Friday, October 2nd, 2009 at 12:45 pm  |  90 responses

Andrew Bynum is Dropping Kareem

by Marcel Mutoni

Andrew Bynum no longer needs Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s tutelage. Well, he thinks he doesn’t, anyway.

The young fella — who has been billed as the key to the Lakers’ future since the day he arrived in SoCal — thinks he’s gotten all that he can from the greatest scorer in NBA history. In fact, the two didn’t even speak this past summer.

As one might expect, Kareem isn’t exactly thrilled with the new relationship (or lack thereof.)

The Daily News reports:

Sources close to the team said that Abdul-Jabbar will be playing a lesser role with both the Lakers and Bynum this season. With his round-the-clock tutoring of Bynum not needed as much, sources said Abdul-Jabbar would likely spend less time with the team and more time back in his hometown of New York City. All of which seems to be a considerable letdown for the former Lakers captain, who has worked closely with Bynum since the Lakers drafted him out of high school in 2005.

Abdul-Jabbar expressed disappointment in Bynum and the situation, saying that “I think there are things that have to do with basketball that he could learn but he’s getting on in years.” Bynum said he understood his mentor’s feelings, but that it’s not personal and just a natural evolution for him in his career.

Man, I’m telling you. Kids these days …

Bynum says one of his goals this season is to make the All-Star team. Not sure how familiar Young Andrew is with NBA history, but Kareem might have some useful advice about how to make it to the mid-season classic. Cap only went there, oh, 19 times.

It remains to be seen if Bynum can figure things out on his own.

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  • LeoneL

    So you think you got it all figured out Andrew?

  • Babygab

    Today’s youngsters !SMH !

  • http://www.slamonline.com Klav

    With this kind of arrogance, the mixture of Lamar’s possible meltdown with a Kardashian and Drew thinking he’s beyond the arguably best offensive big man ever, is quite honestly beyond me. He could learn so much, and he thinks he’s better than that? Expect PJ to bench his ass a whole lot more, he thinks he’s going to have a coming out party and will want all the shine this season. Greeeeeeeat…so much for team chemistry.

  • la huey

    If you dump a Hall of Fame center as mentor, I expect nothing less than an All-Star berth and All-NBA/Defensive honors.

  • http://slamonline.com/ niQ

    In other news, Kareem decides to mentor Dwight Howard as payback..

  • Phil B

    dude, you better be an mvp candidate already if you think it’s a good idea to stop working with kareem… and even then you must not really want to be the mvp.

  • UnRel

    maybe it ain’t arrogance.. at some point.. with all of us.. we tend to tune out our teacher/parents/boss/etc.. hopefully he learned what he needed and can put it all together.. if he went to school for 4 years.. this would be his rookie year.. around the time where most basketball players discover their hoop identity.. let’s all shut up and see what goes down (hopefully it ain’t drew with another injury)..

  • J-City

    Well Niq, Howard already has championship-less Ewing as a mentor. Maybe he’s considering a change (possibly to add the sky-hook to his game).

  • jd

    bynum sucks hes such a scrub, any other team and hed struggle to make starters. lakers have just invested so much in him they cant drop him now. stupid

  • http://shawn-kemps-offspring.blogspot.com Cheryl

    There’s more to this than it seems. If Phil wanted to keep Jabbar around, he would. Kareem wasn’t an employee of Bynum, but the Lakers. I do think there’ll be a lot of “unrest” with this team. Repeating is always hard, and egos can get in the way of team goals. This is going to be one fascinating season.

  • Captain Jean Luc-Picard

    Bynum has shown, based on his career to date, how successful he is. Why would he need advice? (sc)

  • http://realcavsfans.com Anton

    Kareem shows up the next day with a Playmate on his shoulders: “How about now?”

  • Joseph

    Andrew Bynum must’ve let that championship ring get to his head.

  • deo_in_the_bay

    the guy sucks!!! cant even rebound or defend the boards,dummy……………………

  • Hussman25

    His knee will let him down again this season…. So he deserves everything that occurs to him and his knees…. Total arrogance! How you gonna turn down listening to one of the greatest big’s of all time! Kareem go back to NYC and help St. John’s! THEY CAN USE YOU!

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ryan Jones

    This is actually pretty smart of Andy. From ’07-08 to last season, he upped his ppg from 13.1 to 14.3. At the same point in his career, Kareem’s average actually plummeted by 4.6 points per. Andy wants to improve, and Kareem’s track record tells us he’s not the guy to help him do it.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ryan Jones

    Seriously. You can look it up.

  • price

    Not an All STAR. But there will be a vacant center position available come February.

    Good year to have the goal to make All Star when Yao’s out.

  • Bruno

    I’m a laker fan but bynum sucks

  • http://slamonline.com/ niQ

    J-City. I was just joking. And what’s wrong with having another mentor?

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ryan Jones

    It’s not like I made up those stats or something.

  • Pamplaskuce

    Kareem Abdul-Jabbar……still household name…
    Andrew “the plug” Bynum…nobody cares…
    “he plays with Kobe”…”oh you mean that plug who can’t stay healthy long enough to accomplish anything?” “thats him….that fat plug”
    What a dou(he..no respect.

  • http://www.nicekicks.com Chris

    Wow, I still don’t see Andrew being an All Star this year. When your 6th man gets more shots than you I think you have an issue.

