Lakers rookie center leaves butterflies behind against his idol

Lakers rookie center leaves butterflies behind against his idol

Web Posted: 11/30/2005 12:14 AM CST

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/stories/MYSA113005.8C.BKNspurs.lakers.bynum.e0dc276.html

Mike Monroe
Express-News Staff Writer

Thirty-three days beyond his 18th birthday and three minutes into the
second quarter of Tuesday's Spurs-Los Angeles game, Lakers rookie center
Andrew Bynum realized he was about to match up against his boyhood idol.

"I was a little nervous when I first got out there," Bynum admitted after
the Spurs had blunted a late Lakers' rally for a 90-84 victory, "because
he's my favorite player."

There was no need to ask which of the Spurs the Lakers' rookie had
idolized since he was old enough to operate the remote control.

"Tim Duncan," Bynum said, "is so fundamentally sound. He does everything
correctly. If I pattern my game after him and do everything right I'll be
all right."

Duncan, who discovered that an 18-year-old who is 7-feet tall and 275
pounds can make life difficult in the lane, even if he is the youngest
player ever to suit up in an NBA game, wasn't sure how to take such
flattery.

"That's bad," Duncan said. "That means I'm getting old."

Bynum, the 10th pick in the first round of the 2005 draft, is so
unaccustomed to life in the NBA that he forgot to take out his protective
mouthpiece after the game. It wasn't until he began answering reporters'
questions that he realized it was still in place on his upper gum.

"Sorry about that," he told the reporters after realizing his first
utterance had been unintelligible and reached up to remove the mouthpiece.

Bynum didn't have to apologize for his play against Duncan and the rest of
the Spurs' big men. In his 21 minutes he grabbed six rebounds, scored six
points and blocked two shots, including one of Duncan's. He also
back-rimmed a dunk attempt against Duncan, a fact he said precluded him
from phoning home, to Plainsboro, N.J., to crow a bit about his
performance against the two-time MVP.

"If I hadn't missed that dunk," he said, "well, yeah, I would have (phoned
home)."

Missed dunk notwithstanding, Bynum was reasonably happy with his play
against Duncan.

"I think I did all right," he said. "I had to guard him a couple of times
and he didn't score, so that's all right."

Duncan agreed.

"Good young player," Duncan said. "He's got a big body and it looks like
he's got great coordination. He moves his feet really well and made a
couple of good moves in there. He's got a lot of promise."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson hasn't made a habit of giving significant
playing time to rookies during his coaching career, but with this season's
Lakers he has had little choice but to give Bynum a good run. And after
Tuesday's performance, he has concluded Bynum needs to continue to get
meaningful playing time.

"That's what Andrew can do," Jackson said. "He can play the game in a way
that changes opponents' shots and he does things effectively out there
that are important. He's a rebounder, and Lamar (Odom) found him for a
couple of easy baskets. Those things are good. Right now he's playing at a
level where he has to play some minutes for us to be an effective team."

His ability to survive against his boyhood idol did nothing but bolster
Bynum's confidence.

"I'm settling in, getting a little more confident as the game goes on,"
Bynum said. "The more my confidence grows, the bigger minutes I may be
able to get. I believe I can do a little bit more as soon as I get the
offense totally understood and know exactly what to do."
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