At one point everyone in the NBA agreed that Dwight Howard was the best center in the league. There was no debate that Howard was the number one big man and no one came close to challenging the Magic center. However, Los Angeles Lakers’ center Andrew Bynum has put in the work and he has emerged as serious competition for Howard.
Bynum has even won over the support of those who once believed Howard was the best the NBA had to offer. One of Bynum’s many followers is Lakers legend James Worthy, who said he would take the Lakers’ center over the one in Orlando, Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times reports.
“I like Andrew Bynum,” Worthy said. “He’s young and just as good as Dwight right now. He’s getting better. Dwight … to me, he’s too much gab and too much talking. I’m old school. I want to see something done on the floor. He does all this media stuff, flip-flopping. You don’t get respect from veteran players when you do that kind of stuff. They just want you to play. They want to see what you can do out there.”
Bynum is now 24 years-old and Howard is two years older at 26. Last season, Howard averaged 20.6 points 14.5 rebounds, whereas Bynum put up 18.7 points and 11.8 rebounds. However, Howard is the focal point of the Magic’s offense and Bynum takes a back seat to Kobe Bryant.
There is a good chance that the current Lakers’ center exceeds his opponents numbers if Howard moves to Los Angeles and Bynum goes to Cleveland. With the Cavaliers, Bynum would surely get more touches in the paint and rack up points and rebounds.
