Will Bynum: At the Point

Editor’s note: Pistons.com continues an eight-part series on the eight players from the Pistons’ NBA Las Vegas Summer League roster who have NBA futures. This week we’ll do daily stories on the three second-round draft picks, holdover center Cheikh Samb and free agent point guard Will Bynum. Next week we’ll post stories on the three players who figure to be part of the playing rotation – Rodney Stuckey, Arron Afflalo and Amir Johnson. In today’s Part II, we look at Will Bynum. Coming Wednesday: Trent Plaisted.
The Pistons thought former Illinois All-American Dee Brown was coming to Summer League with them and first in line to vie for the No. 3 slot at point guard behind Chauncey Billups and Rodney Stuckey. But when Washington offered Brown both a contract and a clearer path to playing time even before Summer League, the Pistons wasted no time in moving on to Will Bynum.

They acted with similar decisiveness in offering Bynum a guaranteed contract just hours after Summer League play wrapped up on July 20.

So it’s safe to say the Pistons saw what they were hoping to see in Bynum, a 2005 product of Georgia Tech who lifted the Yellowjackets to the 2004 NCAA title game with a driving last-second layup in a semifinal win over Oklahoma State.

That type of explosiveness and scoring ability is part of what attracted the Pistons to Bynum, but it’s been the willingness to adapt and focus on the defensive end that earned him his shot to stick in the NBA this time after a brief fling with Golden State in the 2005-06 season, when Bynum was also named NBA Development League Rookie of the Year.

“Just putting a whole bunch of pressure on the ball and trying to change the tempo of the game,” Bynum said in Las Vegas of his role. “I think that’s pretty much what I’ve got to be. I’ve got to focus every single possession on locking down my guy and putting a bunch of pressure on the ball.”

Bynum, who played with Euroleague power Maccabi Tel Aviv the last two seasons and turned down a lucrative offer in Italy to join the Pistons, averaged 11.8 points and 3.2 assists a game in Las Vegas, starting the final three games when Rodney Stuckey was idled by a minor toe injury. His seven steals tied for the team lead with Walter Sharpe.

Bynum’s season had just wound down in Israel in early July when he got an unexpected phone call from Joe Dumars, asking him if he’d like to come to Las Vegas for a chance to earn a spot in the NBA.

“It was a big shock,” Bynum said, “to get a call from a Hall of Fame player telling you he wants you to play for his team. It’s definitely a blessing. It’s a great opportunity for me.”

“Will has always been a guy that Joe has liked, as well as our staff, dating back to college when he was coming out,” Pistons vice president Scott Perry said. “I’ve watched him since he was a high school guy. Will has always been a guy with what we consider, even coming out, NBA offensive ability. The guy has a second gear. He can explode, he’s athletic, he can score, he can get in the lane and make plays – he’s always been able to do that.

“The things he had to work on when he didn’t stick around the league is defending the basketball, which he always could do but was maybe never required to do coming through high school and college, and becoming a little more responsible with the ball. He’s trying to shed himself of that and I think he’s done a nice job of that in his development.”

Bynum seemed humbled and appreciative of the opportunity the Pistons provided him and that went a long way toward convincing them that he would have the right makeup to accept the role being offered, even though Bynum has always been a big-time scorer who left the Chicago playgrounds as something of a legend.

“We all mature in life,” Perry said. “We all grow. Will is no different. Like most young kids who play, he had a dream of playing in the NBA. He got a taste of it in Golden State, but he had to go overseas, go to the D-League, go a tough route. You learn to appreciate things more. So when people tell him, because he’s a little smaller in size, ‘Hey, for you to stick on an NBA roster, you’re going to have to pick up defensively 94 feet and really get after people,’ he’s ready to do that. He accepts that.

“He’s got an opportunity now with us. He’s got a guaranteed contract and now it’s time to fulfill that dream of playing.”

Bynum has another fan in Pistons coach Michael Curry, who came to appreciate Bynum’s talents when Curry worked in NBA League Operations and spent considerable time working with D-League players and coaches.

“He’s made a concerted effort to get better defensively,” Curry said. “He’s playing the best defense I’ve ever seen him play. Sometimes he’s a little too aggressive, but we can bring that back. It’s harder to try to make a guy aggressive than calm him down.”

The role the Pistons foresee for Bynum is spot minutes behind Chauncey Billups and Rodney Stuckey, used similarly to the way they’ve employed Lindsey Hunter – coming on for four- or five-minute stretches to harass the opposition point guard and make it difficult to get into the half-court offense. Even if Hunter decides to come back and play one more season, the Pistons don’t want to put the 38-year-old veteran into a role that demanding over the course of 82 games.

But if Billups or Stuckey were to miss a week or two with a minor injury, Perry thinks Bynum would be capable of stepping up to No. 2 and giving the Pistons 12 or 15 solid minutes nightly.

“He’s got the ability to do that,” Perry said. “We looked at teams and their third point guards and went through that list of names. Hey, Will Bynum can play with that group. There’s no question in my mind.”