So much for Carmelo, eh?
Something tells me that any Lakers fans who were pining for the ‘Melo express are now officially back on the Bynum bandwagon. And why not? Bynum may not be scoring points in bunches but he certainly deserves headlines.
The Lakers young center is averaging 11.5 boards and 3 blocks per game since the All-Star break but those numbers hardly begin to state the effect he’s having on the games. Midway through the Lakers blowout of the Spurs on Sunday ABC’s Jeff Van Gundy gushed that Bynum was dominating the game with his size and strength, despite the fact that he finished with only 4 points. And the thing is, JVG’s assessment was hardly an exaggeration.
The truth is Drew’s real impact comes in areas that are harder to measure. The quickness on his rotations, the second and third and fourth efforts on the glass. His contests of interior drives that result in altered shots but don’t get recorded as blocks.
Bynum has stopped just getting rebounds and is now finally becoming a rebounder. It’s a transformation, a metamorphisis if you will. From a Yao Ming to a Moses Malone. From a player who stands around and has missed shots fall to him to one who constantly pursues the basketball with max effort every time and eats up boards like they were Halloween candy on November 1st. In short, a beast.
So what’s gotten into Drew? Is it his health? Are the knees, and his confidence in them, finally back at 100%? Or is it something else, perhaps something not in his physical state but in his mental approach?
For the answer, I’m going to look to an unlikely source. And thy name is Bill Simmons.
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