Andrew Bynum is better than Dwight Howard

Sike.

Only if I'm bleeding from the top of my head would I seriously say something like that. Dwight Howard is better than Andrew Bynum, and if I ever change that statement, you'll know that something has gone terribly, terribly wrong in either Dwight Howard's career or my mental state.

But when I watch Andrew Bynum play, I see him doing some of the things that I want to see from Dwight Howard. No, not pouting or getting shoved out of the way. I'm talking about post moves. For the first six to eight minutes of every Lakers game, Andrew Bynum is one of the top three centers in the league.

The Lakers throw the ball into Bynum, he sets up and he goes to work. Hookshots, drop steps, up-and-unders; he's a "Dream Shake" away from being Hakeem Olajuwon. He follows shots, he rebounds, he changes the shots of opponents...and then after the first eight minutes are up, he's done for the night. If Lakers' games were only one quarter long, the Lakers would have lost about two games all season and Bynum would have been in MVP contention.

But Dwight Howard is a real center, so I try not to hold it against him. He's a center like Bill Russell was a center; defending the basket, cleaning the glass, slapping stickers of his face on the backboard. Just like Russell.

Still, he manages to get it done on offense. He's got pretty good running hook, he can jump over everyone on the court, and he can hit most of his free throws. Sure, 59% isn't a great average, but it still counts as "most."

When I watch Bynum, though, it makes me wonder what might have been or what is yet to come, with the right coaching. When you're drafting centers out of high school, it's all going to come down to coaching. It's not like there are a lot of former centers coaching high school to impart their wisdom onto the next generation of big men. In fact, so many of today's centers are so unskilled, it makes me wonder what they're really doing at Pete Newell's Big Man Camp.

If only they all could learn from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, like Bynum does. I actually look forward to watching Bynum play for those first six to eight minutes, because he plays like some of the great centers of the past. He has real post moves. He's an actual offensive threat, without settling for midrange jumpers like Yao Ming. And Kareem got that out of Andrew Bynum. Imagine what he could do with Dwight Howard.

Not that Patrick Ewing has done a bad job coaching up Howard, because he was starting with almost nothing himself. It's just that his "nothing" was able to slap anyone's shot into the eighth row. But Ewing didn't exactly have a ton of moves when he played, so what exactly was he going to teach Howard? The hook and the midrange jumper. Just look at his previous project, Yao Ming. 19.7 of the softest points per game you'll ever see.

But Dwight Howard is built to bang inside, to use the skills that Bynum is learning. Howard shouldn't be out shooting 17-footers, but that's where he'll eventually wind up. I know about how it draws opposing centers out from the basket, but banging inside helps you pick up fouls and draw double-teams. Plus, if Howard's not rebounding because he's shooting jumpers, then who will? Rashard Lewis can't do it because he's out even further from the basket than Howard would be.

Like I said, I'm not knocking Patrick, because he's done well with Howard. It's not like he's the guy who coached Robert Swift or whoever crushed Kwame Brown's spirit. It's just that I hope to get to see a Dwight Howard coached by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. How Kareem doesn't have at least an assistant coaching job in this league is beyond me.