Let's See What We've Got

It’s time to stop protecting Andrew Bynum- let’s throw him into the fire and see what we’ve got. By now everyone knows that last season the Lakers’ belief in Bymun’s potential as a franchise center led them to pass up the opportunity to acquire Jason Kidd, drawing the ire of Kobe Bryant and contributing, at least in part, to his desire to leave the Lakers. The Lakers’ front office made an executive decision and now the team has to live with it- but let’s start living with it already! Bynum is entering his third year, he’s visibly bigger and stronger than last year, he showed some flashes of his potential last season and had a very impressive preseason this year (He wasn’t terrible in his 19 minutes on Tuesday night either- just 4 points, but 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and NO turnovers). What more are we waiting for? Name Andrew Bynum the starting center, start giving him some serious minutes and let’s see what the kid can do. Not that it was a conscious decision at the time, but dynamic duo of Mitch Kupchak and Jim Buss indirectly chose Andrew Bynum over Kobe Bryant last season. Time to start living with that decision.

Note: Apparently Bynum was late in arriving at the arena on Tuesday night, understandably leading Phil Jackson to bench him for a good portion of the game as punishment. However, let’s hope we’re not in for a season’s worth of 19-minute outings for Andrew Bynum.