John Bynum is a retired 37 year old 191 cm guard from Visalia California that is looking to get into coaching. He came out of a short retirement in 2013 and played for New Energie Elephants Grevenbroich (Germany-Regionalliga) before leaving in January 2014. In the 2012-2013 season he played for BV Chemnitz 99 (Germany-ProA): 21 games: 11.8ppg, 5.2rpg, 3.6apg, 1.5spg, FGP: 50.8%, 3PT: 15.4%, FT: 62.2%. with TBB Trier playing 32 games: 6.3ppg, 3.0rpg, 1.8apg, FGP: 39.9%, 3PT: 28.6%, FT: 63.6%. He played college basketball at College of the Sequoias Junior College:from 1996-1998 and then transferred to Metropolitan St. (NCAA2): and played there from 1998-2000. He started his professional basketball career in 2001 in the Uk for the Solent Stars (United Kingdom-NBLConf): 31 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assist. In 2002-2003, came his first tour of duty in Germany for BSG Grevenbroich (Germany-Regionalliga): 24.7ppg, 9.2rpg, 6.7apg, 3.5spg. In 2003-2004, he played for the Ulriken Eagles (Norway-BNLO): Regular Season: 14 games: 20,1ppg, 8,1rpg, 2,5apg, 2,9spg, 0,4bpg.In 2004-2005, he was back in Germany playing for BSG Grevenbroich (Germany-2. can Bundesliga): 30 games: Score-5(26.0ppg), 7.7rpg, Ast-4(5.4apg), 1.7spg, 2FGP: 55.5%, 3FGP: 33.3%, FT: 63.6%. In 2005-2006, he played for InterCollege Etha Engomis (Cyprus-A1): only pre-season, then joined COOCOON Baskets Weiden (Germany-2.Bundesliga, starting five): 8 games: 15.6ppg, 5.9rpg, 2.0apg, 1.6spg, 2FGP: 51%, left in Jan.’06 and later that month signed at Eisbaeren Bremerhaven (Germany-1.Bundesliga): 21 games: 7.8ppg, 2.6rpg, 1.8apg, 2FGP: 56.5%. In 2006-2007, he played for the Eisbaeren Bremerhaven (Germany-1.Bundesliga): 31 games: 5.7ppg, 2.0rpg, 2.2apg, 2FGP: 43.1%, 3FGP: 25.0%, FT: 55.9%. In 2007-2008, he played for USC Heidelberg (Germany-ProA, starting five): 14 games: 14.4ppg, 4.4rpg, Assists-5(4.6apg), 2.3spg, 2FGP: 54%, 3FGP: 27.3%, FT: 58.5%, left in Jan.’08 due to shoulder injury, in Feb.’08 moved to Digibu Baskets Paderborn (Germany-1.Bundesliga, starting five): 13 games: 6.3ppg, 3.0rpg, 2.4apg, 2FGP: 51.8%, 3PT: 14.3%, FT: 70.0%. In 2009-2010, he played in the PRO A for Proveo Merlins Crailsheim (Germany-ProA) 27 games: 16.9ppg, 7.1rpg, Assists-3(5.4apg), 1.1spg, FGP: 51.8%, 3PT: 25.0%, FT: 62.8%. He played for TBB Trier from 2010-2012. He spoke to German Hoops about his future aspirations.
John thanks for talking to German Hoops. Where are you at the moment and how has your summer been?
Thank you for the interview Miles. My summer was short but as usual nothing beats California during the summer time. At the moment I am in the city I grew up in Visalia, California just getting ready for the upcoming junior college basketball season as I run my own news service www.signalthelightbasketball.com which covers mens junior college basketball within the state of California. So for the next six months it is going to be a lot of writing articles and a lot of watching basketball up and down the state.
The new season in Germany has already started in the Pro A and Pro B and BBL starts Friday. This is the second autumn where you aren´t on a professional basketball team since you retired from the game. Does missing the game get a bit easier as time goes by?
To be honest, it has got harder as time has gone by and I do miss it a little bit more this season than the first season sitting out. I mean at first I didn’t really think about it because I thought about how my career ended. The thought of that situation did not make me think about it but looking back now how I handled things and realize I should have appreciated a lot more towards the end of my career. I thought more about the things I didn’t have instead of enjoying the experience and seeing the bigger picture. I think more than anything it has made me appreciate things. Plus, I had to transition my life without basketball so without having a career and trying to find out what I was going to do without playing ball, I didn’t really think about missing it.