It seems a though a lot of people are jumping on the Andrew Bynum bandwagon. It’s easy to do when he’s putting up double-doubles, showing a vast array of post moves, and grabbing 30 rebounds in a game, but these same people questioned whether or not he had what it takes to be a Laker a few weeks ago when he and Mike Brown weren’t getting along.
Bynum has captivating talent that has been overshadowed by injuries in his young career. The fact that he is enjoying his best season in the NBA (18.8 points, and 12.2 rebounds a game) does not make him the best center in basketball.
Dwight Howard has been distracted by trade talks all season as well as where he will be playing in the future. He is still enjoying a good season at 20.6 points and 14.5 rebounds per game. To be fair to Bynum’s numbers would be even higher if he wasn’t on the same team as Kobe Bryant who isn’t always willing to distribute the ball.
Howard is currently nursing a back injury that could keep him out for the remainder of the season. Bryant is also injured, which means Bynum has been able to shine the last few games. A healthy and motivated Howard is still only 26 years old and on the rise of his career. Bynum is 24 and having his best season, which is still not up to the level of Howard’s “down year” he’s having.
Sometimes it gets forgotten that Howard is only two years older than Bynum because he’s been successful in the NBA for so much longer. Howard might lack some of the post
moves Bynum possess, but what he lacks there he more than makes up for it with his rebounding and shear power. I’m not even sure it’s fair to say that Bynum has a higher ceiling because his last couple performances are probably the best he can do.
With all that being said the argument doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. Both Bynum and Howard are young stars that can alter any game. With a new team and coach around him Howard could win a championship. The question that needs to be debated won’t be able to be answered until a few years from now, and that’s which one ended up as the better player throughout there whole careers.
You proved my point by saying Bynum’s breakout year merely resembles Howard’s career statistics. Bynum hasn’t played in more than 65 games in a season, which makes him far less valuable in a trade situation than Howard.
Bynum has a far more advanced offensive game than Howard will ever have, he can shoot free throws, he’s physically bigger than Howard and absent injuries and of course, playing on the same team with Kobe and Gasol, his numbers would be at least as good as Howard’s. Before they acquired Gasol in 2008, when Bynum was 20 he was putting up great numbers, including a 42 point, 15 board game. And he’s playing in the West, not the East. I also recall Gasol embarrassing the extremely flawed Howard in the finals in 2009. A straight up trade would be a mistake by the Lakers. Oh, and Howard’s career numbers are virtually identical to Bynum’s numbers for this year. Howard has already started the downward trend (his best year was 2 years ago) while Bynum has nowhere to go but up. As for the argument that Howard has been unsettled this year, again his numbers are virtually identical to his 4 previous seasons. He’s basically a taller Blake Griffin without the occasional 15 foot range on his jump shot.