Bynum on the phone line

It was 9 a.m. Manila time last Thursday and Andrew Bynum was on the phone line in a conference call arranged by NBA Asia’s director of business development and marketing partnerships and Philippine country manager Carlo Singson and NBA Asia’s director of marketing communications Sheila Rasu.

Bynum was in Los Angeles where the time was 5 p.m. and took in questions fired by 10 journalists from Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, Korea and the Philippines invited to participate in the conference call. Dino Maragay of philstar.com, Carlo Pamintuan of Solar Sports and I spoke for the Philippines. Sheila acted as moderator. The participants were asked to email three questions to NBA Asia the day before. Before opening the call to the participants, Sheila asked Bynum selected sent-in questions which he fielded gamely.

The opportunity to interview Bynum was appropriately timed since he’s playing in his first All-Star Game – as a starter, no less – on Feb. 26 in Orlando. With New York guard Jeremy Lin’s ascendancy as a celebrity player, the NBA should take the cue and arrange a similar conference call to feature the Knicks’ new poster boy involving Asian journalists sooner than later. Lin will also be involved in the All-Star Weekend, playing in the Shooting Stars competition and the Rising Stars Game pitting rookies against sophomores.

Using the conference call as a bridge to link Asian journalists to NBA players is a perfect way to make a closer connection between the league and coverors from the other side of the world. As the shortened regular season nears the playoffs, the race to advance will be tighter and more exciting, leading to lots of juicy storylines which could be take-off points for future conference calls.

Bynum, 24, has a well-entrenched place in NBA history. He’s the youngest player ever drafted and the youngest ever to play in a game at 18 years, six days old. Because the NBA has instituted a rule disallowing players to apply for the draft straight out of high school, it appears unlikely Bynum’s recognition will ever be taken away. Bynum went from high school to the NBA in 2005, the last year the jump was allowed. Jermaine O’Neal, Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady, LeBron James and Kevin Garnett were older when they made their NBA debuts.

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Bynum is the Los Angeles Lakers’ third leading scorer this season behind Bryant and Pau Gasol. He’s averaging 16.3 points and 12.6 rebounds. On a one-on-one basis, Bynum is a far cry from East starting center Dwight Howard. Bynum got the fans’ nod to start for the West almost by default. Howard polled 1,600,390 votes compared to Bynum’s 1,051,945. Bryant got 1,555,479 votes. Second in the West starting center poll was DeAndre Jordan with only 322,056 votes. The other West center vote-getters were Marc Gasol, Nene, Marcin Gortat and Kendrick Perkins. Marc made it as a reserve in the West All-Star lineup but none of the others was seriously considered.

I asked Bynum whom he would like to have been added to the West roster. “Just Pau Gasol,” he replied. “That’s my teammate, a great friend. I think if our record was better, he would have definitely gotten in and he definitely deserves it.” Inserting Marc in the cast instead of older brother Pau raised not a few eyebrows.

I also asked Bynum, through a sent-in email, how he anticipates playing alongside Blake Griffin and if they would gang up on Howard. “He (Griffin) definitely has got game,” said Bynum. “He’s able to pass the ball, block shots. Obviously, he jumps out of the gym so it will definitely be an exciting game. I’m looking forward to playing with all the teammates.” As for ganging up on Howard together, Bynum had no comment.

Bynum thanked his Asian fans for voting him in the West starting lineup. “It feels great,” he said. “Basically, it’s a nice dot on the ‘i’ and a cross on the ‘t’ for my career. It’s always been a dream of mine to be an All-Star in the league and I’m just happy to have fans who appreciate my game and definitely voted me in. Especially, a large thanks to the Asian public for having my back.”

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Regarding the critical role of centers in the league, Bynum said nearly every team that has won a championship featured a prominent big man. “I think we’re going to see that more and more, majority of the time,” he said. “I’d say most of the teams that have won all the way coming up through time have had big, big centers so I think it’s definitely a key to have big players who can defend and rebound, especially in the Finals. Growing up, the All-Star I idolized had to be Shaq. He was always a dominant All-Star, dunking on people crazy. Double, triple team him, didn’t really matter, he was always able to go out there and bang out on people and block shots. It makes me feel great (Shaq recently said Bynum is the NBA’s best big man today). I feel honored that he feels that way. I think he sees potential. It’s always good to have somebody like that on your side. Also, in playing against him, we always had nice conversations on the court and just develop a little bit of a relationship, so it’s pretty cool that he feels that way.”

Bynum said he has no regrets going straight from high school to the pros. “I think it’s great to get in early because the league is different from high school,” he said. “It’s different from college, it’s just a different experience all in itself and the quicker you can get to learn, the more you can adapt to it. I think if you’re ready and you’re able, you have the talent enough to make that jump, it’s definitely worth doing it because you’re learning what you need to learn at a young age which is great.”

As for ending his NBA career with the Lakers, Bynum said that’s his hope. “I want to be in L.A. as long as they’ll have me,” he said. “That’s just the way it is. There’s no other team to go to. I already started at the top and we are the franchise in NBA basketball and there’s just kind of how it is. I wouldn’t want to go anywhere.” With the Lakers, Bynum has earned two championship rings.