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| Andrew Bynum was all smiles at his Sixers press conference |
When the Joshua Harris-led ownership group took over the
organization from Comcast, they promised to push this franchise into not just
relevance, but the spotlight as well. In this 2012 offseason, they’ve done
exactly that.
Short of the Kwame Brown signing, the Sixers’ management
group has done everything right this summer following a somewhat lackluster
draft. They got rid of a rapidly declining Elton Brand. They let another team
overpay for Lou Williams. They told Jodie Meeks to go screw himself. They
resigned Lavoy Allen to an amazing deal. They added shooting wings in Nick
Young and Dorell Wright. And my personal favorite…
THEY TRADED ANDRE
“I’M THE MOST OVERPAID WANNABE SUPERSTAR OF ALL-TIME” IGUODALA FOR ANDREW “I’M
AN EFFING BEAST” BYNUM!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, if you’ve read me in the past or follow me on twitter,
you already know what I detest about Andre Iguodala (and if you haven’t, read
my stuff and don’t follow me on twitter you need to change up your lifestyle),
so I’m gonna take a deep breath, and never speak the about Andre Iguodala as a
Sixer ever again. I’m going to solely focus on how much of a boss gargantuan
Andrew Bynum is and why he will instantly transform the 76ers into a Top-4
Eastern Conference.
For starters, Bynum is 7-1, 290 pounds and has outstanding
athletic ability, good hands and a superb knowledge of basketball. Basically,
Spencer Hawes looks like a 7th Grader who just hit puberty compared
to this guy.
Last season, (Bynum’s best of his career and he’s only 24),
the former Lakers Center averaged 18.7 ppg, 11.8 rpg, 1.4 apg,
1.9 bpg, while shooting 55.8% FG. Meanwhile, over in Philly, Hawes and Nik
Vucivic combined to average 15.1 ppg, 12.1, 3.2 apg, 1.9 bpg on 47% FG per
game. What makes these numbers even more outrageous is that Bynum was playing
third fiddle to Kobe Bryant AND Pau Gasol whereas Hawes was THE big man for the
Sixers last year. Bynum even had seven 30-point ames, two 20-20 games and one
30 rebound game last year as well.
The numbers don’t just show he is by far the most
productive Sixers big since the Sixers appeared in the 01 Finals, they show
that Bynum will be one of the most dominant Centers the East has seen since
that time. I’ve been watching the Sixers up close and personal ever since 1999
and I can’t even imagine how amazing it will be to see how dominantly effective
his masterful post game will straight confuse and embarrass his opponents.
Bynum is only 24. Which means, with hopefully a string of
good health, the man hasn’t even nearly come close to his greatest potential
and he’s already started an All-Star game!
The only downsides to Bynum, which his biggest critics
will never drop, are his knees and
attitude. First, after all of the readings I’ve done about the Orthokine/Regenokine procedure Bynum will undergo in the next few weeks, I can’t
help but grow more and more excited about the explosiveness and extra strength
Bynum should and probably will gain in his knees. This procedure has a very
good chance of turning his career from something special to something we’ll
tell our grandkids about. Next, I think a lot of Bynum’s attitude problems in
LA were products of poor coaching and frustration with the system he was
playing in. Remember, a man making a deserved $14.5 million was the team’s
THIRD OPTION.
Even though I dislike a lot of Doug Collins’ philosophies
and techniques, I think he and Bynum will see eye-to-eye. Now, you may be
thinking, “Well Collins likes to teach and Bynum hates to learn… how is that
going to work?” I think it will work because Bynum is going to full-heartedly
accept being the leader of this team. The demeanor he held himself in during
his opening press conference was spectacular. I was so impressed with the
maturity and composition he showed about basically taking this team and
throwing it atop in broad, broad, broad shoulders.
Finally, who in the East is going to stop this dude? Let’s
go through last season’s playoff teams. Will Joel Anthony Stop him? Will
near-40-year-old Kevin Garnett stop him? Will a more built for speed and
agility than strength Tyson Chandler stop him? Will a slow Roy Hibbert stop
him? Will 6-10 Al Horford stop him? Will cry-baby Joakim Noah consistently stop
him? Will Dwight—whoops never mind.
If you think any of the above centers in the East will
able to consistently slow down Bynum while he takes 20-25 shots over the course
of an entire game… I strongly urge you enter yourself into a Real Housewives
show because you’re all kinds of crazy.
#33 will be the Eastern Conference starting Center in the
All-Star game. He will probably be a 20-10 guy for this club. He will probably
severely increase the chances of Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner taking a step
further in the developments of their games. He is the kind of player that
hasn’t been in the First Union/Wachovia/Wells Fargo Center since Allen Iverson
was traded to the Denver Nuggets.
I pray that he will resign. I think he will. Being from
Plainsboro, NJ, Bynum is closer to home than he has ever been ever since he was
drafted in 2005. And he’s already expressed interest in making Philly his home.
Even better, there have been some reports where the Sixers’ ghost GM has
already been in talks with Bynum’s agent, David Lee, about contract extension
to the tune of around $80 million over 4 years.
But for now… Andrew Bynum is a stud. He’s a beast. He’s an
animal. And He’s (Thank you God) a Sixer.
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