Why not the 10th???
He hopes to be back April 12 against Memphis.....![]()
WHY MEMPHIS!!!
http://www.latimes.com/sports/basket...tory?track=rss
Bynum has missed 29 games recovering from a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee, but he had been training and playing with free agents when the Lakers were on the road. Bynum said he was hopeful that he could play in the last two regular-season games, projecting the Memphis game April 12 at Staples Center as his first one.
"I can't project," Coach Phil Jackson said Thursday, "but there is a chance that he could play in a game before the season is over."
Jackson watched Bynum play three-on-three and noted some progress.
"He's got some hop in his legs," Jackson said. "He looked to block shots -- those type of things that you look for, reactive things and recovery things, both going up quickly and not thinking about it and coming down and containing his body balance and his strength.
"His timing is going to be a little bit off. That's going to be normal. . . . DJ [Mbenga] ate him up today, but that's not unusual. DJ is right in the heart of things."
Bynum averaged 17.9 points on 58.8% shooting, 8.3 rebounds and 2.0 blocks in 31.4 minutes in 15 games in January before he was injured.
The Lakers play the Houston Rockets tonight at home.
Bynum will do more at practice Saturday, but as far as playing in five-on-five compe ion, Jackson said that might be "delayed" until next week.
Bynum's conditioning remains an issue, but it's not something that concerned Jackson. "This is more about strength and that injury to that knee and the strength of that knee coming back," Jackson said.
After the Lakers beat Milwaukee on Wednesday to end their trip, Bynum's teammates had some common goals for the rest of the season.
"Get some momentum for the playoffs and get some practice time hopefully with Andrew," forward Lamar Odom said.
Or, as Kobe Bryant said: "Go back home, see how Drew's feeling and go from there."
To a man, the Lakers seemed excited by the prospect of Bynum's return, particularly Pau Gasol, who has logged heavy minutes since sliding over from power forward to center in place of Bynum.
"I look forward to seeing how healthy he is and seeing him out there again," Gasol said. "Obviously, he's a big piece of our future, our present even. In the playoffs, I think he's going to have a big impact, so we want to get him healthy, we want to get him playing out there."
As for the trip, the Lakers seemed pleased overall.
Although the Lakers failed to score 100 points in two consecutive games during their trip for the first time since November, they rebounded from losses in Atlanta and Charlotte with a 104-98 victory at Milwaukee to finish 5-2 on their longest trip this late in the season in team history.
"I think every team in the NBA on a seven-game road trip would take 5-2," Odom said. "Those two that got away from us, we felt like we could have won them."
Said Bryant: "We did well. We're happy with it. We'll take it."
The Lakers are now two games behind the Cleveland Cavaliers for the best record in the NBA. They are 2 1/2 ahead of Boston and 3 1/2 ahead of Orlando.
Jackson was asked if the Lakers had a chance to overtake Cleveland for the best record, would he play Bryant and Gasol 35 minutes or more in a game?
"Yeah," Jackson said quickly.
it would be hilarious if he got hurt again
So the guy can walk around with Playboy Bunnies on his shoulders, but will be out for another 2 weeks? Nice.
4/12/2009: The day the NBA becomes completely ed for the next 5 years.
Backdoor ing sweep
Deep down no NBA fan can be happy about this news other than Laker fans.
100% or not Bynum coming back is going to change things.
You are out of your ever loving mind. What has he done to prove anything? First off, Duncan plays center now...He's definitely not better than Tim...
Centers that are better than Bynum
1. Dwight Howard
2. Tim
3. Shaq
4. Yao
5. Amare
6. Rasheed
There's probably more..this is just off the top of my head.
Sheed is not better than Bynum.
agree to disagree.
Some nights any player is not as good as another player. But overall, Amare is world's better than Bynum.
I'm glad, Yao owns Bynum. Leaving Pau out of the post, the Kobe Pau pick n roll is devastating because Yao can't guard it and plus, Pau just shoots jumpers in his face all day. Pau didn't score once on landry the 5-6 posessions he was guarding him.
