tlongII
10-06-2009, 03:34 PM
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bynum-zarzana-knee-2595193-brace-lakers
EL SEGUNDO The champagne had just sprayed in that muggy locker room in Orlando, and Andrew Bynum sat down in front of his locker for a breather amid the celebration.
Nearby sat a trashcan, and Bynum looked over at it, lifted his head up, and picked up his knee brace.
Bynum ceremoniously began to toss it in the trash. Then he stopped with a smile and pulled it back.
Turns out, the thing might end up holding the Lakers together this season, too – and maybe even save Bynum’s career.
Nearly four months later, that brace for his right knee is still on – and his doctor is telling him he’ll be wearing it for the rest of his career. Bynum even came into this season with a plan to wear another brace over his left knee, despite the fact that it didn’t even trouble him all last season.
Bynum has since decided against wearing the second brace – it was rubbing against his left knee and irritating it, so he concluded it wasn’t worth the aggravation – but the fact that a sane man was going to wear such a bulky, mobility-limiting brace over an uninjured knee should tell you what we’re dealing with here.
To put it broadly, Bynum’s knees have been and remain ticking time bombs, at least with regard to impact. Specifically, he suffers from ligamentous laxity (or looseness), which is the reason his doctor said it was “a must” for him to wear the right-knee brace.
Maybe Bynum should’ve been wearing braces even before, because the Lakers noticed the loose ligaments, knock-kneed frame and oversized upper body vs. undersized lower body long before Bynum suffered his January 2008 left-knee patella subluxation (another common injury for those with ligamentous laxity) or his January 2009 right-knee torn medial collateral ligament.
The kid – he’s not yet 22 – remains the wild card in the Lakers’ stacked deck, even with Ron Artest’s jack of hearts thrown in there. How good might Bynum be? ESPN stats analyst John Hollinger’s per-minute productivity projections for this season have Bynum pegged as the No. 9 player in the entire NBA.
The starry names falling in line behind Bynum are Bosh, Bryant, Roy, Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, Gasol.
Please resume your normal breathing now.
And expectations actually need to be raised given the lack of publicity to this point about the well-focused upgrades in Bynum’s pick-and-roll defense and driving explosion on offense that are set to arise from his offseason workouts.
But before we get into that, it’s imperative to grab a full handle on the injury threat, because Bynum needs to stay healthy for him to apply all that he’s learned, including the valuable experience he got fighting through the championship run at less than full power.
Even his personal trainer for the past three years, Sean Zarzana, understands there is an “if” before Bynum’s perfect “then.”
“If health falls our way,” Zarzana said, “then forget it. He’s ready. He’s the real deal.”
About that “if,” though … Bynum said Monday his MCL is healed but “still loose.” Zarzana described the ligament as remaining “overstretched,” although he said it’s “not in any danger of rupture.”
Zarzana acknowledged Bynum having more inherent laxity but wrote it off as a product of his height, saying: “People are built differently.” Zarzana said he puts Bynum through such challenging workouts on the track, in the weight room and on the court for six weeks each summer that he can’t really agree with Lakers trainer Gary Vitti’s assessment of Bynum’s stilted build after the 2008 knee injury: “It makes him prone to this type of thing.”
Said Zarzana: “If he were predisposed because of biomechanical deficiencies or whatever it was, I think he could’ve been injured doing normal routine activities. And I push this guy like I can’t tell you.”
There’s no doubt that Bynum using Lamar Odom’s foot as a banana peel and then getting Tom Brady’d by Kobe Bryant in two January games against Memphis were freak incidents. For that reason, Bynum remains of the belief that he is not injury prone.
As much as the knee braces suggest a fundamental injury risk, Bynum’s willingness to don however many of them are necessary reflects his concrete determination to prove to everyone that he can stay healthy.
As wary as the Lakers have been, they were undeterred in giving him $57 million over the next four years, starting with $12.5 million this season and believing that Zarzana’s “then” is now.
That’s why it’s must be clarified why Bynum is limiting himself with a brace some would say isn’t necessary: Not only does it affirm in his mind that he is safer – consider also that Bynum hurt the same right knee as a pre-teen and again in 2004 – he truly is safer.
An overstretched ligament without proper elasticity doesn’t do its job of joint stabilization. A brace provides help there and thus can prevent the imbalances or compensations that bring forth other injuries – beyond the obvious prevention against a contact injury.
Bynum needs it, so he’s wearing it.
And he can still rock the world with it, too.
He showed that Saturday night in the Lakers’ intrasquad scrimmage, even though he was on the losing second unit. (Has he lost his starting job? Relax and consider that DJ Mbenga is nursing a hip problem and the only way to scrimmage reasonably was to put centers Pau Gasol and Bynum on different teams.)
