Kurt from Forum Blue and Gold here, filling in for Henry today. I know I said we'd go light on the Lakers-centric posts, but did you see that game yesterday?

Lakers fans are talking about Christmas Day as if it was Andrew Bynum's national coming out party. From Kennebunkport to San Diego there were countless people sitting on their couch yesterday afternoon, trying to ignore their in-laws (or, more likely, their own family) and saying, "What? No football games today?" So they settled in on the NBA double-header and the second game, the Lakers win over the Suns.

By the end of the first quarter, when Bynum had seven points on three-of-three shooting, plus a couple big boards, those same people were saying, "Kobe wanted this guy traded?" By the end Bynum had 28 and 12, and was 11 of 13 from the floor. Against Amare. And while that was a great game for him, it is no longer atypical. He can do that nightly.

The journey for Bynum from gangly high school player to the "guy who can dunk any lob pass, no matter how errant" has been a long one. Not just for Bynum, but clearly for his teammates and Lakers fans.

Remember, when the Lakers drafted him it was the summer after The Forgotten Year -- the one year between Phil Jackson stints when Shaq was gone, Rudy T. was the coach and then wasn't, and when there was better defense being played by Staples Center parking attendants than inside the building. Lakers fans needed a ray of hope -- and the team drafted Bynum 10th overall. Fans showed up in droves to the Lakers Summer Pro League games (then played on the Long Beach State campus), maybe the largest crowds at that struggling league since the summer Kobe was drafted, all to get a glimpse of their new big man.

And what they saw was raw. A lion's lunch on the Serengeti raw. I sat under one basket for Bynum's first couple games, and watched him take a hook shot off the wrong foot and get pushed out of rebounding position by a 6-7 small forward. His conditioning was so bad he missed a couple of the seven games that summer. Fans came to see Bynum, they left talking about Ronny Turiaf's hustle and too-big heart.

As most everyone knows, the Lakers hired Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to work with Bynum (how could you not know, it was part of the NBA television contract the past two years that every time Bynum scored they had to flash to a shot of Kareem in the crowd). Bynum had a great moment with a drop-step dunk against Shaq, followed by giving Shaq and elbow running down the court. (That was just after Shaq dunked on Bynum, knocking him to the floor). But most of that season Bynum worked out and watched.

And all over the message boards, the comments were, "If you can get something good for him, ship out Bynum."

Last season, both Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown were out with injuries, and Bynum was forced into action he wasn't ready for. He put up eight points and six boards a night, but he was still weak, still got pushed around by smaller men on the block, and if he played more than 25-minutes a night looked like a guy who just finished his first marathon. Forget about back-to-backs.

And all over the message boards, impatient comments were saying, "Didn't you hear Kobe? Ship out Bynum."

But every time Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak was interviewed this turbulent past off-season and asked about Bynum, he'd say something along the lines of, "He's in here every day working out. We really like the kid." Meanwhile Bynum had shifted his summer routine from fundamentals and footwork to a serious conditioning plan. Bynum, for the first time, got in real NBA shape over the summer. When he showed up to training camp in Hawaii, his newfound physique turned teammates' heads.

Bynum has become a guy who plays to his strengths -- he's always around the basket. Almost all of his points are dunks because he got such good deep position, put backs or dunks off lobs or interior passes. He has a couple of pretty back-to-the-basket moves from the low block, and has learned to read his defenders body and take what they give him. And he runs the floor, like the 20-year-old he is.

To steal a note from KD -- remember that Bynum is just one month older than O.J. Mayo. Bynum still has plenty of holes in his game (not a great low-post defender, slow recognizing when to rotate on defense, no offensive game outside of six feet - fans wince when he tries to face up). But he also has plenty of time to fix them.

Nobody on any message board now is willing to let him go. Now it is Lamar Odom that gets the collar as the guy holding the franchise back from the next level, he's the guy mentioned in Simmonseque five-team trade scenarios.

As for Bynum, Lakers fans have grown to love him. And Kobe seems to be on board for that. Phil Jackson is trying to hold down expectations, but I think that ship has sailed in the overly optimistic, win-at-all-costs minds of Lakers fans.