Throughout his entire NBA career with the Los Angeles Lakers, All-Star center Andrew Bynum has been dealing with injury problems and maturity issues. Fortunately, the injury problems with his knees have subsided this season and haven’t been a huge concern with Bynum getting on the floor and playing on a high level every night for the Lakers. Despite the lack of injury concerns, Bynum is starting to rub some people the wrong way in Los Angeles with his erratic behavior on and off the court.
It is no secret that Lakers head coach Mike Brown was furious about the recent ill-advised three-pointer that Andrew Bynum jacked up in transition against the Golden State Warriors. As a result of the bonehead play by the 24-year-old, Brown immediately decided to pull him to teach the young kid a lesson.
Reportedly, the three-point attempt against the Warriors wasn’t the first thing to set off Mike Brown and his coaching staff as the up-and-coming center has been a problem for quite some time according to Elliot Teaford of DailyBreeze.com:
Bynum’s shot was the latest in a catalogue of items that have annoyed Brown, his staff, the players and team management over the past few weeks. Brown had seen enough and decided to sit the 7-footer for all but 5minutes, 17 seconds of the second half.
The 24-year-old Bynum has played loud music in the Lakers’ locker room, which has been frowned upon over the years. He also has been disrespectful to members of the coaching staff and to his teammates for about the past three weeks.
Obviously, at 24-years-old there are going to be maturity problems and head-butting with authority figures. That’s just the way it is growing up and trying to figure out things. Bynum on the other hand is in a different situation being a multi-millionaire and a rising star in the NBA. There is no excuse for his behavior and attitude, but it will take some time to get a kid in line when he has been told he is the greatest thing since sliced bread his entire life.
It remains to be seen whether or not Andrew Bynum can become a the kind of player that the Los Angeles Lakers organization has been hoping for, but in the meantime it looks like a rough road ahead for those trying to mold this kid into the future of the franchise.
