Bynum’s time has come early

Kwame Brown won’t be back until sometime next month, which means more time for the Lakers’ resident teenager.

In the Lakers’ perfect world, Andrew Bynum would have been a rotation player this season, picking up about 15 minutes a game while playing behind Brown and Chris Mihm.

That plan began to go asunder when Mihm underwent ankle surgery in November. Then Brown started the season with a shoulder injury and, more recently, has been sidelined because of a sprained ankle.

It has meant substantially more time than planned for Bynum, who has averaged 10.5 points and 8.7 rebounds in 28.6 minutes a game since Brown went down Dec. 31.

“We’ve always been concerned about Andrew’s amount of minutes,” Coach Phil Jackson said. “We don’t want him to have to play heavy minutes right now at this age. He’s a little bit young to be out there playing all those minutes. So far, we’ve got away with it this season. We’d like him to share the minutes. We’d like guys to be playing 20, 28 minutes. That I think would be the best growth pattern for a young man who’s still growing into his body.”

Jackson has picked at Bynum’s work ethic twice this season, including a sharp-edged critique earlier in the week in which he called Bynum “lackadaisical” and suggested that the 19-year-old pattern his discipline and learning curve after Tim Duncan and Yao Ming.

Bynum expressed surprise at Jackson’s comments, saying they hadn’t really talked about it. Despite complaining recently of minor tendinitis in his knees, Bynum said he didn’t feel fatigued because of the extra time.

“Hitting the wall is more of a mental wall anyway,” he said. “I’ve been getting a lot of time, now I’ve got to get more consistent. I have good games, like, every other game. Need more consistency.”

Bynum was on the inconsistent side Friday against Toronto, scoring two points on one-for-three shooting.

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Brian Cook checked into Friday’s game, without incident, with 10:13 left in the second quarter. He had seven points in 17 minutes a day after a bizarre flare-up with Jackson on the bench.

“Brian is a useful player and has done a lot of good things for us this year, and I’ll find a way to use him,” Jackson said.

Said Cook: “In any family, you’re going to have arguments.”

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In addition to Cook’s frustration, Jackson had to deal with a more minor conflict in Detroit.

He called the Pistons’ zone defense “weak” before the game, and Pistons Coach Flip Saunders fired back when told about it.

“Phil has yet to give anybody credit for anything, so, that’s fine,” Saunders said.

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Jackson took a jab at his own frontcourt when asked about rugged Chicago Bulls center Ben Wallace.

“His offensive rebounding was such an incredible energizer for [Detroit],” he said. “To get the ball again, people don’t understand how valuable that is. At least, my players don’t understand how valuable that is.”

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Toronto marked one of the few venues where Kobe Bryant was booed this season, presumably because of his 81-point effort last season against the Raptors.

He did have at least one fan in the building who held up a “Score 100, Kobe” sign. Another onlooker, apparently with a long memory, held up a markedly different sign: “No Shaq, No Ring.”

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mike.bresnahan@latimes.com