L.A. Times - Laker officials were privately encouraged to see Andrew Bynum hold his ground defensively against Shaquille O'Neal. Also encouraging was after a Bynum bucket, he elbowed O'Neal at the other end as the Heat center moved toward the lane to get position. O'Neal answered with a forceful elbow to Bynum's upper chest and both players were assessed technical fouls. "For [Bynum] to come down and respond the way that he did, you also have got to know who his mentor is," Bryant said. "We all know Kareem was nasty, man. He's grooming Andrew Bynum and I think you see the aggressiveness in him." Bynum said he hadn't expected to trade elbows with O'Neal. "When he hit me, I was a little surprised," Bynum said. "It wasn't in my face or anything like that. He just hit me back in the chest. Nothing really I can do about that. He's kind of big." Bynum irked O'Neal on draft day by saying he was a lot like O'Neal except that he actually made free throws. Only 17 at the time, Bynum didn't know that O'Neal never likes to hear about missed free throws or added pounds.
I don't know what Kareem was like as a player because his prime was before I was born, but I do know he had a reputation of being soft. Just watch "Airplane"
He wasn't a bruiser because of his frame, but his numbers show he got the job done and done well. I was all for Kareem instead of PEwing mainly because I thought Yao's frame and talents matched Kareem's better than anyone else's that was available. Plus Kareem had some coaching experience on an amateur level.
http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/38715/20060118/lakers_encouraged_by_bynums_performance/ sorry
Kareem's game is closer to Yao's. We should use Yao more like the Lakers used Kareem. It is very sad Les passed on Phil Jackson and Kareem, in favor of Van Gundy and Ewing. Kareem was a great, great player, and used his basketball smarts as much as his size to win.
I don't see the relevance. Kareem wouldn't some how magically give Yao a nasty streak (when he wasn't nasty himself). This is already in Andrew Bynum. Kareem will teach him basketball moves and when you combine that with the personality traits he already has he should be a fine player.
Yao: I think you're the greatest, but my dad says you don't work hard enough on defence. And he says that lots of times, you don't even run down court. And that you don't really try . . . except during the playoffs. Kareem: Listen, Kid! I've been hearing that crap ever since I was at UCLA. I'm out there busting my buns every night. Tell your old man to drag Walton and Denier up and down the court for 48 minutes.
exactly, the knock on Kareem had been that he was soft and aloof (which is one reason why the Lakers brought in Kermit Washington to be his bodyguard). Ewing meanwhile, was known as one of the hardest working men in the game. Obviously, this is all speculation, as none of us knows a single solitary thing about how Ewing coaches Yao..etc, and of course Kareem has the other issues in which no NBA team wants him around and he thinks he's being blackballed - so who knows.
If only Rocket's Management could come to the same conclusion, Yao Ming would benifit under Jabar with a little bit of Moses in the Offseason to improve his positioning on defence.
All I know is Yao will never be a banger. With the skyhook that he has the touch for, he would be unstoppable.
Wasn't CD Dream's mentor? With CD's advice as well as Ewing as an one on one partner Yao's getting better coaching than Dream did?
Bynum, a guy who can't even get off the bench in LA, gets his first dunk of the year and now it's all of sudden because he has the best big man mentor in the game who Yao should have had. lol doesn't matter though because you could never convince anyone of the preposterous ideat that Kareem would have left his family in sunny california to come to Houston for 6 months out of the year JUST TO BE Yao Ming's mentor.
I got to see him play, and like others have said, he wasn't a bruiser, but he wasn't soft, not by today's standards. By the standards of his day? The word was tossed around concerning him, back then. I was all for having him mentor Yao.
Kareem asked for the job as Yao's coach when he was drafted, and repeated his interest in interviews after. Can't get out that easy, Stoke. Rudy and Les and CD, and then JVG decided not to bring him on. It wasn't until last year in NY he got to work, and then Phil Jackson made the reach to bring him back to the Lakers.
True...when I saw the thread in NBA Dish with the title 'Shaq Vs Bynum', I thought Bynum had a breakout game and played Shaq to a draw or something. Then I found out he had 2 points and 0 rebound.
