Tell us how you really feel Kareem! After Andrew Bynum was finally traded in a multi-team trade that brought Dwight Howard to town, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar let his feelings on Bynum be known more publicly….
“Dwight is very committed to playing and winning,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “Andrew has been up and down on that issue. There are times he wants to play, do a great job and he goes out and does it. Then there are other times where it seems like he’s not focused.”
Abdul-Jabbar went on to expand on his feelings about Bynum and how he was slighted by the Lakers young center after personally coaching him for a few years to improve his post-up game.
Abdul-Jabbar said he saw Bynum’s focus wane when he worked with him from 2005 to 2009. He said his coaching duties were significantly scaled back in the 2008-09 season after Bynum expressed a lack of interest to the Lakers’ staff in working with Abdul-Jabbar.
“When I first started working with him, he was eager to learn,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “He appreciated me shortening the learning curve. Once he figured he did everything he wanted to do in terms of learning, he didn’t want me to bother him constantly going over the fundamentals.”
So there you have it folks. The rumors were essentially true, that Bynum felt he already knew too much and outgrew having one of the greatest players of all-time as his personal coach. Good luck with that, Philly.
[Quotes via LA Times]
