Bryant & Bynum: no longer an odd couple
December 11th, 2007, 2:55 pm · Post a Comment · posted by KEVIN DING, OCREGISTER.COM
Phil Jackson met with reporters after practice, holding a copy of my column about his crazy non-basketball job opportunities for his perusal later. Nothing in there will be news to him, but pretty much everything in there will be news to everyone else. Some of what has been offered to a guy who is just a basketball coach is just crazy.
Jackson made a crack today about last season’s “space cadet” Vladimir Radmanovic, saying that this season “my favorite Martian is back on Earth.” But the most interesting coach comment was about the new and improved relationship between Kobe Bryant and Andrew Bynum.
“Kobe has recognized the uniqueness of Andrew and what he can bring to the table for a basketball team,” Jackson said. “He knows if we’re going to win, we have to have that kind of defensive stopper like that and also the advantage of having a guy that size to complete things at the basket, so screen-rolls become an issue for other teams to cover. Andrew’s fulfilled those two functions for us relatively well right now.”
Bryant has been supportive of Bynum in public comments and instructive of him in private moments. As I addressed in a Bynum feature article back in October, the Lakers’ hope has been that Bryant would come around on Bynum and give him greater respect once he saw Bynum was working harder.
“It helped a lot when he found out he really worked this summer,” Jackson said. “But I think there’s also proof in the pudding. He saw him come out this preseason and play hard, be in condition to play with the guys instead of being trailing all the time with stamina problems.”
About Bryant’s public support, Bynum said: “I heard about it, and it’s pretty cool for him to do that, because I definitely am working.”
