Talk turns to Andrew Bynum as return seems to be nearing
Associate coach Michael Curry couldn't help but talk about Andrew Bynum when addressing media on Sunday.
Talk turns to Andrew Bynum as return seems to be nearing
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.
“It’s encouraging as Andrew is doing more and more work. Just watching when Jrue has struggled or Evan (Turner) has struggled, just watching how teams have defended them. And they’re doing exactly what you should do. But when you have a great player or a big guy who demands a lot of attention around that basket you have to defend totally different.”
Curry, filling in for Doug Collins, who is battling a sinus infection, then went on to talk about how the Sixers’ defense on Saturday was geared towards Carmelo Anthony and how it changed with the personnel surrounding him.
“That’s what great players do and that’s how teams have to adjust to them,” Curry said. “That’s what we’re hoping when Andrew is healthy and ready to play that he can do with us and I think it will make the game easier for Evan and Jrue. It’s exciting. You deal a lot to get him. When he’s healthy and on the court, he’s one heck of a player. The fact that he’s starting to do some things in shootaround, his level of activity has picked up and he’s here working three hours or so, you’re going to get excited and you’re also going to start to get ready to do things so that when he comes we’re ready to move into the next phase of what kind of sets we’re going to run and what personnel we want on the court with him.”
I guess I should buy a ticket for a late February game, so I can see him play in the two week window before he reinjures his knee and sits out the rest of the season.— Phlonaze- Phlonaze...turn on braveheart. You need something to believe in— Friend to All
- Excuse me, but he isn't Julius Erving; gravity should be something that he is concerned with. I will be interested in seeing how those knees hold up when he is running with gravity.— HolidayinCambodia
- So is Christmas. Nearer every day.— Mortimer G Fingenfinderstein III
- Wasn't he also 'a few weeks away' a couple of days before the season started? I'll believe it when I see it....— CBent1
- A lot of money is at stake for Andrew. A LOT of money. He will play and he will play pain free and good. After the contract is signed is the REAL question.— CaptainCrunch
- Andrew Bynum... Andrew Bynum...Andrew Bynum... Tough luck for the Celtics with the Rondo knee injury... and here comes...Andrew Bynum... Sixers beat Knicks in round 1 of the playoffs? Yes, if we play them :)— incog69
- Bynum will play great the last 20 games of the year, sign a max deal, and then be an oft-injury prone black hole of a contract that will put us in NBA purgatory for the next 5 seasons (again).— vdstrading
- even if he plays well...I still don't think a team is going to lay down the money like he expects. He has knees of 80 year old and every GM in basketball knows it.— Tripod691
- Who cares! I thought the season was over.— Just_Recently_Banned
- Who would you rather have right now for the next 5 years AB or Dwight Howard? I want AB on my side because he could win big time with the same cast Kobe has this year, plus he can hit a free throw down the stretch. Let's have another presser welcoming Bynum to town!— gubbers97
- Like I said on 76hoops.com the sixer are going nowhere without bynum— Christopher59
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.