Wait, so Duncan's going into the hall of fame as a C or PF? Ask Amare what position he plays. Is he really going to say center?
I would rate it like this with true centers being the actual premise:
1. Dwight Howard
2. Yao
3a. Shaq
3b. Bynum
I tie the bottom two because Shaq is having a uva a season, but Bynum was beginning to come into his own before going down again. I'm not sure what the Lakers' record would've been if he didn't get hurt.
Either way, its good news for the Lakers because it means the bench will be bolstered by him being added to it or Odom being returned as the point forward for the 2nd unit.
Agreed that it's a good addition to the Lakers' bench, but I still don't think he's a 3rd best C in the league. Duncan plays Center..that's his position..which means he's a Center...It doesn't matter what position he goes into the HOF in..it matters what position he's playing. If we're talking present, we have to speak of present times.
This is only true if you completely ignore defense all together forgetting it's half the game.
Bynum's defense is WORLDS better than Amare.
Head to head last season, Bynum completely dominated Amare on both ends of the court.
http://www.basketball-reference.com/...712250LAL.html
I can agree Bynum is better defensively...but overall, I'm putting Amare on my team before Bynum..no questions asked.
What would be hilarious: Gasol getting injured vs Memphis for the rest of the season
Karma can be a , Jerry West![]()
http://www.nba.com/lakers/news/09040...oprogress.html
damn bynum look like hes been bench pressing some playmates. Lookin lean as , I didnt think he was moving this nice already..Good Job big fella![]()
According to Odom, Bynum's coming back on Sunday or the game after.
Bynum looks huge!
Brings a tear to my eye.
Looks like Bynum will play vs Denver - only reason why not against Sac is because it'll be an uptempo game.
Is starting best for Bynum?
10:53 PM PDT on Sunday, April 5, 2009
By JEFF EISENBERG
The Press-Enterprise
LOS ANGELES - Instead of easing Andrew Bynum back into the rotation the way he suggested he would last month, Coach Phil Jackson may throw his young center right back into the fray.
Jackson said Sunday he's leaning toward immediately inserting Bynum into the starting lineup when he returns later this week, so that his injured right knee will not get stiff from inactivity after pregame warmups. A lack of stamina will likely limit Bynum to six- or seven-minute bursts, but Jackson was encouraged by how well the big man played in his first 5-on-5 action during Saturday's practice.
"He looks good," Jackson said. "He did well, he stood out and he was aggressive. The other practice D.J. (Mbenga) kind of ate him up on Thursday, but this one he was the dominant force in there."
More than two months have elapsed since Bynum tore the medial collateral ligament in his right knee in a collision with Kobe Bryant in Memphis. Bynum will not travel with the Lakers for Tuesday's game in Sacramento because Jackson fears the pace will be too quick for him to make an impact, but there's a chance he'll be cleared to play as soon as Thursday night's home game against Denver.
One psychological hurdle Bynum still must clear is his uneasiness playing against Memphis, the Lakers' opponent when he got hurt this year and when he suffered a season-ending left knee injury a year ago. The Lakers host the Grizzlies on Sunday in their second-to-last regular season game.
"The fact that both of the injuries came against Memphis, and that Memphis is one of the teams coming up is something we've registered because he has expressed it," Jackson said. "I told him it's not about Memphis. It's about the situation that happened. It's not the type of team or the color of the uniform."
The most obvious candidate to come off the bench when Bynum returns would be Lamar Odom, whose ball-handling and facilitating skills could ease the burden on struggling backup guards Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar. The second unit played its best the first half of the season with Odom as its leader, but Jackson would not reveal whether the veteran forward would go back to the bench.
"I'm not going to go into that yet," he said.
http://www.pe.com/sports/basketball/...6.44608a0.html
Oh man Staples is going to go NUTS when this kid gets back on the floor
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