Detroit Pistons Player Profile: Will Bynum
By Corey Young
Mar 13, 2013; Oakland, CA, USA; Detroit Pistons point guard Will Bynum (12) drives in ahead of Golden State Warriors point guard Jarrett Jack (2) during the second quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
In my next installment of the Detroit Pistons roster breakdown we will look at recently resigned Will Bynum. We look at how he will fit in and what we can expect from Will Bynum.
Will Bynum Background
Will Bynum was born on January 4, 1983 in Chicago, Illinois and went to Crane High School. He signed with the University of Arizona before transferring to Georgia Technical University leading them to the Final Four in 2005. With his college eligibility expired Bynum went in the 2005 NBA draft. Bynum is listed at 6ft and 185lbs.
Professional Ranks
Bynum was signed by the Boston Celtics as an undrafted free agent but waived before the start of the season and subsequently played for the Roanoke Dazzle in the NBA Developmental league (also known as the D League) and was Rookie of the Year for the 2005-2006 season. After the D league ending Bynum was signed in Golden State Warriors and participated in 15 games. The 2006-2008 seasons was a change for Bynum as took his professional game to Maccabi Tel Aviv in Tel Aviv, Israel. He averaged 10.6ppg and 3apg. In 2008 Bynum was signed the Detroit Pistons and has career milestones and he has the single quarter record all time scoring 26 points in one quarter. He also is the first player since Isiah Thomas to get more than 20 assists in a game. Bynum career with Detroit Pistons has yielded averages of 8ppg, 3apg, while averaging about 18 minutes per game.
Bynum Game
Bynum is a deadly duo option because you never know when he will get to the rim at random or make the highlight reel pass to an open teammate. Bynum is one of the if not the best passer on the team and gets the offense set up consistently and it flows pretty well. If you looked at highlight tapes of the Detroit Pistons most of the alley-oop lobs passes come from Bynum showing his ability to find open teammates and understand where his team is and what the defense is doing. Bynum drives pretty well to the rim but for Bynum to take that next step I truly believe he needs to improve his outside shot to keep defenses from playing off of him so far to open up the lanes. He did shoot a career high .469% from the field this last season but I would like to see his 3pt% go up a bit to help spacing.
What to Expect?
Bynum can get hot from the field and go unconscious at times carrying the load for a team in spurts and I’ve seen people compare to the Vinnie “the Microwave” Johnson and although I see the comparison it’s hard for me as a fan of the Bad Boy Pistons to say anyone can compare to “the Microwave.” I fully expect for Bynum to get about 18 mpg which is the same as last year and depending on how well he does he can increase or decrease his minutes even though the backcourt is loaded I can’t really see anyone taking his minutes because I feel as though the Pistons will attempt to deal a few players from the backcourt to try to bring in better talent.
Overall
Bynum is a key cog and a valuable back-up to the Pistons and if he can continue to improve outside shot I could see him getting more minutes as the season progress because he is such a floor general and a valuable asset it’s hard to keep someone with that ability on the bench. The resigning of Chauncey Billups and the added depth of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope or Rodney Stuckey off the bench can provide us with much needed depth so if injuries, slumps, trades or etc happens we should feel very well about are depth with all the proven talent. One thing is for certain due to all of the bolstering of the Detroit Pistons roster my expectations are to be in the playoffs and to win at least 42 games but I’m expecting even more than that.
Randomness
I do not have a nickname for Will Bynum yet so I would like the fans of the great site of Detroitjockcity.com to suggest a nickname. I would like to take the top three and have some fan interaction so post multiple times.