Bynum strikes again

by explicator on Jan 28, 2009 6:24 PM PST

I am sure Blazer fans remember on opening night, it was Andrew Bynum who grabbed on to Greg Oden intentionally to keep him from rising up to dunk, causing Oden to land awkwardly and miss significant time. Now, Bynum has given a blatant cheap shot to Gerald Wallace, causing him a collapsed lung.

It would be interesting to look more closely at Bynum's play and find out how many times he puts people to the floor, because it is hard to believe these two incidents are the only times, although I concede it is possible.

Regardless, I hope the league reacts accordingly on the Wallace foul.

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I guess that it could be looked in to,

but I am not so sure that either times it was intentionally malicious. Someone in a post earlier attributed this to his lack of defensive awareness or something along those lines and I believe that that is more accurate. However, I think what is most accurate is that he just tried to keep Wallace from going up and he committed a stupid foul; he was not purposely trying to hurt him. Dumb play, that’s about it in my mind. The league should still suspend him though as a lesson to show him what is an appropriate way to foul.

by peseme16 on Jan 28, 2009 6:37 PM PST reply actions

Maybe.

He led with his elbow on that foul, which was pretty lame. Even if you want to keep a guy from getting to the basket you usually just wrap him up with your arms. I don’t think stopping him by slamming him in the side with a hard elbow is the way you’re supposed to do it.

It wasn’t the worst foul ever, but maybe worthy of a one day suspension.

by Nick Van Excellent on Jan 28, 2009 6:37 PM PST reply actions

It looks dirtier in slo-motion.

I think it was a bad foul.

ignacio

by ignacio on Jan 28, 2009 6:55 PM PST reply actions

I was watching the game live and I was surprised at how angry it made me

Intentional? Doubt it… Irresponsible….Absolutely….. Punishable? Hopefully.
He needs to learn a lesson.

Just like Kobe was suspended after two straight off hand clear outs that resulted in elbowing the opponent in the schnoz.

I'm a little confused by your tactics

by oderiferous emanations 74 on Jan 28, 2009 7:02 PM PST reply actions

I don't know if he's dirty

so much as he is sloppy. He’s a gigantic guy who came into the league very raw in terms of basketball skills, and he’s basically learning how to play on the job. The problem is when a guy that big doesn’t know what he’s doing/how to protect the other guys on the court (even when giving a hard foul) you can get some bad consequences. He’s a L*cker, so I already don’t like that about him, but I see more carelessness than malice in the stuff he’s done thus far that’s raised people’s ire.

Jerryd Bayless = Marlo Stanfield
- Early stage Marlo at this point, but Bayless is the emotionless killer new to the game. He will take over, and there will be causalties – it’s just a matter of time.

by blazeraddict on Jan 28, 2009 10:45 PM PST reply actions

dirty or sloppy

I dont care, he’s dangerous out there. Somebody needs to give him a taste of his own medicine. rec

by JRRIDER on Jan 29, 2009 9:02 AM PST reply actions

agreed

I guess that is my whole point. I can’t read the guy’s mind to know if he is trying to hurt anyone or just clumsy, but he is hurting people or significantly contributing to it, which significantly impacts teams while he sits one game or not at all? Isn’t there a point in which intent is not relevant, if it happens repeatedly?

by explicator on Jan 29, 2009 1:28 PM PST up reply actions

Oden's injury on opening day

Was NOT Bynum’s fault at all. Oden simply had an issue with proprioception (which is common when people first recover from serious injury – they just don’t have great awareness of where/how their body is positioned). Watch the replay – he just put his foot down awkwardly, that’s all. It wasn’t Bynum’s fault, and it wasn’t Derek Fisher’s fault either.

Remember the constant ankle sprains when Greg first came back? Are you going to blame all of those on Bynum too?

Yeah Bynum made a stupid foul on Wallace, but c’mon, no need to indict him or rewrite history over it.

MLB2PDX!!! (someday...)

by The Cactus Leaguer on Jan 29, 2009 10:12 AM PST reply actions

I'm sure he didn't intend to hurt anyone but,

sloppy physical play like that has been made into suspension stuff by the league. Either someone on some team needs to lay him out so he feels the pain too, or the league needs to suspend him, or the league could simply secretly let Los Angeles know that if this happens again there will be retribution.

He’s a young guy and he doesn’t seem malicious. But trying to be an enforcer like that when you can’t even control your own body is not okay.

And if we imagine Nash or Amare had been in Bynum’s place they would have received suspensions because the league office must “follow its clearly stated policy”, or because they “reviewed the tape and they are pretty sure they could read the offender’s mind.”

".. is gumby an alien?"

by staylost on Jan 29, 2009 11:06 AM PST up reply actions

Have you watched every Laker game?

In order to rewrite history, you first have to know it, which was the point of the post. I don’t watch Laker games, so I don’t know, but it seems odd 40 games into the season I know of two instances…. seems statistically likely there are others, which is a pattern, by definition.

Regarding Oden, he bear-hugged him intentionally to prevent him from elevating (which at the Y or at the park would result in a punch being thrown), and your stance is that had no impact on Oden being off-blance? Interesting.

by explicator on Jan 29, 2009 1:31 PM PST up reply actions

Have you ever watched an NBA game?

Bear hugging a player to prevent them from elevating happens about a half-dozen times every game. And you know what? By some miracle, people manage to deal with it without spraining their ankle. And punches rarely get thrown. Even at the Y, but maybe you play at a different Y.

I didn’t hear anyone attributing that injury to Bynum, did you? Watch the replay. Oden moved his leg but not his foot. Again, how is that Bynum’s fault?

MLB2PDX!!! (someday...)

by The Cactus Leaguer on Jan 29, 2009 6:29 PM PST up reply actions