Arrogant because he's 1. following his doctors' recommendation, and taking some time to let his injured legs heal, 2. going on what sounds like a pretty sick vacation 3. making his own decisions? There is a place for respect without deference.

Nice, Supersonicsoul: Chuck Nevitt's the most prolific 7'5" player in history!

#2, you must be a Bynum apologist. Read between the lines. And do you really think he's ready to fly on his own? I don't care if he's been hampered by injury; when he's out there and healthy, he's still just not all he's hyped up to be. Yes, he fits into the Lakers system because they don't require a Shaq-esque dominance in the middle (besides, Gasol is better off as their 5 anyway). But don't tell me "respect without deference" with this kid. He has given us little reason to believe he'll amount to much in his four seasons as a pro.

Bynum, Odom- both overpaid role players. Bynum will get his this year and, of course, he has a built in excuse with his bad knees. Odom will just be standing around, eating his candy while trying to accept the fact that he won't be a regular on the basketballing "hustler" circuit since he has a bimbo at home. The Fakers will be a bonafide made for Hollywood circus this year. L.A., you deserve and can have them.

Apologist
What a stupid, useless, worthless word, "apologist". Used as a brainless insult by posters everywhere. Oh you are a (fill in the blank) apologist. Oooh that really hurts.
For those that actually read the source article. And read the similar Los Angeles Times article.....
The decision to reduce the amount of time Bynum spends with Jabbar was a decision made by the Lakers coaching staff, Kareem and Bynum together. Kareem has other stuff he is doing as well, and that factored into the decision. Bynum is being coached around the clock by an entire staff, as well as by Chuck Person (remember the famed sharpshooter). And please folks, use your brains. Bynum is only 22 years old. Came to the game late as a kid. Most true centers, with notable exceptions, take years to develop, and Bynum was injured twice, which does not help matters. He still needs time to develop, and was drafted as a project.
And Hitman. I know it pleases you to bag on Bynum and Odom, but the fact is they, and the rest of the Lakers, won the NBA championship, their 15th. Phil Jackson, who has more brains in his left testicle than you will ever have, likes having Bynum and Odom on the roster. I think his opinion matters far more tha yours.

To set the story straight - this BLOG's misrepresentation of Kareem's role with Bynum, came from another BLOG that captured a 22-year old's (Bynum's ) comments after Laker Management reduced Kareem's role. Who among you is stupid enough to believe that NBA players get to decide who coaches them? "Oh no, said Derek Fisher, "Phil Jackson is not allowed to coach me, my contract says only Brian Shaw can coach me."
Who coaches who is determined by Phil Jackson, and supported by Mitch Kupchak and Jerry Buss. Bynum had nothing to do with this decision.

Tyrone Hill and Aaron McKie were NOT misfits, and Mayo should not be coming off the bench. (RE: The Sport Count, how Memphis can get to the championship.)

#6 and 7 "M2"
You're funny. And to liken someone else's brain to an NBA coach's reproductive organ? Yeah, that's really the antithesis of "brainless insult[s] by posters everywhere" compared to my serious use of the word "apologist." If you're trying to get intellectual on me, you've failed miserably before you even started and tried to look up any "big words" to try to jab at me in retaliation.
And don't try to give me an NBA history lesson (Chuck Person? You're really going to try to school us with Chuck Person?). I probably know more about the NBA "in [my] left testicle than you will ever [know]" so don't even go there. What's sad is that you're probably a single and jobless forty-year-old who rides the Lakers bandwagon because they're the defending champs. Come on, bro. Somewhere underneath that girly exterior is a less-girly man trying to become one.

LOLOLOLOLOL !!!
Andrew works hard, a little, but he's fragile. His best is not even up to Kareem's rookie season. And Kareem played 20 dominating years in the league.
Bynum needs to be as good as Kareem in any one year to outgrow him, and even then attitude will bite him in the ass and he won't work as hard afterwards, and will have to rebuild yet again.

Bynum is lazy. He proves this both on and off the court. On the court, he doesn't play defense. Phil Jackson is constantly chewing him out for this and yanking him from games because the ONLY thing he asks of Bynum is for him to be a physical presence on defense. But defense takes heart and will. And Bynum just doesn't have that in him. I'm not hating on him. It's the truth. Off the court, he takes extended vacations and doesn't condition early enough; doesn't get on the court like his team wants. Also, his knee injuries have taken waaaay longer to heal than they should. And, I don't know, but the timing was just too much of a coincidence for me...when Bynum kept postponing his return, and then he was photographed holding up a Playboy bunny over his head at the PB Mansion, and then later that week started practicing with team. Buuuuulllllsh!t. Lakers were like, "Dude, if you're healthy enough to lift a playboy bunny over your head, you're healthy enough to start earning the millions of dollars we're paying you. Quit lying to us." And now he doesn't want to work with Kareem as much, probably because Kareem pushes him. Bynum is lazy. And that's that. This kid has the body to be an all-star. But he's probably gotten away with being lazy and relying on his size throughout his career that he doesn't put any effort into it. And this is why he'll have a short, mediocre career. And he probably doesn't care, either.

By the way, Bynum was only ranked 11th by RSCI coming out of high school. Players ranked higher than him were: 1. Josh McRoberts, Monta Ellis, Gerald Green, Martell Webster, Tyler Hansbrough, Louis Williams, Julian Wright, Richard Hendrix, Mario Chalmers, and Tasmin Mitchell. He only averaged 22 ppg his senior year in high school. Not exactly anything to drool over for a 7 footer skipping college to head to the NBA. To put this in perspective, Monta averaged 38.4 ppg that year.

Why would Bynum listen to/respect Jabbar? I mean the guy is only the leading scorer in league history. It's not like Jabbar won a bunch of championships, MVPs, or had the most unstoppable move in the history of the game. Bynum is right when he believes that the history of Rome is more important than that of the NBA. He already has his fat contract so why wouldn't he go out and spend it. He should take it easy and work out in Atlanta as I am sure his personal trainer knows far more about longevity in pro sports, look how Jabbar only made it for twenty years, I'm sure if Kareem had Andrews personal trainer he would have had a real career. Andrew you should just ignore Kareem because if you look at all of the greats throughout history not a single one of them was mentored by or patterned their games after the greats that came before them. I love the NBA and LA but Bynum is part of what is wrong with the game today. I had hopes for the kid but he learned more about being selfish and indifferent than how to improve himself. Which is odd because he should be able to look over at Kobe and see what it takes to be a great.

Bynum is the typical modern day basketball player. Gutless, babied, to stupid to realize he does not know it all. Bynum would not equate to a wart on Jabbar's a$$.

This is the year for the young man to be a man. If he can't produce (not talking baskets) for any reason, then move him for whatever you can get for him. Rooting for him, but ...

lakers really spoiled the young giraffe by overpaying him, period... as long as KOBE the greatest ever, performs to his level, lakers can win another title with not great but good solid players only... before bynum, pau, odom, derick. artest , all become too overrated, i just wanna remind them that without KOBE , they r just another boring nobodies in the nba..... so dont get too cocky and thank god everyday 4 KOBE the hoopmaster....adinaro

this was sufficiently harsh :D

Not at all,Bynum has injury problems.He did seem to be going good until his knee injury.Kareem,should be a head coach in the N.B.A

If i was Bynum i would think before throwing Kareem away like that,this guy's a legend, and i would be HELLA happy if this guy's teaching me all this

M2, you're an idiot if you think this was just forced upon Bynum.