Bynum says, yet again, he's progressing
Sixers center Andrew Bynum says he's getting closer to making his Sixers debut.
Bynum says, yet again, he's progressing
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.
“It’s going pretty good. I shot around at shootaround (Monday morning) with the guys so I’m getting a bit better on the court. If the treadmill would stop breaking down I would be able to do a little bit more, but I’m going well. It’s like every 3 days or so it needs service, so I don’t know. I’ve been involved a little bit in practice just shooting around with the guys and stuff like that. My knees feel good and I’m not feeling any pain so this is all good and I just want to keep it going.” The on-court work is still in the infancy stage, with some light jogging, some careful low-post moves and shooting from all over the court. The big steps are yet to come, and it shouldn’t be too long before Bynum enters that part of the rehab.
“I still haven’t done any lateral movement. That’s going to be my biggest test. Cutting is the last thing to do and I think building up to that is necessary. If the target is the All-Star break then (lateral movement) should come in the next couple of weeks. It’s going to be doing defensive slides, cutting, running full speed and stopping, backpedaling, jumping - just explosive stuff.”
Buy two treadmills. What's $120k when you invested $16M?
this sounds like a great pile of doo doo. He figured out he can collect his money and not play. Disgrace. Don't believe a word he says. But, i'm still glad they did the trade just to get rid of Iggy, At least Ruland wanted to play this guy......— notch44- The Sixers season is going the same way as that treadmill.— Da Fredster
- Yeah backwards and Collins is the fitness trainer! Ha Ha Ha...lol!— male
- Perhaps he could dig into that $19M he is getting for growing out a bad fro and buy a couple more of those treadmills ... Jees ...— Copper34
- Yeah ! I think he just had his 2 knees tattooed with the signs of $$$ and 000s on each of his own knee cap .. sooooooo this idea can motivate his mental feels better at this time and the years to come...CHEAR— phillafuN
- I say yet again, the sun rises in the east.— jimmymack
- Again, why do people think he's milking it, when by not playing this season directly affects the next big contract he would get? Yes, it sucks that he's not playing and that he has gimpy knees. Yes, he hasn't earned his salary this year. But to say that he's milking it when it's directly affecting his next big payday? Use your brains if you have any.— beegal99
- I really don't care how much money players are making.— incog69
- @beegal99. employing my brain cavities i surmise that the kid who keeps injuring his knee realizes he won't get any contract at all if he gets injured one more time. He is also not that into basketball. So he decides to wait as long as possible and then play the last 20 games of the regular season and show off his fresh legs in the playoffs and presto!: a magical max contract achieved with the least chance of blowing it all Ogden style. On a less cynical note Bynum and the sixers brass may have mutually agreed to rest the knees until completely pain free in the hopes he might have a more durable future that way. I don't have a problem with that approach if it gives us a durable center for a few years.— murdock101
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.
