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Can't win les in October and November ...... just be healthy for March, April, May and June.
Los Angeles Lakers "hopeful" Andrew Bynum plays in season opener
By Kurt Helin
Andrew Bynum is not expected to play a minute in the preseason for the Los Angeles Lakers -- it's Theo Ratliff time, baby!
What about when the Lakers open the season against the Houston Rockets Oct. 26? The Orange County Register's Kevin Ding put that to the Lakers and...
"We're hopeful that he'll be ready for the start of the season," Lakers spokesman John Black said Wednesday.
Hopeful.
That's a really vague word. One that does not inspire a lot of confidence when we're talking about a player with a history of injuries and slow recovery times.
But Lakers -- and the notoriously impatient Lakers fans -- need to relax and be patient here. Chill out. Take your "prescription" to that "pharmacy co-op" that just popped up down the street if need be.
If you take one thing from Boston's run to the NBA finals last season, take this -- being healthy matters more than a couple of regular season wins. The Lakers will need a healthy Bynum to three-pete. Not last finals, hobbling Bynum, but an active, healthy one.
Better to make sure he is right, miss some regular season games if need be. Rest him more late in the season. Keep focused on the real prize, which has nothing to do wins in October or February.
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Lakers “hopeful” Andrew Bynum will play opener
by Kevin Ding
Orange County Register
Andrew Bynum’s return from surgery to repair torn cartilage in his right knee remains distant enough that it’s unclear if he’ll be on the court for the Lakers when they open the regular season Oct. 26 vs. Houston.
“We’re hopeful that he’ll be ready for the start of the season,” Lakers spokesman John Black said Wednesday.
Black said there is “an outside chance” that Bynum will be able to take part in the team’s final exhibition games Oct. 21 and 22. But right now, Bynum remains in the therapy segment of his rehabilitation, a long way from serious workouts or basketball activities.
Bynum underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a tear of the lateral meniscus in his right knee on July 28. He indicated to me as far back as the start of May that he would need surgery, but he put it off to contribute in the playoffs — which he definitely did.
After the procedure, the Lakers issued a statement saying: “Bynum is expected to be available on a limited basis at the start of training camp and make a full recovery by the start of the regular season.”
Guess not. I’ll have more on Bynum in an upcoming column, but that’s the gist of it.
Can't win les in October and November ...... just be healthy for March, April, May and June.
Wtf
non issue
tee, hee.
Even on one knee Big Drew was the 2nd best center in the playoffs last season. The NBA is royally ed when he pulls off a healthy year..and he's due.
Even on one knee Big Drew was the 2nd best center in the playoffs last season. The NBA is royally ed when he pulls off a healthy year..and he's due.
Clickity Clank, Clickity Clank,
Bynum is laughin' his ass all the way to da bank
Tickity Tock, Tickity Tock,
The Bombs on his knees are about to go off
Even on one knee Big Drew was the 2nd best center in the playoffs last season. The NBA is royally ed when he pulls off a healthy year..and he's due.
Lakers are not taking chances. Just be 100% healthy when the playoffs are on!!!
He can never be 100%.. . And yes i realize it's an early season thing and a non issue, but another injury, or the same one..will keep him hurt and hobbling later in the year.
His ass better be playing, I'm not paying 2 grand for front-court seats for nothing!
Ari's wife is hot. A new troll, let's see how this plays out...
When did he get hurt?
Bynum is not playing season opener...May not be ready for months…
an easier question to answer would be when did he NOT get hurt?
Shovin' Perkins in a hole.
I just hope Bynum is healthy when the Lakers play the Celtics again in the NBA finals…
tee, hee. That defaults to south Florida in the caca.
Andrew Bynum's surgery delay reeks of more Lakers complacency
By Kevin Ding
The Orange County Register
The charm of Andrew Bynum has always been his openness.
He's like Marmaduke ... so big and unrefined, often overexcited or a touch overzealous, completely straightforward. The oversized puppy who is indeed the youngest player in NBA history still proudly wears that No. 17 to signify his early entry age.
Over the past five years, Bynum has given the Lakers more and more reasons to believe he's no longer a "Big Baby," as he was initially nicknamed by tutor Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – the foremost reason being a saintly determination to march through the pain last season and contribute to a championship.
A reminder of what Bynum isn't, though, has already been sent for this season – before this season even starts.
Bynum put off having offseason surgery on his right knee so he could play – and we're not talking about playing basketball. He could've repaired the knee immediately after last season, but he postponed it to travel – to see the soccer World Cup in South Africa and then vacation in Europe, as he had the previous summer.
Bynum didn't want to be on crutches, which would've diminished all that fun stuff or required rescheduling. He even had the knee drained, just as he did repeatedly with much ado in the playoffs to keep playing, so he could keep pivoting around reasonably well as a sightseer.
