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.
i said it before---andrew bynum==JEFF RULAND— cheffred- Unbelievable...NO....actually, very believable! The Lakers set us up, dangled what we were to believe was..."the #2 center in the ENTIRE NBA!" What did we do, we jumped on the BYNUM BUS, gased it up, & off to LA ! All the while, everybody in LAKERVILLE can't wait for us to get there! Hmmmm? I wonder why? Could it be,the DH EXPRESS from ORLANDO was due to touch down at the STAPLES CENTER any day? Hmmmm?! The Laker's knew they couldn't GET HOWARD THE DUCK, if they still had BABY HUEY, so,the latter must go! But WHO ? Hmmm? The Rockets, the Mav's, Oh, wait a minute, they said, doesn't Andrew have family in Jersey? Yes, Yes, that's it, the Nets! No No! The SIXER'S ! YEAH! PERFECT! AND WE all know HOW MUCH LOVE K.BRYANT has for the PHILA. Organization! NOT!.... Send Baby Huey to PHILLY! Hmmmm! Brilliant! Do you think it will work? The Laker's faithful said? Peice of cake! What about Andrew? They asked? No problem! They said! Tell him all he has to do is pass a physical, sign the contract, get an advance, THEN, say HIS KNEE HURTS! BRILLIANT! And then WE get the Dwight the Diva? AND we all know.....this story has a HOLLYWOOD ENDING!— frank castle
- Is this Derrick Coleman again?— rugbyjt
- the first question needs to be, "why did you wait 2 months after the season ended before opting to have the procedure on your knees?".— mosquito killer
- What did we give up for this arthritic stiff? Iguodala?
Oh.
OK.— Cazptain Philadelphia - Just another HIGH PAID NBA CENTER who comes to PHILADELPHIA to ride the bench and collect a pay check— Foxchase
- How about this scenario? Like so many pro athletes he has a giant insurance policy on his knees. He opts out of playing and takes settlement. Then buys hostess cake franchise and lives happily ever after. Sad. This guy is a fraud.— Phil Checchia
- Bynum doesn't want to play here. The only reason he signs here is that he knows he's done and this is the only chance he has of one final pay day. And the Sixers may still do it because they'll feel they have to save face for this trade for damaged goods and then the Sixers will be set back another 5-6 years. We'll see now what kind of GM DiLeo is. Will he have the guts to cut bait or will he be a yes man, sign Bynum and bury the franchise for a few more years? Better to dump Bynum and try to for a big man in the draft.— echosmyron
- Uhhh....meniscus is cartilage!! So I guess you did have cartilage problems. How does this trade even go thru? Where were our doctors. He was already injured and they let him go to Germany and do more damage . And we gave up Iggy and 3 # 1's for this!! Wow and I though the Eagles were bad at getting injured players— kchaz
The Lakers are occasionally foolish in their player dealings but not STUPID. They knew what they were parting with in Bynum, and were comfortable doing so. And yes, they acquired Dwight Howard, but I suspect that Bynum would have been moved sooner or later regardless.
The Sixers took a chance. Can't fault them for it as the Iguodala-led team had gone about as far as it was going to go. Unfortunately for Bynum "long term contract" is looking more and more like a dream ... and not reality. We'll see ...
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.