From the edge of the free-throw line, Bynum roared toward the basket in the scrimmage, took two dribbles and delivered the sort of moment that might get Dirk Nowitzki sweating the security of his No. 7 spot on that per-minute NBA productivity chart for this season.
“Spectacular play,” said Phil Jackson, an old-timer you know by now is not easily impressed when it comes to this young-timer.
Besides all the emphasis over the summer on lower-body workouts to build up Bynum’s base, he worked with former NBA player Gerald Wilkins and Zarzana on exploding all the way to the basket – particularly out of the weak-side framework of the triangle offense.
Bynum even studied video footage of Gasol to mimic the footwork involved in jab-stepping to set up a drive from the high post.
Far more importantly, Bynum addressed the obvious deficiencies in his pick-and-roll defense – an area that Jackson reiterated Monday makes him lean toward Odom over Bynum to play the key late-game minutes.
Although it remains to be seen how the drills translate to game action, Bynum focused on getting out, getting back and recovering to block shots instead of coming back indecisive with his hands down in his usual foul-prone way.
The Lakers would prefer that Bynum stay local over the summer and do more work with their staff of training experts, but Zarzana does have Bynum’s unshakable trust and offers Zarzana what he laughs about is “a captive audience.”
See, the Bynum you might know from such well-viewed Web videos as “Making it Rain Dollars in the I-Just-Turned-21 Club!” and “You Too Would Visit the Playboy Mansion, If You Were Invited” actually lives in Zarzana’s suburban Atlanta home with Zarzana’s kids for more than a month to focus entirely on training. Hardly a small commitment.
Now Bynum has returned to the Lakers on the lighter side, another concession to his knees, and renewed in confidence.
“I feel good,” he said. “I feel like I’ve got my timing back. I’m catching lobs again. I’ve got my legs back under me.”
As he spoke Monday he had a stim unit attached to his back. Maybe it’ll always be something with this guy, who also developed a sore Achilles’ tendon just after training camp opened.
The stim unit was there because Bynum’s back got bruised during practice Monday when Luke Walton plowed into him. Seriously, yet another collision with a teammate.
This time, Bynum is still standing. And that’s something, because before he can become an irresistible force, he must first be an immovable object.
EL SEGUNDO The champagne had just sprayed in that muggy locker room in Orlando, and Andrew Bynum sat down in front of his locker for a breather amid the celebration.
Nearby sat a trashcan, and Bynum looked over at it, lifted his head up, and picked up his knee brace.
Bynum ceremoniously began to toss it in the trash. Then he stopped with a smile and pulled it back.
Turns out, the thing might end up holding the Lakers together this season, too – and maybe even save Bynum’s career.
Nearly four months later, that brace for his right knee is still on – and his doctor is telling him he’ll be wearing it for the rest of his career. Bynum even came into this season with a plan to wear another brace over his left knee, despite the fact that it didn’t even trouble him all last season.
Bynum has since decided against wearing the second brace – it was rubbing against his left knee and irritating it, so he concluded it wasn’t worth the aggravation – but the fact that a sane man was going to wear such a bulky, mobility-limiting brace over an uninjured knee should tell you what we’re dealing with here.
To put it broadly, Bynum’s knees have been and remain ticking time bombs, at least with regard to impact. Specifically, he suffers from ligamentous laxity (or looseness), which is the reason his doctor said it was “a must” for him to wear the right-knee brace.
Maybe Bynum should’ve been wearing braces even before, because the Lakers noticed the loose ligaments, knock-kneed frame and oversized upper body vs. undersized lower body long before Bynum suffered his January 2008 left-knee patella subluxation (another common injury for those with ligamentous laxity) or his January 2009 right-knee torn medial collateral ligament.
The kid – he’s not yet 22 – remains the wild card in the Lakers’ stacked deck, even with Ron Artest’s jack of hearts thrown in there. How good might Bynum be? ESPN stats analyst John Hollinger’s per-minute productivity projections for this season have Bynum pegged as the No. 9 player in the entire NBA.
The starry names falling in line behind Bynum are Bosh, Bryant, Roy, Duncan, Parker, Ginobili, Gasol.
Please resume your normal breathing now.
And expectations actually need to be raised given the lack of publicity to this point about the well-focused upgrades in Bynum’s pick-and-roll defense and driving explosion on offense that are set to arise from his offseason workouts.
But before we get into that, it’s imperative to grab a full handle on the injury threat, because Bynum needs to stay healthy for him to apply all that he’s learned, including the valuable experience he got fighting through the championship run at less than full power.
