Inside the Sixers: 76ers' medical team must make a definitive call on Andrew Bynum

Doug Collins was annoyed.

The 76ers coach had just finished a brisk workout on the elliptical machine, and he was ready to talk basketball.

The gathered media, however, notified one day earlier that center Andrew Bynum would speak Tuesday, wanted to discuss the center who has been the story despite never once putting on the home team's uniform.

"You guys haven't asked one basketball question yet," Collins said about six questions into the interview.

At this point there are no more basketball questions left to ask. The Sixers (22-29) are in an uphill battle to close a 31/2-game gap separating them and the Milwaukee Bucks (26-25), who hold the final Eastern Conference playoff position and who also own the tiebreaker over them. While a playoff appearance isn't impossible, with 19 of the final 31 games on the road, the chances are slim.

The stark reality is that the most important answers facing the Sixers and their future can't be provided by Collins, Bynum, or anyone in the team's front office.

You know why. Because the basketball people are quietly confident that Bynum, despite the cartilage damage and the bone bruises in both knees, will soon be healthy, perhaps even for the long term. But their confidence is not enough.

Bynum is ramping up his activity. On Wednesday, while the Sixers play at Minnesota (19-31), he's headed to see orthopedic surgeon Jonathan Glashow in New York.

Bynum is going to play this season, but the Sixers have to be looking at this from a big-picture standpoint. This is one of those seasons often described as taking a step backward to move forward.

Can they move forward with Bynum, an unrestricted free agent this summer, who Tuesday said he wants to play for the Sixers?

Those questions have to be answered emphatically and resoundingly - yay or nay - by team orthopedist and medical director Jack McPhilemy and his staff. If the Sixers are going to recommit to Bynum, there can be no equivocation on his prognosis. Either he can play and will, or he can't play and won't.

We've been told that the MRIs of Bynum's knees - the ones that showed bilateral bone bruises and degenerating cartilage - are not the same MRIs Sixers doctors looked at after the trade that was supported by 99.9 percent of Sixers fans.

The Sixers, however, from team owner Joshua Harris on down, have never run from the risk/reward associated with acquiring Bynum.

It was easy to get giddy over the reward - 18.7 points, 11.8 rebounds, almost two blocks a game and second-team all-NBA will do that.

But the risks are equally clear.

Bynum may very well never achieve numbers like that again. Think Jeff Ruland.

The Sixers need to be five games better than the Bucks to pass them for a playoff spot.

Making the right call on Bynum this summer, however, is the bigger issue. And that is the domain of the medical team. No one else.