You won’t find many players in the NBA who are respected less than Andrew Bynum. The Chicago Bulls acquired Bynum in a trade for Luol Deng with the Cleveland Cavaliers last month, but only to waive him for financial relief. Now, the Indiana Pacers have decided to take a low-risk, high-reward gamble on the oft-injured center.
Why would anyone want to add Bynum to their roster? According to Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star, Bynum talked the Pacers’ brass into signing him with a convincing pitch during a three-hour dinner.
[Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard] said that during the Friday night dinner – which included team president Larry Bird and coach Frank Vogel — Bynum made quite the pitch to join the Eastern Conference-leading Pacers.
“He made it perfectly clear,” Pritchard said during the radio interview. “He was like, ‘Look, I want to win a championship, I think I can really help you, and I want to fit in. I’m not coming here to let everybody fit in with me. I got to fit in with everybody else.’
“When he said that I think the thing changed.”
That must have been one hell of a sales job. Bynum was suspended by the Cavs earlier this year for conduct detrimental to the team, though Deng later said that the team is a mess in general. Still, that was hardly the first we have heard of Bynum being a disruptive presence.
Bynum doesn’t seem to like basketball, and one former teammate said he has never seen a player who dislikes the sport more. That said, the Pacers are already a championship contender. If Bynum causes a hint of a problem, they’ll just cut him and move on. If he is healthy and actually feels like trying, he could provide some quality front-court depth.