Yes, Bynum's doctor did push back the surgery date also – from July 18 to July 28 – because of scheduling issues, but Bynum's doctor was indeed available to perform the procedure before Bynum went globetrotting. It was Bynum's choice to enjoy himself, assuming he'd be fine by the time the 2010-11 season came – even though his complications with knees are well known and his past healings have been measured by sundial.
Lakers spokesman John Black said Wednesday there is an "outside chance" Bynum will play in the final exhibition games and the club is "hopeful" Bynum can play in the Oct. 26 regular-season opener.
The Lakers certainly aren't going to win or lose a third consecutive NBA championship in October or even November, so some might say that this is no big deal. Certainly Scottie Pippen and Shaquille O'Neal would say that, and the fact that two such all-time greats have let offseason surgeries slip while on Phil Jackson's watch indicates that there's no ruinous shame in this sort of thing.
The 1997-98 Bulls – after much turmoil and discord surrounding Pippen – still won their third consecutive (and final) le after Pippen waited to take care of his foot.
The 2002-03 Lakers had already won three in a row when O'Neal waited to take care of his toe. They would not win again.
Bynum's postponement is not as significant in time or talent as those, but there is serious danger in this sort of inactivity. The message is clear:
I won. I can afford to let it slide.
Remind me, didn't the Lakers just finish a defending-championship season in which they were almost more complacent than compe ive?
Bynum, who turns 23 in a month, has his fun with cars and video games and books and computers. He has managed to be do ented in party mode at the Playboy Mansion, a UCLA frat party and a club where he was "making it rain" on his 21st birthday. He just took another vacation over Labor Day to Cabo with about 17,000 family members and friends.
That's all fine.
Even delaying this surgery would've been fine – albeit risky – if the net result was fine.
But when you get to the bottom line and you're not ready to punch the clock, advance the cohesion still not yet attained with fellow tower Pau Gasol or run hard toward your self-declared goal of making your first All-Star team ... then you should be criticized. Not condemned, but criticized.
It's at times like these that we remember the Lakers' coaches still can't get Bynum to run hard, as simple as that sounds, up and down the court. His work ethic and dedication have improved sensationally since he arrived as a teen, but he's obviously not the consummate professional.
Here's hoping Bynum never stops saying his personal catch-phrase of "That's crazy!" or adding "super" as an all-purpose extra word (if he's really excited, out will come two or three "supers"). Don't ever take away that wonderful, child-like quality in Bynum's always-wide eyes.
But just because you do something – and this was Bynum's first real le, because he'll tell you the one before when he hardly played didn't feel anything like this – doesn't mean you then don't do something more.
Bynum should be primed to step forward again. He's that good, and there's valid reason Lamar Odom has been thinking he'll play more small forward this season. There should be, in theory, no keeping the up-and-coming Bynum off the court.
He's getting $13.7 million this season. Most on the team aside from Kobe Bryant and Gasol. Almost as much as Odom and Ron Artest combined.
That's not even counting the $1.3 million more in incentives Bynum could earn – as the Lakers try every which way to keep motivating him.
That's who Bynum remains, the fire inside not yet a flame: Sometimes he'll give more, sometimes he'll just take it for granted.
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Andrew Bynum put off surgery, now will miss training camp recovering. He's maturing?
By Kurt Helin
We told you yesterday that the Los Angeles Lakers were "hopeful" Andrew Bynum would be ready to go by the start of the season.
Kevin Ding of the Orange Country Register put another spin on that today.
Bynum put off having offseason surgery on his right knee so he could play - and we're not talking about playing basketball. He could've repaired the knee immediately after last season, but he postponed it to travel - to see the soccer World Cup in South Africa and then vacation in Europe, as he had the previous summer.
Bynum didn't want to be on crutches, which would've diminished all that fun stuff or required rescheduling. He even had the knee drained, just as he did repeatedly with much ado in the playoffs to keep playing, so he could keep pivoting around reasonably well as a sightseer.
Bynum was set to have the surgery mid-July, but it was pushed back to late July due to scheduling conflicts with Bynum's doctor. The doc had been available. Bynum just chose not to be. Now he'll miss training camp as a result.
Ding noted that for a guy who is supposed to be maturing, Bynum's youth is evident and his focus questionable.
Is this really a big deal? The Lakers would have certainly liked to have Bynum around for part of camp, if only to avoid him having to play into shape during the first few weeks of the season.
Still, if this were in Miami, or Chicago, or a number of other teams where the meshing of new players or new coaches makes training camp important, it would be of greater consequence. The Lakers have a veteran team coming off consecutive les, with the same coach and same system. Bynum's presence for games in October or even early November is not a big deal. Him being healthy in May and June, however, is.
Wow!!! thats alot of facebooking!
he almost has as much friends as you J.
10 months of dragging that leg after it was discovered torn decrees a month of fun & frolic.
Let us proceed...
Go Bynum...This is So Cal…WE take care of business when it is time…Until then, lets party….
Lakers "hopeful" he doesn't injure himself again
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