Lakers are banking on Bynum

Survey: Now that Kobe Bryant has arrived at camp, what's the biggest question facing the Los Angeles Lakers?

HONOLULU - He is the future and, as such, the Los Angeles Lakers want to keep Andrew Bynum in the fold.

So sometime before the end of the month, the Los Angeles Lakers will pick up Andrew Bynum's $2.7 million option for the 2008-09 season.

The deadline to secure the deal is Oct. 31. If the Los Angeles Lakers were to miss it, Andrew Bynum would become an unrestricted free agent after this season.

But no one expects that to happen with Andrew Bynum, the Los Angeles Lakers' lottery pick in the 2005 draft, especially since they have refused to trade their promising center despite frequent overtures this summer.

"He was our starting center last year for most of the season," General Manager Mitch Kupchak said, "so I don't think to presume that we would pick it up would be a stretch."

Andrew Bynum, who'll turn 20 on Oct. 27, started 53 games last season and played in all 82. After this season, the Los Angeles Lakers can give Andrew Bynum a five-year extension for the maximum of about $75 million.

But before that, they want to see more growth out of him.

"They haven't talked to me about anything," Andrew Bynum said. "I just want to play my best and hope that I'll be here for my whole career."

Kwame: Clean as a What?

Another troublesome incident involving Kwame Brown gave Coach Phil Jackson more ammunition to use against his embattled center.

On Tuesday night Kwame Brown finally told Jackson he had been arrested in Valdosta, Ga., early Saturday morning for disorderly conduct and interfering with a police officer's investigation.

Kwame Brown has had several run-ins with trouble while with the Los Angeles Lakers the past two years, leaving many to ask Jackson if he has figured out what makes Kwame Brown tick.

"Are you talking about on the basketball court or off the court?" Jackson said, laughing. "Kwame is one of those guys that wants to have a good time, wants to have fun playing basketball and off the court, too."

Last season Kwame Brown grabbed a birthday cake from a man in Hermosa Beach and threw it on the ground. No charges were filed, but Kwame Brown bought the man tickets to a Los Angeles Lakers game and paid for his dinner.

During the 2006 playoffs, Kwame Brown was charged with sexual assault against a woman. But those charges were dropped.

Now Kwame Brown, who's in the last year of a contract that pays him $9 million this season, has something else hanging over his head.

"I've always been clean as a whistle," said Kwame Brown, 25. "The truth always comes out."

Mihm Update

A day after his first practice, Chris Mihm reported that his ankle was a "little stiff" but that he was OK.

Mihm, who missed all of last season recovering from his second right ankle surgery, is in competition with Andrew Bynum and Kwame Brown for the starting center spot and has looked sharp in practice.

Up-Tempo Triangle

The Los Angeles Lakers still will run the triangle offense, even moving Kobe Bryant back to the role of a facilitator rather than on the wing, but look for them to be more up-tempo and to do more fast-breaking.

"We're trying to maximize our scoring opportunities," Jackson said.

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