Larry Brown Sports

Andrew Bynum hairwatch 2012 has its latest update. The Philadelphia 76ers center addressed reporters on Friday and was seen sporting a new ‘do.

Bynum decided to tie down his ‘fro into two french braids that give him a Snoop Dogg/Allen Iverson look.

The reason for the change?

“French braids, man. I got tired of the ‘fro,” he told reporters.

Well that’s just a shame. We certainly were not tired of sharing bi-monthly updates on his blossoming ‘fro.

Bynum has gone with the Don King look, the Ike Turner cut, and the full mushroom over the past several weeks. Now he has the braids.

The good news for Sixers fans is that Bynum was cleared by the team’s medical staff to begin riding a stationary bike, which is the first step in a six-part rehab process. He has not played in a game this season because of bone bruises in his knees, but he says he’s “confident” he’ll play this season.

Chest bump to The 700 Level

For someone who has yet to play a game for the Philadelphia 76ers or prove that he can be a difference-maker for their franchise, Andrew Bynum is awfully confident. While it’s still incredibly early, you could make the argument at the moment that the Los Angeles Lakers were better with Bynum than they are with Dwight Howard. A number of other factors are at play, but Bynum still feels he is a better center than Howard.

In addition to saying Howard will have to learn how to not touch the ball every play now that he is teammates with Kobe Bryant, Bynum threw in the following comment when asked if all the trade rumors bothered him when he was in L.A.

“It didn’t really matter where I played as long as I get to,” he told Kevin Ding of the OC Register. “Health is the big concern with me right now. I don’t regret anything. Personally, I think they traded No. 1 for No. 2 — and that’s what happened.”

Bynum is certainly right about health being the big concern at the moment — especially if he continues to bowl in his free time. As for who is a better player, Howard has been more consistent throughout his career both offensively and defensively. Bynum has all the talent in the world when healthy, but there are always questions about his attitude. That being said, he does have two NBA championship rings. Until Howard wins one, Bynum will always have that over him.

Andrew Bynum says he appreciated playing with a legend like Kobe Bryant at the beginning of his career, but he says it presents a downside.

Bynum was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers before the season and has yet to play in a game with his new team because of knee problems. With the Lakers in town to play the Sixers on Sunday, Bynum spoke about his former team.

According to Kevin Ding of the OC Register, Bynum said playing with Kobe early in his career helped him “tremendously,” but that changed later on.

“Later, I thought I was able to get the ball more and do more things with the ball,” he said, “so I could definitely see how at the end it could stunt growth.”

Bynum said the understanding that Kobe dominates the ball will be an adjustment for Dwight Howard.

“Dwight’s a great player, but he’s going to have to get accustomed to playing with Kobe (Bryant) and not touching the ball every single play,” said Bynum.

Bynum analyzed the Lakers’ offense and said he believes they’re going too fast-paced and not playing in the post enough. That’s exactly what Pau Gasol, who has been out with knee tendinitis, complained about.

Maybe the best part of Bynum’s interview with the media was when he called himself the best center in the league, adding that Howard, for whom he was traded, is the second-best. Most people will disagree with him, but we admire his confidence. As for Kobe dominating the ball, well, that’s one of the reasons why Dwight was reluctant to join the team in the first place. You also know Kobe wouldn’t disagree — he once said Bynum was third in the Lakers’ pecking order, while he was No. 1.

Andrew Bynum has yet to play in a game for the Philadelphia 76ers, which has left us with very little to talk about aside from his insane head of hair. The Sixers center has had some of the ugliest hairstyles you will ever see this season, including the Don King look and this ridiculous mop top. It has to be some sort of joke, right?

Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like that is the case. In fact, it gets worse. According to Dan Gelston of the Associated Press, Bynum recently explained that he has tried to model his hair after a character named “A Pimp Named Slickback” in a cartoon series on Adult Swim called “The Boondocks.” Here’s what the character looks like:

If Bynum was really attempting to make his hair look like that dude’s, he failed — miserably. Whatever the case, the big man has absolutely no intention of getting a trim.

