In This Corner

Asked about Bynum's upper limits, Phil all but sighed before answering.

"When I was reviewing the tape and I heard (Lakers television announcer) Joel Meyers say, 'Get used to this, he’s going to be a 20 and 10 guy every night,' or something like that. That’s way too much pressure to put on this guy. Twenty and 10 is not even a mark we need to start prepping our audience for. Ten rebounds, yeah. Scoring-wise, he’s going to get points just being around the basket and getting feeds from his teammates. Like he is now.

"As his development comes, offensively, when he starts doing things where he can make moves and get a base and know where the spacing is ... those are all things that are going to come in time. Just have to wait. Right now, we’re pleased with the fact that he’s really a good defender and in the fact that he plugs the lane, does some good things on screen rolls at times and is effective at changing shots ... and the rebounds he gets are a big plus for our team."

Asked about his energy level, Jackson said, "He actually broke out in a run the other night, really, which is
something we’re always prodding him to get up and run. The other thing we’ve been working on is to take a charge. Those little things are developmental features of a player who has to be defensively sound. Get back on defense, gotta change the course of the game ...

"As a defensive center you have to do two things, take a charge and block a shot. And clog the lane. That’s part of it. Andrew is still learning those kinds of things. Those are the things we’re pleased he’s making attempts to do that. ... That was an area where he couldn’t quite break free and get out of the mode that he was in, that loaf that he was in, whatever."

Asked if he's in better shape, and how much impact his work with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has had:

"Andrew’s had a guy in here helping him work out. He’s had an effect on Andrew’s energy, working hard, putting him through paces five hours a day. Skill-wise, I don’t know what effect that guy has had on
him. Kareem, skill-wise ... there are things Andrew is learning from Kareem, but learning it, having to do it, recognizing, that process is slow."

Has he made a breakthrough?

"We just said last year that if he grows as much as he did from the beginning of last year and the end of last year, this season, you know, we can be competitive. We can actually think we can go out and compete and win some playoff games. We’re one third of the way through the season. We’ve still got a ways to go to see where’s he’s gonna be as far as his development. We’re really happy he can play the amount of minutes he can play."

About his lack of consistency:

"Everything has been done to accelerate Andrew’s development, from this organization bending over backwards to accommodate and we’re hopeful it doesn’t change the way he acts as a person. Some people
haven’t responded well because they’re too young and too pampered. Hopefully, Andrew is one of those guys who understand what the processis and grows into it."

Asked if someday the idea of trading Bynum for Jason Kidd would be ludicrous"

"It’s not ludicrous. Jason Kidd is an MVP player, a competitor to the gills. Any time a guy is a competitor to that level, there’s nothing that’s ludicrous about it."

Even after the game, Phil went out of his way to minimize Bynum's contributions.

"At the end of the year, if he is the MVP, then we'll say what a great year he's had."

Phoenix coach Mike D'Antoni wasn't as circumspect.

"Bynum killed us," he said. "I don't know if he's up and coming ... he's there. The guy scores 28 with 11, 12, 13 rebounds. I don't know. I hope he's not up and coming."