Andrew Bynum may have troubles with his NBA career, but it is not too late to overcome this.
On Tuesday night, Bynum made his Pacers debut in a 94-83 win over the visiting Boston Celtics. The early returns were quite positive. In just 16 minutes, Bynum logged eight points (3-of-4 FG) and 10 rebounds (three offensive). He also dunked on his first touch.
That’s not to say that everything Bynum did was excellent. He also committed three turnovers, a lackluster mark given his limited minutes. More importantly, Bynum did not always move particularly well on defense. Knowing head coach Frank Vogel’s focus, we can safely assume that Bynum’s defensive abilities will determine his playing time more than anything else.
But those per-minute stats don’t lie, and the Pacers have reason to think that Bynum can be a contributor moving forward. At the same time, we didn’t see a ton of evidence that Bynum is anything more than a decent backup to Roy Hibbert. The Pacers didn’t acquire a star-in-waiting. The good news is that, with Ian Mahinmi out with injury and the team in the midst of a middling run of form, adding a solid role player could do Indiana a lot of good.