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| Andrew Bynum of the Los Angeles Lakers. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Longtime Newark Star-Ledger columnist and possible Greatest Sportswriter Ever Dave D’Allesandro is always quick to trump up the merits of his Jersey Guys. The NBA is full of them, both in the playing and coaching ranks, and Andrew Bynum is still technically one of those Jersey Guys – even if he won’t play a single minute in a Philadelphia 76ers jersey during 2012-13.
Critics of Andrew Bynum aren’t hard to find. I rail against the guy constantly for his dangerous and stupid habits behind the wheel (driving on the wrong side of the road in order to illegally pass people, parking in handicapped spots while healthy), and others have gone after him for his iffy rehabilitation efforts or needless flagrant fouls. Dave D, in his latest column, dug a little deeper than that – talking to Bynum’s former high school coach and the athletics director of St. Joseph of Metuchen in order to draw up a little more dirt on a player who chooses not to be associated with his alma mater.
We’re all allowed the right to turn our back on whatever institution we choose – I live in the same town as the high school I graduated from and I’m not exactly pumping the red and black pom-poms of my Jefferson High School Bronchos. Andrew Bynum is a busy 25-year old professional that spent all but one of his seven NBA seasons playing out of Los Angeles, kinda far from Joisey, and his seventh season has been mostly confined to the Philadelphia 76ers’ rehabilitation center.
With that in place, how far do we have to go to find one person with anything nice to say about this guy?
We’ve spent all year piling on Andrew, and are hesitant to add to the chorus that Dave D describes as referring to Bynum as “a feckless clod victimized by his own negligence,” but this is also the gentleman that decided to take his skinned-up knees bowling last fall, possibly ending his season in the process.
Working at an NBA level with a lacking amount of cartilage in your knees is an incredibly painful situation, especially for someone Bynum’s height and weight. Still, it nearly goes without saying that he’s going to have to come through with an awfully impressive 2013-14 season (with whatever team signs him this summer) for us to re-think our perception that Andrew Bynum only maybe kinda sorta likes the game of basketball.
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/andrew-bynum-former-high-school-administrators-coaches-don-204123676--nba.html
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