Video: Sixers center Andrew Bynum provided another update on the progress of his knees. The Daily News' Bob Cooney reports from practice.
Video: The inconsistent 76ers have not lived up to expectations this season. CineSport's Noah Coslov and the Daily News' Bob Cooney discuss this, Andrew Bynum and the team's offensive woes.
Bob Cooney
HOUSTON: To many, Jrue Holiday is still a kid. At 22, he sort of is, and he was acting it Friday. That’s because he was being paraded around Houston with Kobe Bryant and LeBron James and Dwyane Wade and Kevin Durant. For once he wasn’t an opponent of those stars, instead he was a peer, a fellow All-Star. And that fact couldn’t wipe the smile off Holiday’s face.
“It’s crazy, the attention that you get is kind of overwhelming,” he said. “You get in there ( a back room) and you hanging with all the guys, LeBron and them…I mean, K.G.’s (Kevin Garnett) been doing this for like 15 years. It’s cool to see how they handle and react to it. I’m just trying to suck it all in. I’m a goofball, so I’ll be goofing around. If my man E.T. (Evan Turner) was here it would have been a lot more fun.”
He is also happy to learn any lessons he can into being a better player. He pointed out Western Conference starter Chris Paul as someone he looks up to.
Bob Cooney
Another update from Andrew Bynum before the 76ers-Clippers game, and another Q and A that produced some more head scratching about the condition of his knees, particularly the left one that has been giving the 7-footer the most pain of late.
Bynum seemed optimistic about the fact that he had been on the court Saturday and Sunday, getting in workouts up to 2 hours. He said in those sessions he was able to do some defensive slides, dunk the ball, run up and down the court and perform post up moves.
Then a bit later, he admitted that the pain was too severe in the left knee to allow any optimism or a time frame as to when he may be back.
Video: The 76ers defeated the Magic, 78-61 but the win came at a cost after Thaddeus Young strained his hamstring diving for a loose ball. The Daily News' Bob Cooney reports.
Bob Cooney
There is no denying that on December 7th, 2009 the Wells Fargo Center had as much electricity running through the stands as it has at any time since, maybe more. That includes the Game 6 win that propelled the Sixers past the Chicago Bulls and into the second round of the playoffs last season. It also the Game 6 win over the Boston Celtics that tied the series at 3 games apiece and inched the Sixers towards an improbable chance at playing in the Eastern Conference final (they didn’t, of course, as they fell to the Celtics in Boston).
When the Sixers played their 21st game of the season that year, the next to last starter introduced was Allen Iverson, back to the team where he spent 10-plus electrifying seasons. The crowd greeted him with a hero’s welcome as the then-34 year-old returned not as a marketing ploy but as a player the organization thought could help a floundering team.
He couldn’t. And he most certainly can’t now.
Bob Cooney
“Exciting. Exciting.”
Those were the words after Sunday’s 76ers practice at Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine from associate head coach Michael Curry. He wasn’t talking about the 97-80 pasting the team put on the visiting New York Knicks on Saturday night, but rather about the prospect of Andrew Bynum returning to the team. Bynum ran as hard as any media has seen him so far on the anti gravity treadmill Sunday, and Friday he was alone on the court practicing some hard low-post spin moves, making hard plants and turns on each of his fragile knees. A return to the court and his debut with the Sixers seems to be a real hope right now. Bynum has stated his hope is to come back sometime around the mid-February All-Star break.
“We were talking about Andrew (Saturday) night where people have to understand that you totally change the personnel that you’ve got to play when he’s on the court and you totally change how you are going to have to guard. You’re not going to trap Jrue (Holiday) if Andrew is in the pick and roll and he (Bynum) rolls you can’t just have a man pick him up.
Bob Cooney
The 76ers paid over $16 million (and dealt a lot of players) to have Andrew Bynum on their team this season. We know that hasn’t turned out very well as he’s been sidelined with knee injures basically since being acquired in August.
To try and quicken his return, the organization invested in a state-of-the-art anti-gravity treadmill that will alleviate up to 80 percent of the person’s body weight. The estimated cost of that piece of equipment has been guessed to be close to $60,000. Now as Bynum is working towards a return that he predicts could come around the All-Star break (mid-February), the new machine is breaking down.
Someone in the Sixers’ financial offices can’t be happy. But a return of Bynum will certainly make everyone in the organization a little more joyful, and the mammoth center said before Monday’s Sixers-San Antonio game that he thinks he’s still on target for that mid-February debut.
Bob Cooney
Early in training camp, Sixers coach Doug Collins and his assistants loaded into an SUV after practice and headed to an Eagles practice as a guest of coach Andy Reid. Collins not only came away from that practice with respect for the Eagles' coaching staff, but also with a new friendship - with Reid.
Collins talked of Reid's professionalism, attention to detail and focus. So when the Eagles fired the 14-year head coach, Collins felt the pain that Reid no doubt absorbed.
Since Reid's hiring by the Kansas City Chiefs, Collins has been sporting a Chiefs hat. It's a show of support for his new friend. But Collins is still an Eagles fan, also, and will support their new coach.
Video: The Sixers fall to the Hornets, 111-99, at the Wells Fargo Center. The Daily News' Bob Cooney breaks down the Sixers struggles on defense.
Bob Cooney has been at the Daily News for more than 20 years, working in the sports department for the past 15. This is his third season on the Sixers beat. He has covered just about everything, but mostly college basketball, where he was the La Salle beat writer for six seasons. E-mail Bob at cooneyb@phillynews.com and follow him on Twitter.
