Andrew Bynum Benefited from Kobe Bryant's Mentoring

Partial list of players who had career-best seasons as Kobe Bryant's teammate

For several years, many media members tried to manufacture some kind of alleged conflict between Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum. While there is no doubt that Bryant became exasperated at times by Bynum's immaturity and inconsistent effort, Bryant clearly was a much better mentor to Bynum than Shaquille O'Neal was to Bryant when O'Neal was the top player in the league and Bryant was a young, emerging star. Early in the 2007-08 season--the season which concluded with the first of the Lakers' three straight NBA Finals appearances in the post-O'Neal era-- I asked Bryant about his approach toward mentoring Bynum: O'Neal never wanted a mentor/student relationship with Bryant; O'Neal always viewed Bryant as a rival and treated him as such, even though they were teammates and even though their team needed each player to perform at a high level in order to be successful. Bryant has taken a different and much healthier view about mentor/student relationships ever since he became old enough to assume the role that O'Neal failed to fill for Bryant when Bryant was young. Bryant embraced the opportunity to serve as a mentor during Andrew Bynum's seven year career with the L.A. Lakers and Bryant--through both words and deeds--set an example for Bynum about what it means not just to be a professional but to be a professional at the elite level. Bynum has not yet completely matured either as a person or as a player but Bryant indisputably played a major role in the strides that Bynum has already made.O'Neal publicly feuded with Bryant and rarely missed an opportunity to criticize Bryant for both real and imagined shortcomings. In contrast, Bryant has privately critiqued Bynum but publicly supported him, even when Bynum fell short of reasonable performance expectations. After the Lakers' 99-84 game three loss to Denver in the first round of the 2012 playoffs, Bynum candidly admitted, "I wasn't ready to play. That's really it. I just wasn't really ready." Bynum failed to score in the first half as the Lakers fell behind 55-39, so the truth of his statement is self evident but Bryant refused to publicly bash his teammate: "That's not what cost us the ballgame," Bryant said when asked about Bynum's lackadaisical effort. Bryant knew that the media would blast Bynum--and rightly so--and Bryant understood that no good would result from him adding his voice to that chorus of criticism.Although Bynum has made significant strides, his development is clearly still a work in progress; he does not play hard on a consistent basis, he frequently says and does boneheaded things (on and off the court) and he complains about his touches even though he frequently does not battle for good low post position and even though he is far too often befuddled by double teams. Prior to game five of the Denver series, Bynum boasted that closeout games are "kind of easy" and then he proceeded to sleepwalk through most of that contest as Javale McGee--who spent most of the season "starring" in Shaquille O'Neal's "Shaqtin the Fool" segments on TNT--outplayed him at both ends of the court. The Lakers trailed by as many as 15 points before a late Bryant-fueled rally almost stole the game but Bryant--who finished with 43 points in the 102-99 loss--put things in proper perspective: "I wouldn't say the energy kicked in in the fourth quarter. I almost bailed us out, is what happened. That's something you can't rely on if you're going to win a championship."Bryant gets it; he understands what kind of preparation it takes to perform like a champion and he understands the delicate balance between inspiring a teammate to work on his game and beating a teammate down through relentless verbal sniping that destroys camaraderie instead of creating it. Will Bynum use the lessons he learned from Bryant in L.A. to become a veteran leader for the Philadelphia 76ers and a legit number one option on a contending team? That remains to be seen but Bryant provided a nice blueprint for Bynum if Bynum is smart enough and mature enough to use it.There is an impressive list of players--ranging from the sublime (future Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal) to the ridiculous (legend in his own mind Smush Parker) who played for at least two teams and had the best season of their careers while playing alongside Bryant. Bynum emerged as an All-Star last season and had the best season of his career in part because of Bryant's patient tutelage; it will be interesting to see if Bynum continues the growth process that Bryant helped to start.***************Shaquille O'Neal (2000 regular season MVP)Pau Gasol (2011 All-NBA Second Team)Lamar Odom (2011 Sixth Man of the Year)Sasha Vujacic (Career-high FG%, eighth in NBA in 3FG% in 2008)Chris Mihm (Career-high RPG, FG% in 2005)Brian Cook (Career-highs in PPG, RPG, FG% in 2006)Chucky Atkins (Career-highs in PPG, RPG in 2005)Slava Medvedenko (Career-highs in PPG, RPG in 2004)Kwame Brown (Career-highs in BPG and FG%, second best PPG average in 2007)Smush Parker (Career-highs in PPG, RPG, APG, SPG, FG% in 2006)

Labels: Andrew Bynum, Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal

posted by David Friedman @ 1:28 PM