“I want it to grow forever, man,” he told CSN Philly’s John R. Finger. “It’s going to come a point in time where it’s not going to be growing.”

Bynum’s knees really need to get healthy so he can get back on the court. Once he starts playing again, we can stop talking about his visits to Dave & Buster’s, the feuds he’s having with his neighbors and his obnoxious hairstyles. On second thought, his hair is probably going to stay in the headlines as long as he keeps up the nonsense.

Latest crazy hair screenshot via @WorldofIsaac
H/T The 700 Level

Andrew Bynum took time away from the bowling alley to visit a Dave & Busters on Wednesday where he brushed up on his shooting skills while playing Pop-A-Shot. That’s according to a few Twitter tipsters who shared the news with Philly sports blog Crossing Broad. At least angry Philly fans can’t say he’s not working hard on his game while he rehabs.

Another Twitter user shared a photo of Bynum, and it gives us a clean look at his well-rounded ‘fro:

Read The Rest of the Story…

Andrew Bynum is involved in a lawsuit with his former California neighbors that features plenty of mudslinging from both sides, TMZ reports.

According to Thirty Mile Zone, the current Philadelphia 76ers center filed a lawsuit in L.A. Superior Court accusing his former neighbors, the Becketts, of being violent and racist. His lawsuit reportedly claims the Becketts have objected to his “profession, his race, his friends, his cars and his taste in music.”

Bynum accuses them of throwing coins at his car, screaming at him about his music, and even banging a stick at the side of his house.

The Becketts, who lived next door to Bynum in Westchester, Calif., believe that Bynum only filed the suit as a preemptive strike once he learned they were planning a lawsuit. They fired back with a countersuit, in which they allege the following misdeeds by Bynum:

- brandishing firearms in an attempt to intimidate the Becketts
- “apparently” using drugs and allowing weed smoke to drift next door
- blasting loud, profane rap music (including the song “Currency” by Trina)
- blasting his video games at “window-shaking volumes”
- letting his dogs run loose through the neighborhood
- constantly racing his luxury cars at dangerous speeds

Not ones to jump to conclusions before seeing all the facts of a story, we here at LBS are going to lean towards believing the neighbors.

I mean who would actually doubt the credibility of a 25-year-old NBA player who has demonstrated impeccable judgment in the past by:

- Rehabbing a knee injury at the Playboy Mansion
- Attending the World Cup which delayed his rehab from a knee injury
- Disregarding handicap parking spots
- Blowing off a meeting with the Lakers’ front office

Who would believe that the same guy Kobe Bryant described as having a “f— it” attitude would display the same sort of blatant disregard for his neighbors? Not me. Not at all. We don’t jump to those sorts of conclusions here at LBS. We deal in pure facts, not speculation based on a person’s overwhelming history.

Andrew Bynum already comes across as a carefree person, so it comes as no surprise to hear that one of his former teammates doesn’t think he likes basketball all that much.

Our friend Spike Eskin of CBS Philly contacted SLAM Magazine senior editor Tzvi Twersky last week regarding the rumor that Bynum got hurt while bowling, which turned out to be true. While investigating the rumor, Twersky got back an interesting text about Bynum.

“I started investigating [the bowling] a little bit,” Twersky told Eskin. “And one of the people that I hit, a guy who has played with him before, he texted me back and said ‘I don’t know if that’s true [the bowling], but I do know that I’ve never met another player in the league who likes basketball less [than Bynum].

Is anyone really surprised by that assessment from a former teammate? Bynum acts on and off the court like he doesn’t care about life or basketball.

Even Kobe Bryant has said that Bynum has a “f–k it attitude,” while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar says Bynum has no interest in learning fundamentals.

Do you think if basketball meant that much to Bynum that he would be laughing after big losses? Probably not. We really didn’t even need the teammate’s text to know that about Bynum, though it’s interesting to note others see Bynum the same way.

Chest bump to Pro Basketball Talk