Bynum's play is Lakers' biggest gift

LOS ANGELES -- Mike D'Antoni wasn't feeling any better about this one, either.

Maybe worse.

The Phoenix coach watched his team lose for the second time in two tries against the Lakers this season -- a 122-115 Christmas Day defeat at Staples Center -- and then had to contemplate an uneasy thought when someone asked him about "up-and-coming" Lakers center Andrew Bynum.

"I don't know if he's up-and-coming -- he's there," D'Antoni said, looking at a stat sheet displaying the 20-year-old's 28-point, 12-rebound day. Then he laughed, which is what people often do to deflect harsh reality.

"I hope he's not up-and-coming."

Where Bynum is, in the here-and-now, is pleasing enough for the Lakers, who have clearly turned a corner. They are on a 9-2 run, including Tuesday's win over the Pacific Division-leading Suns, and trail Phoenix by one game.

This may still be Kobe Bryant's team, but how Bynum goes, so go the Lakers. Forced into more playing time by the chronic injuries to Kwame Brown, the 7-foot, 280-pound third-year pro has helped take the team to this happier place.

He has 15 double-doubles this year and is averaging about 12 points and 10 rebounds. On Tuesday, he hit 11 of 13 shots and also had four assists and two blocked shots.

More importantly, he outplayed Phoenix's standout center, Amare Stoudemire, who had 19 points and six rebounds, both below his season averages.

"It's scary to think about how good he can be," veteran point guard Derek Fisher said of his imposing young teammate. "He's still learning, learning how to use his body."

Bryant is a convert as well. During his grumpy summer he complained about the trade the Lakers didn't make last winter -- Bynum for New Jersey's Jason Kidd, disparaging his teammate in the process.

"The best part is that he's put in so much work," Bryant said Tuesday, apparently no longer interested in putting distance between himself and the kid. "It's key for a young player, seeing results of that work. You smell the blood, you gain confidence, you play harder."

Bynum agrees there's a simple explanation for his exponential growth from his first two seasons to his third.

"A lot of hard work over the summer," he said.

He hasn't quit, continuing to soak up whatever he can learn from former Lakers Hall of Fame center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at every practice -- a partnership the team encouraged as soon as Bynum joined LA as a 17-year-old.

It's early, but Bynum's emergence and the team's rise to the fourth-best record in the Western Conference (18-10) have lent some much-needed credibility to Lakers management as well.

Partly handcuffed by the NBA's salary cap, and unable (or unwilling) to make any bold moves, the Lakers and their stagnation as a middling team the past three seasons had frustrated No. 24 into demanding a trade after the season ended last spring. Their superstar had split the fan base into Bryant-is-right and Bryant-is-a-whining-baby camps.

Bynum was the linchpin of the dispute. Whenever any teams talked trade, he was the one everyone wanted. By not making any deals, the Lakers, in effect, hitched their wagon to their prospect, who had a limited high school career before becoming the youngest player in the 2005 draft.

Their gamble is looking better by the week. Bynum just posted a career-high 24-point game Friday night against Philadelphia before surpassing it Tuesday.

Forward Lamar Odom was a little too generous with his assessment after Tuesday's win, calling Bynum "one of the best centers in the NBA."

But he had a point.

"His confidence is growing; he's making his shots," Odom said. "The team is winning, and Andrew wants to be the best in the league."

The kid still has to string these games together in bunches before he earns that kind of recognition. But he does have his fans, from teammates to other NBA general managers to ESPN commentator Bill Walton.

Tuesday at halftime, Walton effused -- as only he can -- that Bynum, Orlando's Dwight Howard and Portland's Greg Oden (who hasn't played a minute as a pro) are the triumvirate "future of NBA big men."

Typically, Bynum's coach loathes such talk. Phil Jackson has never had much use for touting his young players, making them earn every morsel of praise. After the win over Phoenix, Jackson allowed that Bynum "played great. He was effective, a real force."

But when someone pushed the issue, observing that Bynum played better than Stoudemire and wondered why the coach was reluctant to say so, Jackson frowned.

"We just want to maintain what we're about," Jackson said. "Every game, come out and play that kind of game. Show consistency. At the end of the year, if (Bynum) is the MVP, then we'll say what a great year he had."

Sarcasm today, maybe greatness tomorrow. At least the Lakers can imagine it.

(Contact Gregg Patton at gpatton@PE.com.)

(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)