Praising Bynum

It's ancient history, of course. But keep in mind that Kobe Bryant was so unhappy with Andrew Bynum that he allowed himself to be captured on amateur videotape in a Newport Beach parking lot blasting his teammate in profane terms in the offseason of 2007. "Ship his (rear) out of here," Bryant said during his famous rant.

Well, after Bynum dropped a career-high 42 points on the Clippers in the Lakers' victory Wednesday night, Bryant had nothing but praise for the 21-year-old center. It's not the first time he's spoken highly of Bynum, and it might not be the last either.

Anyway, here's some of what Bryant had to say about Bynum late Wednesday night:

"It's just a natural evolution of a player. The more you play, the better you get. Obviously, there's a lot of pressure on him. The coaching staff puts on a lot of pressure, and I do too, because we expect so much from him. He's going to continue to progress and get better."

And there was this:

"Oh sure, we kept encouraging him. Me, in particular, and kept hyping him up, because I was proud of the way he was playing. I think it's great for him. If you ask him I don't think he's surprised that he did it. I think he knew he could do it. I was more pleased to see how he controlled the lane, how he was blocking shots."

And there was more:

"His offense if just an added bonus. When a team is going to play him one-on-one or trap me off of pick-and-rolls and leave him, then we make them pay. It's clear to the
rest of the league that if they leave him, he's going to make them pay. If they leave Pau (Gasol), Pau's going to make them pay."