Bynum has setback, says other knee hurting also
Andrew Bynum says he's had a setback to get on the court with the Sixers, saying there is swelling and cartilage damage in left knee.
Bynum has setback, says other knee hurting also
Bob Cooney
And the mystery surrounding Andrew Bynum and his knees continues.
Bynum met with the media a couple of minutes ago and said:
"I had a little bit of a setback. Just working through some issues with the right knee I kind of have a mirror thing going on with the left knee. I don't know what's going on. The doctors are saying it's a weakened cartilage state so we kind of wait, I guess. We can't do anything. I just have to wait for the cartilage to get strong."
"It's the same exact spot (as the right knee) with the cartilage. Just doing routine things and it started swelling up. No blunt force injury or anything like that. It's the same timetable still."
The team announced earlier this week that Bynum would hopefully be back on the court around December 10 and then have up to a month to get himself in shape and then return to the club. Whether this latest setback hinders that, Bynum would not say that, more because it seemed he just doesn't know. He will continue with swimming and other low impact excersizing.
"Both knees are swelling, but we've got it under control. (The pain is ok when doing) every day activities. The more I do the higher it is. Actually this is a weird issue. I've never had any cartilage issues. I had a meniscus thing but that's fine, we don't know what's going on. It's just from running and playing basketball (for years). I didn't twinst my knee or anything like that."
(UPDATE 6:56 P.M.:) From Tony DiLeo:
From our point of view it’s a situation where we have to continue to be patient. We want to be cautious. We’re looking long term not short term and big picture. We’re going to do what is best for Andrew and best for the organization and try to get him as healthy as he can be and try to get him back on the court when he is ready.
His body will be the indicator, when he’s feeling good, when that pain subsides from his knees when he can step up in his rehab and do more strenuous activities, that will be the indicator. A date is very difficult, as you know. We just want to get him healthy and get him out there when he’s ready. We think we have a good team now and when he’s ready to get out there we’ll have a better team. In the end we want to see our complete team with Andrew out there.
Plain and simple we’re trying to rehab his knees so they’re healthy and he can get out there and play like he did last season. That’s our goal. When he’s ready, and it’s hard to predict when he’ll be ready, hopefully sooner than later. Main concern is Andrew’s health. Main concern is big picture. We want to have a long relationship with him.
I think it’s the same time table because both knees have to heal. That’s what we’re going with. When the pain subsides, when he can do more strenuous activities, when we can get him out on the court to basketball activities we’ll know a lot more.
He’ll be reevaluated in mid-December, he’ll have another MRI and we’ll see what the progress is. The players have to be confident that they can play. You cannot ask a player to play injured. Whenever he feels confident that he can get out there and he’s healthy and he can help the team, we both want the same goal. We don’t want a player going out there injured and maybe creating more injury or more damage. This is a situation when he feels confident, when the doctors feel confident that everything’s OK, that’s when he’ll be back on the court.
He saw his doctor a couple of days ago. He had an MRI on his left knee.
And I hope Bynum gets a refund for those Synvisc injections. They obviously are not working! Maybe even file a lawsuit against that quack in Germany for that fake plasma therapy.— scootch- Bynum had the ortho treatment in Sep on both knees,designed to increase cartilage. But,in Bynum`s case it seems to have produced bone bruise,and inflamation. The question now is will it be chronic,or subside. Either the treatment wasn`t done properly or Bynum`s body had a bad reaction to it.— boogsbell
- Man, this being a die hard Sixer fan is just torture....doesn't the law of averages say at some point we get a break or is our scouting department just that awful that we can't stumble into a good trade? I mean how many broken down stiffs can one team possibly sign in a decade?— dave13
- Bye Bye Bynum. I think Bynum just doesn't want to play. Clearly a no soap radio situation if there ever was one.— zen
- Chris Weber -- Elton Brand -- Andrew Bynum =. Front court for the All-Orthopedic Squad— zen
- I don't believe that Bynum just doesn't want to play here. If this is a ploy to get out of town, it's going to blow up in his face. He's costing himself millions by not playing. He has every reason to be out there playing through injuries.
Anyway, if this is how it will be, he's gone next year and the Sixers will have cap space to find someone else.— Steve2181 - At least we got 5 games out of Ruland! This lazy stiff doesn't want to play ball.— vietnamvet
- I think his knees also do not like the hair he was sporting the other day.— WantToKnow
- Damaged goods, nullify the trade!— Bills41
- Come on people. This guy has to want to play. Last year of his current contract. His entire future and future money depends on what he does this year. Sixers mistake trading for damaged goods.— RobertB
- It's amazing how people are falling into his trap. This is a bad dude that cares for NO ONE but himself. Watch his Miraculous recovery in late February in time for teams to see how he can play and get him his big FA signing. This guy is a THUG that they should have never touched.— pnolan
- It's pretty obvious that this new ownership used the same hype in selling the public Andrew Bynum that they used to sell public derivatives. There is a reason Los Angeles let Bynum go at age 24. I guess they did not see a future with those tricked knees.— Anne Arkey
- This guy isn't going to play more than 20 games this season, bank on it. I think it's time the Sixers look at the roster and blow it up. It's time to trade all the veterans. This team needs to stockpile young players and draft picks for the future. They'll be terrible this year, and next year most likely. But we need to find a roster that has some room to grow. Find your core and build around them, and give up on short-term goals.— fightonphilly
- New owners same old stuff getting damage goods when will it stop. I hope they've played it safe and didn't bet the house on this guy. The old owner staff made bad picks for years don't tell me this will be the same.— JBA
- If it looks like a dog, and walks like a dog and acts like a dog, its a dog.— alak0926
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.
