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So excited to finally see the front line of Turner, Allen, and Bynum on another team a year later. :chuckles:
While his new teammates spread out across the country or found warm islands over All-Star break, Andrew Bynum stayed in Indianapolis and worked out with the Pacers' training staff every day.
He lifted weights and worked in the exercise pool for two to three hours each day, trying to get his ailing knees back into shape.
“It's hard work,” said Bynum, a man of as few words as will suffice. “Just do it and get your body in shape.”
Bynum took part in his first practice on Monday, but not in the parts that included contact. He shot, ran through dummy offense and participated in drills. Then he went home or hung around downtown.
“Indy's been pretty cool so far,” he said. “I live right downtown, so there's a lot of options.”
Bynum, who signed with the Pacers on Feb. 1, had been watching games from the bench in street clothes and working out on his own until Monday. Now that he's been here a couple of weeks, he's starting to feel like part of the team.
“The coach is good here,” he said. “It's kind of easy to fit in. Just show up, work hard and do your job. I like that. No shenanigans. Everybody seems to like each other. I fit in here. They play through the bigs already, so I'm just waiting for the opportunity to play.”
Don't expect to see him in a game uniform anytime soon, though. Vogel said Bynum will have to practice a few weeks before he's allowed to play, and that clock starts ticking when he can have live contact.
“We're not close to seeing him in uniform,” Vogel said. “I'm week to week with it.”
He sits on a padded chair after practice with his new team, both legs stretched out before him. Even this state of rest makes Andrew Bynum’s knees ache.
He describes the sensation as how he imagines arthritis feels. He feels older than he is and the gray coils, that he refuses to dye black, popping up in his afro are not helping him look like a 26-year-old NBA center who should be entering his prime years.
Though his many knee surgeries and procedures did not scare off the Indiana Pacers from signing Bynum in February – team president of basketball operations Larry Bird phoned Bynum’s agent the day the center became available – the damage is permanent. Not long ago, the thought of retirement crossed his mind.
He did not work well under coach Mike Brown’s detail-oriented structure. “It’s kinda like, if I send you to the grocery store and I give you three choices for peanut butter, you’ll probably pick one easily. But if I give you 25 choices, you might stand there for half an hour. Having it be too detailed may not always be the right thing,” Bynum says.
Also, Bynum raged against the shoot-first guards. During a practice, Bynum said that he launched a shot from midcourt, clearly out of the rhythm of the offensive play. Another day during a scrimmage, he did not like a call from assistant coach Phil Handy and mocked him as “a horrible referee.”
“Those are the two things I did,” Bynum says. “I did them on purpose because it was over there for me.”
Well, Bynum commented on his last few days in Cleveland.
What does the peanut butter analogy even mean? What options was he being given that there were too many of?
Excerpt from the Indianapolis Star, March 1:
Then in Cleveland, the reputation grew after Bynum was suspended in December before being traded to the Chicago Bulls.
"The situation there just wasn't very good for me," he says.
<aside itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" class="single-photo float" style="margin: 5px 20px 20px 60px; float: left; width: 180px;">Indianapolis Pacers center Andrew Bynum(Photo: Matt Kryger / The Star)
</aside>
As with most honeymoons, the Bynum era in Cleveland seemed destined for a happy ending at the start. He signed during the summer and mostly stayed around the city to work with the team's training staff. The hope was that the young mix of talent – point guard Kyrie Irving and No. 1 draft pick Anthony Bennett – along with the veterans could form a playoff-bound team in the feeble Eastern Conference. But after only a few weeks, as the losses piled up, Bynum grew frustrated.
He did not work well under coach Mike Brown's detail-oriented structure. "It's kinda like, if I send you to the grocery store and I give you three choices for peanut butter, you'll probably pick one easily. But if I give you 25 choices, you might stand there for half an hour. Having it be too detailed may not always be the right thing," Bynum says.
Also, Bynum raged against the shoot-first guards. During a practice, Bynum said that he launched a shot from midcourt, clearly out of the rhythm of the offensive play. Another day during a scrimmage, he did not like a call from assistant coach Phil Handy and mocked him as "a horrible referee."
"Those are the two things I did," Bynum says. "I did them on purpose because it was over there for me."
The Cavaliers declined comment.
After Cleveland shipped Bynum away, Lakers center Pau Gasol reached out. Although they did not connect, Gasol understood where his former teammate might have turned south.
"With his years with the Lakers, every player was well under control because of the group and the coaching staff. The coaching staff you had to respect and that's something that not every coach demands or brings to the table," Gasol says. "So, I think it was easier to do when Phil Jackson and his staff was around."
Then, when asked if Brown had provided that same culture for Bynum when he coached in Los Angeles, Gasol responded: "Nah. Not the same."
I assume he was talking about the defensive and offensive rotations and that kind of stuff. MB was giving too many options on defense and it was just a mess.What does the peanut butter analogy even mean? What options was he being given that there were too many of?
“Are you kidding me?” Bryant says in the video. He goes on to say, with a number of profanities mixed in, that the Lakers should “ship out” Bynum.
“We’re talking about Jason Kidd,” Bryant says. He also speaks in a derisive tone about General Manager Mitch Kupchak before the video abruptly ends.
What does the peanut butter analogy even mean? What options was he being given that there were too many of?
What does the peanut butter analogy even mean? What options was he being given that there were too many of?