Quizno’s with Andrew Bynum

Posted on LakersGround.net on 1/09/07.

I didn't find this posted, but here is a Slam blog entry on Lang Whitaker having lunch with Bynum at Quizno's. There is one neat picture that makes Bynum look like a really young kid.

For more fun, a Celtics blogger is really upset that Bynum would get some print in a major magazine while Al Jefferson hasn't. The blogger, who doesn't seem like the sharpest knife in the drawer, doesn't like LA:

First, LA is full of stupid, rich people who pretend to care about things but can’t muster up the energy to follow a very good basketball team because they’re too busy blowing their money on coke and tutes.

And he doesn't think much of Bynum:

Second, the LA Lakers are doing a much better job of building young players than the Celtics are, so much so that a player who is inferior both talent and athletic wise is being touted as the next big thing. Andrew Bynum is good, but he is not Al Jefferson.

Bynum gets minutes in important games without ever having proved himself in a game situation. It is clear to the Lakers that since they spent their 11th overall pick on him, that maybe they should play him sometimes over one monumental suckfest of a player in Kwame Brown. You are probably thinking to yourselves, well it shouldn’t be hard to put someone else in instead of Kwame Brown, but the Celtics did not play Big Al over Raef or Mark Blount.

And then he riffs on how the Lakers are doing a better job of developing their young players than the Celtics:

Potential is enough for the LA Lakers front office to justify playing time, while it means nothing in the Celtics organization. The Lakers have given confidence to a player who has earned very little of it, while the Celtics are just recently realizing that Big Al is the man, and partially because the team has had many injuries and was forced to play him more. I’m glad to see the Celtics are playing the young guys, regardless of the reasons, but they are still terrible at consistent minutes to young players who are awesome. Sasha Vujacic, Luke Walton and Smush parker look like frickin all stars, because they are getting the opportunity to play and gain experience. If Gerald Green and Big Al were on the Lakers, you don’t think they would be getting minutes every night over those guys? Phil Jackson would play those guys all the time and they would already be dominating the league.

One other major thing that the Lakers have been able to do is to keep great franchise players within the organization. Magic is always around and Kareem is working with Bynum on a daily basis. Bynum gets to work with the leading scorer in NBA history every day and Jefferson works with…? Well it’s not McHale and it’s not Walton and the last time the Chief was seen was in a Chicago alleyway yelling at trash cans because they were trying to steal his cocaine.