Even his personal trainer for the past three years, Sean Zarzana, understands there is an “if” before Bynum’s perfect “then.”
“If health falls our way,” Zarzana said, “then forget it. He’s ready. He’s the real deal.”
About that “if,” though … Bynum said Monday his MCL is healed but “still loose.” Zarzana described the ligament as remaining “overstretched,” although he said it’s “not in any danger of rupture.”
Zarzana acknowledged Bynum having more inherent laxity but wrote it off as a product of his height, saying: “People are built differently.” Zarzana said he puts Bynum through such challenging workouts on the track, in the weight room and on the court for six weeks each summer that he can’t really agree with Lakers trainer Gary Vitti’s assessment of Bynum’s stilted build after the 2008 knee injury: “It makes him prone to this type of thing.”
Said Zarzana: “If he were predisposed because of biomechanical deficiencies or whatever it was, I think he could’ve been injured doing normal routine activities. And I push this guy like I can’t tell you.”
There’s no doubt that Bynum using Lamar Odom’s foot as a banana peel and then getting Tom Brady’d by Kobe Bryant in two January games against Memphis were freak incidents. For that reason, Bynum remains of the belief that he is not injury prone.
As much as the knee braces suggest a fundamental injury risk, Bynum’s willingness to don however many of them are necessary reflects his concrete determination to prove to everyone that he can stay healthy.
As wary as the Lakers have been, they were undeterred in giving him $57 million over the next four years, starting with $12.5 million this season and believing that Zarzana’s “then” is now.
That’s why it’s must be clarified why Bynum is limiting himself with a brace some would say isn’t necessary: Not only does it affirm in his mind that he is safer – consider also that Bynum hurt the same right knee as a pre-teen and again in 2004 – he truly is safer.
An overstretched ligament without proper elasticity doesn’t do its job of joint stabilization. A brace provides help there and thus can prevent the imbalances or compensations that bring forth other injuries – beyond the obvious prevention against a contact injury.
Bynum needs it, so he’s wearing it.
And he can still rock the world with it, too.
He showed that Saturday night in the Lakers’ intrasquad scrimmage, even though he was on the losing second unit. (Has he lost his starting job? Relax and consider that DJ Mbenga is nursing a hip problem and the only way to scrimmage reasonably was to put centers Pau Gasol and Bynum on different teams.)
From the edge of the free-throw line, Bynum roared toward the basket in the scrimmage, took two dribbles and delivered the sort of moment that might get Dirk Nowitzki sweating the security of his No. 7 spot on that per-minute NBA productivity chart for this season.
“Spectacular play,” said Phil Jackson, an old-timer you know by now is not easily impressed when it comes to this young-timer.
Besides all the emphasis over the summer on lower-body workouts to build up Bynum’s base, he worked with former NBA player Gerald Wilkins and Zarzana on exploding all the way to the basket – particularly out of the weak-side framework of the triangle offense.
Bynum even studied video footage of Gasol to mimic the footwork involved in jab-stepping to set up a drive from the high post.
Far more importantly, Bynum addressed the obvious deficiencies in his pick-and-roll defense – an area that Jackson reiterated Monday makes him lean toward Odom over Bynum to play the key late-game minutes.
Although it remains to be seen how the drills translate to game action, Bynum focused on getting out, getting back and recovering to block shots instead of coming back indecisive with his hands down in his usual foul-prone way.
The Lakers would prefer that Bynum stay local over the summer and do more work with their staff of training experts, but Zarzana does have Bynum’s unshakable trust and offers Zarzana what he laughs about is “a captive audience.”
See, the Bynum you might know from such well-viewed Web videos as “Making it Rain Dollars in the I-Just-Turned-21 Club!” and “You Too Would Visit the Playboy Mansion, If You Were Invited” actually lives in Zarzana’s suburban Atlanta home with Zarzana’s kids for more than a month to focus entirely on training. Hardly a small commitment.
Now Bynum has returned to the Lakers on the lighter side, another concession to his knees, and renewed in confidence.
“I feel good,” he said. “I feel like I’ve got my timing back. I’m catching lobs again. I’ve got my legs back under me.”
As he spoke Monday he had a stim unit attached to his back. Maybe it’ll always be something with this guy, who also developed a sore Achilles’ tendon just after training camp opened.
The stim unit was there because Bynum’s back got bruised during practice Monday when Luke Walton plowed into him. Seriously, yet another collision with a teammate.
This time, Bynum is still standing. And that’s something, because before he can become an irresistible force, he must first be an immovable object.