calendar year of the draft. In the 2005-06 NBA season, he was the youngest player in the league.[4][1]
A memorable sequence of events took place in a game against the Miami Heat on January 16, 2006, beginning when Shaquille O'Neal dunked over Bynum, knocking the rookie to the floor. On the next play, Bynum got the ball in the low post, faked right, then spun left around O'Neal and dunked the ball. He celebrated as he ran down the court and pushed O'Neal, who retaliated by swinging an arm into Bynum's upper chest. Both players received technical fouls for the incident.[5]
With Lakers centers Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown injured at the start of the 2006-07 season, Bynum served as their starting center for the beginning of the season. He finished the season with averages of 7.8 points and 5.9 rebounds, in just over 21 minutes per game. He also averaged 1.6 blocks per game.[6] He has surprised many with how quickly his skills have developed. Bynum has already shown his improvement both on the offensive and defensive ends. Famous basketball instructional coach Pete Newell has also been impressed with Bynum's development, and recently stated that teammate Kobe Bryant should back off on his criticism towards Bynum. On December 25, 2007 in a game against the Suns, Bynum scored a career-high 28 points.[7]
As the Lakers looked to change the lineup (especially after a recent Kobe Bryant trade demand) many teams made offers for Bynum, including the New Jersey Nets and the Indiana Pacers. Mitch Kupchak, General Manager of the Lakers, put to rest rumors of the team trading Bynum by commenting, "We're not going to trade Andrew."[8] Recently, the Lakers exercised a fourth year contract option on him.[9]
On January 13, 2008, he suffered an injury during a game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Bynum attempted to grab a rebound and landed awkwardly on teammate Lamar Odom's left foot.[10] He has been sidelined with a partially dislocated kneecap. It was reported that he could have returned before the end of the 2007-08 season[11], but in the end, he did not. It was then expected that Bynum would be back by the first round of the playoffs,[12] but he never ended up making an appearance. On April 21, Lakers coach Phil Jackson said that he did not foresee Bynum to making serious contributions any time soon.[13] On May 18 the Lakers announced that he would undergo arthroscopic surgery 3 days later for "cleanup of some rough spots and fraying on the underside of Bynum's kneecap". A timetable for his return will be released after the procedure.[14]
Career highlights
- In his first career start against the Phoenix Suns on October 31 2006, Bynum played just under 24 minutes, scoring 18 points and grabbing 9 rebounds. He made 7 of his 11 shots for an FG% over 60%.
- Posted a career high of 28 points against the Phoenix Suns on December 25, 2007,[15] scoring 12 points in the first quarter.[16] He made 11 of 13 shots.[16]
- Posted a career-high 16 rebounds against the Charlotte Bobcats on January 26, 2007,[17] and bettered that with a career-high 17 rebounds against the Milwaukee Bucks on January 11 2008.[18]
NBA statistics
| Regular season | Playoffs | ||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | FT% | SPG | BPG | RPG | APG | PPG | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | FT% | SPG | BPG | RPG | APG | PPG | ||
| 2005-06 | L.A. Lakers | 46 | 0 | 7.3 | 0.402 | 0.296 | 0.1 | 0.5 | 1.7 | 0.2 | 1.6 | 1 | 0 | 2.0 | 0.000 | 0.000 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | .000 | ||
| 2006-07 | L.A. Lakers | 82 | 53 | 21.9 | 0.558 | 0.668 | 0.0 | 1.6 | 5.9 | 1.1 | 7.8 | 5 | 0 | 11.0 | 0.533 | 0.400 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 4.6 | 0.0 | .533 | ||
| 2007-08 | L.A. Lakers | 35 | 25 | 28.8 | 0.636 | 0.695 | 0.3 | 2.1 | 10.2 | 1.7 | 13.1 | ||||||||||||
Notes
- ^ a b c d Andrew Bynum Bio from nba.com/lakers
- ^ Daly, Pete. "Bye-Bynum", Trentonian, June 29 2005. Accessed November 11 2007.
- ^ Spears, Mark J. "Bynum worth seeking out", born September 31 1991 The Denver Post, April 7 2007. Accessed May 31, 2007.
- ^ 2006-07 NBA Player Survey Results: Age
- ^ ESPN - Miami vs. Los Angeles Recap, January 16, 2006
- ^ Andrew Bynum - Los Angeles Lakers - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
- ^ http://www.latimes.com/sports/basketball/nba/lakers/la-sp-lakerep7oct07,1,290107.story?coll=la-headlines-sports-nba-lakers
- ^ Guarded talk from LA teams, June 28, 2006
- ^ LAKERS: Lakers Exercise Options on Bynum and Farmar
- ^ Lakers have enough after losing Bynum to win 6th straight
- ^ Report: Bynum could return before regular season ends
- ^ Bynum likely to return during first round of playoffs
- ^ Lakers coach says Bynum not close to contributing to team
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3402124 Bynum to have arthroscopic surgery on injured left knee
- ^ Lakers spoil reunion of Sixers' title team behind Bryant, Bynum. December 21, 2007
- ^ a b Bynum, Bryant help win a makeup game, by Mike Bresnahan, December 22, 2007
- ^ Odom (12 points, 7 boards) returns from knee injury for Lakers
- ^ Bryant, Bynum unstoppable as Lakers secure fifth straight win