The Lakers’ young prize of the draft and primary hope for the future, Andrew Bynum is all potential as of now, but has a lot of things going for him after showing some great flashes during his rookie season.

 

Physically, Bynum possesses all the characteristics necessary for most big men. Bynum is listed at 7’0” but is still growing and could probably be 7’2” by the time of his peak. Bynum also possesses a huge wingspan and some reaction time that enables him to block shots at a decent clip off the weakside. He is also more athletic than the average big man, but what is most impressive about Bynum, with regards to other bigs, is his mobility and overall quickness. Despite being listed around 275 lbs., Bynum is able to move well and that definitely helps him both offensively and defensively, in being able to surprise his opponents to score or defend. Bynum can run the floor well with his quickness.

 

Offensively, Bynum shows some huge flashes of an offensive game, and is being tutored by one of the NBA’s best big men in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Bynum is currently trying to learn the sky-hook and is a pupil willing to learn a lot on the offensive end. Bynum can back his man down solidly to unleash a hook shot or even a drop-step at times to lose his man and go for the layup or dunk. Bynum’s best moment this season was when he utilized a drop-step on former Laker Shaquille O’Neal, lost him, and went to dunk (as seen in the picture above). It is moments like this where the potential of Bynum, in this case offensively, really shows. Bynum only scored in double digits in one game this season, but in that game was where he really showed true offensive flashes throughout the minutes he played. In 12 minutes, Bynum made dunks, utilized a solid post game, made hook shots and showed good general touch around the basket in tune for 16 points.

 

Bynum is an eager offensive rebounder and with his physical attributes such as wingspan, mobility and athleticism, that really helps him in this end. Bynum is capable of scoring off missed buckets for second chance points as well.

On defense, primarily during early in the season, Bynum showed himself to be a capable shotblocker on the weakside. Bynum rotates extremely well especially when the opposition looks to drive to the basket, and he can even rotate out to the mid-range area at times if need be. Bynum has had notable blocks on established players such as Shane Battier and Tony Parker. Bynum’s long arms and athleticism definitely help in this area as well.

 

You can easily tell that Bynum loves playing the game and loves to learn and improve at the same time. Sometimes he wears a smile in his face on the court and when he did his move on Shaq, he started jumping down the court and even gave Shaq a playful shove (which he didn’t take lightly). He has a great work ethic, whether training with Kareem or improving his overall game, and an affable personality. He has already made it his goal to average 15-20 minutes next year with the Lakers. The fact that Bynum lost around 40 lbs. from his high school days to become even more mobile attests to his work ethic as well.

 

Bynum didn’t get to play much at all this season, only averaging 7.3 minutes per game in 46 games, and thus didn’t have many opportunities. However, taking the season altogether, he showed flashes of great potential and should definitely improve next season as he gets more experience and more minutes.

 

Bynum’s age (18) makes him all the more intriguing considering that he is the youngest player ever to join the league (and that won’t change for a while with the prohibition of high schoolers from entering the draft) and is still the youngest after the 2006 draft class. His age combined with his great physical attributes and his willingness to learn make him have a world of potential, perhaps even superstar-type potential if he puts his mind to it.

 

Weaknesses:

 

Bynum is still raw at every sense of the word, both offensively and defensively. Although he made favorable impressions in his rookie year, he still needs some time to develop in a more polished player.

 

Bynum showed little touch in terms of his jumper during his rookie year. Bynum’s jumpers, contested or not, tend to miss, sometimes even badly. At this point, Bynum hasn’t really gauged the right amount of distance he needs to put the ball to the basket, and as a result he sometimes shoots the ball too long and perhaps even off the side of the rim at times. Bynum doesn’t really handle traffic too well at this point, although this is acceptable given the fact that he’s never really played with players his size until this season, and this will probably improve in time. Currently, in traffic, Bynum tends to miss shots badly, although this could be a product of his touch as well. Bynum simply lacks offensive polish and doesn’t look to maximize his field goal percentages, and as a result shot 40% from the field this season. However, a lot of variables contribute to this, such as his forced shots, garbage time, decision-making, etc., and this percentage should definitely improve.

 

Bynum only shot 29% from the line this year, showing the aforementioned lack of jumpshooting touch. That definitely needs to improve in the coming years.

 

Again, there are a lot of variables contributing to this, primarily garbage time, but Bynum doesn’t seem to pass the ball much after he receives it, whether off offensive rebounds or after someone passes it to him. It remains to be seen whether he can pass out of double teams considering he doesn’t handle traffic well at this point.

 

In terms of his frame, Bynum isn’t too strong even in his new frame, and can be backed down in the post by NBA-type centers. He is not particularly adept at post defense and one-on-one situations as of now, and can be prone to being overpowered, letting his man score over him, or picking up fouls at those situations. Bynum can be a bit overeager to block shots a bit too much at times.

 

A lot of what Bynum does is currently in the “raw” stage right now, a reason why Laker coach Phil Jackson rarely gives rookies playing time. Bynum’s inexperience and youth tend to show on the court a bit too much time at times; he does not box out for rebounds, tends to use his natural physical tools a bit too much at times, and shows questionable decision-making in the triangle offense, looking to take bad shots over the pass. However, coming out from high school and being at such a young age, and rarely getting any on-court experience, all are acceptable at this stage and with his learning curve, he could probably overcome most of his weaknesses in due time.