LOS ANGELES — He is the world’s biggest shadow, and other than Red Auerbach and Michael Jordan, these finals’ biggest ghost. At this level, every losing team has a what-if? The Los Angeles Lakers have, at 7-feet and 280 pounds, a bigger what-if than most.
“I think we have a chance to be a very, very good team,” says Andrew Bynum. “We’re still a young team, and we could be really, really good.”
As the Lakers entered Game 4 at home Thursday night, they were down 2-1 to the Boston Celtics in the series in large part because their starting big men, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, had played soft and brainless basketball over much of the first three games. The two finesse towers have been out-competed, out-worked, and out-smarted by the Boston frontline. They had, in short, not played big enough.
Bynum, meanwhile, is seen as the missing piece in a towering and glorious future, with a front line that goes 7-foot, 7-foot, and 6-foot-10, with Kobe Bryant in the backcourt. Bynum may have gotten a little excited when he said earlier this week that next year’s Lakers would chase Chicago’s record 72-win season, but on paper, there is promise.
“I think it would look great,” says Bynum, a soft-spoken 20-year-old. “I mean, pretty intimidating. We’ll be able to play a lot better defence. And also on the offensive end, I think it should be hard for teams to guard all three of us at one time. Right now, I’m just really focusing on getting right. I’ve got to get back better before all that can come true.”
Indeed, Bynum has not played since a nasty knee injury on Jan. 13, when he briefly dislocated his left kneecap, and badly bruised the knee. His rehab went slower than expected - and he had surgery last month to remove cartilage debris on the underside of the knee - but he is walking now, fooling around with the ball on the sidelines, killing time.

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