  • tavoris

    ryan…really? can anyone question the authority of the nba’s ALL-Time leading scorer? At least Oden stays humble…

  • http://slamonline.com/ niQ

    @ Chris. But Jason Terry ALWAYS has more shots than Dampier. and Manu Ginobili ALWAYS has more shots than (then) Oberto (And Bonner… And any other person playing Center on the Spurs).

  • http://slamonline.com/ niQ

    And I might as well say BG had more shots than practically the whole Bulls team.. LOL

  • MattM

    Ryan is right. Cap’s average went from 34.8ppg to 30.2ppg. Obviously Andrew doesn’t want that kind of drop off.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ryan Jones

    Thank you, Matt. You and me can work together anytime.

  • http://slamonline.com/ niQ

    I’d like to see Bynum try to average 30ppg.

  • Syk

    what the hell is he thinking? he isn’t even an all star or even close to it. he should take advantage of having such a skilled big man coach him for as long as he can.

  • http://slamonline.com/ Spaceship Jay

    But Bynum was trash last year.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Ryan fished hard for that joke.

  • ClydeSays

    I doubt you’ll ever hear DHoward or Yao Ming throw Ewing under the bus. KG has nothing but praise for Russell. Etc. Etc.

    Respect your Hall of Fame elders, Andrew.

  • http://www.manutd.com Z

    As Cheryl said, this decision looks like it came from upstairs. The Lakers, moreso than Bynum, are distancing themselves from Kareem. Maybe they didn’t like how he was advocating for a larger role in the organization through the press? Poor Kareem and Rick Barry, they’re stil trying to make up for how prickly they were in their playing days.

  • IndyB

    Roy Hibbert would listen to him.

  • Adam

    Bynum is a Punk,

    He’s 6 or 7th on the depth chart, and he really skirts criticism having Gasol start in his place. But Having the Captain in your corner and offering advice, and shielding you from any negative press, is invaluable to anyone. As a fan of basketball guys like Duncan or Garnett would love having Kareem share his advice and support.

    Bynum is the Scott Williams of the new millennium

  • Mike Klander

    Really Bynum? You’re really going to do that to yourself? Stick it out with Kareem dude. You have a lotttt to learn.

  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    Kareem wasn’t anymore prickly than Bill Russell. Bet on it.
    Rick Barry’s teammates often despised him, from all accounts, Kareem’s teammates loved him.
    Anytime I hear an older black player described as prickly, I think one thing….
    Refused to smile if he didn’t find something funny

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    Andrew Bynum sucks. He’s a a less injury-prone, glorified Greg Oden. At least Oden respects the great players of this game. Count me out of the Andrew Bynum d!ckriding, he’s been overhyped since he averaged what, 13 and 10? Give me a freaking break people; the Lakers could have won with him riding the pine the entire season. If he can’t learn from one of the greatest, just what the heck can he do?

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    @ Allenp: I think Kareem seems like a cool dude and I agree, his teammates loved him. He also respected his opponents most of the time (ie Artis Gilmore).

  • ab_40

    haha so ungratefull can he go to portland or orlando to tutor dwight or greg because patrick ewing and brian grant arn’t. I know his game isn’t finesse but still to have one of the greats of all time tutor you for free man… so abdul jabbar is gonna be the first coach for the brooklyn nets with a russian owner a rap icon as a co owner and either dwayne wade or lebron james to build with next to brook lopez and devin harris. D Wade would blow up playing next to Yi not in numbers on the court but of the court hehe

  • dial up

    I think what everyone fails to realize is that Kareem has mentored bynum for a few years now??? You can tell that it’s a waste of Kareem’s time, Bynum hasn’t improved all that much. Still horrible on d, bad o for a big man, cheap fouls.

  • http://myspace.com/2grownup2beshownup Jack

    He’s nothing without his team around him. He’ll never be nothing more than a big body anyway.

  • http://fdsjklf.com Jukai

    Allenp & Teddy: C’mon dude… do some research… Kareem was a pretty cool dude to his teammates, but was pretty vicious on the court (ie punched at least two guys in the face because he thought they were D’ing him up too hard. At least Jordan waited till practice to do stuff like that). He is also known to be very grumpy on the streets, getting angry if you ask him to sign autographs, ignoring people saying hi to him.
    I know the fame gets annoying, but there are hundreds of basketball players who will at least still say hi to you.
    I’ve just heard too many stories about Kareem, on-court and off, to brush it off as “older black bias.”
    Russell wasn’t as bad as Kareem. He just had… ideologies and was very vocal about them. He probably wouldn’t say hi to me on the street.

  • http://fdsjklf.com Jukai

    Of course, neither of them were as big of an asshole as Rick Barry. That’s besides the point. That dude was the most disliked player in the history of basketball.

  • TK

    Well Drew is making a big mistake, or at least that’s the way I see it. Yeah maybe some of Kareem’s moves don’t work anymore, but for the most part he still is an NBA legend, and you can never really learn enough from a legend. Only time will tell now if he made the right move.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Dave

    He’s bustin’ his buns out there every night, and this is the thanks Bynum gives him?

  • http://fdsjklf.com Jukai

    Damn, Dave, I can’t believe I didn’t think of that joke. I’m really upset with myself.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    @ TK: Please, if anything Kareem’s post moves would DOMINATE today’s NBA. Besides Yao Ming and Dwight Howard and maybe Shaq, who can even come close to guarding that sky hook?

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    No, Shaq can’t guard the sky hook. Nevermind.

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