The Philadelphia 76ers received more bad news concerning Andrew Bynum. On November 5th, Bynum had his knee reevaluated. During that time, doctor David W. Altchek, Bynum’s personal doctor, let both Bynum and the Sixers know that the young superstar center had to be away from basketball for at least another 3 weeks.
If the current prognosis holds unchanged, Bynum would be cleared to resume normal basketball activity by approximately December 10. In addition, the team estimates that Bynum in turn will need an additional 1-4 weeks thereafter for conditioning, training and practice before being able to resume game play with significant minutes.
–Via NBA.com
Initially, Bynum was slated to miss about 4 weeks of court action. That changed once he received his MRI on November 5th. One of the few positives here was that Bynum is in fact allowed to participate in low-impact drills. Outside of that, it looks like the Sixers’ newly acquired all star center is out until December 10th. Having Kwame Brown out as well due to calf issues isn’t helping.
Serving as his replacement for the time being, Spencer Hawes has been putting together enough solid performances to constitute his share of center minutes. To this point in the season, Hawes is looking at 9.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg, and 1.5 bpg. He’s not the most intimidating presence in the paint, but the Sixers are lacking in the paint right now and he’s filling in rather nicely.
That being said, Philadelphia could really use a paint presence. So far, the Sixers haven’t seen much struggle in defending the paint, due mostly to the fact that they haven’t played any teams with a potent front-court (outside of Denver). At least, not yet. The Sixers’ schedule has them facing the likes of the Jazz (Jefferson, Favors, Millsap, Kanter), Pistons (Monroe, Maxiel, Drummond), and Bucks (Henson, Dalembert). Yes, the Pistons look awful and Milwaukee isn’t getting what they expected out of Przybilla, but each of those teams has a set of bruisers that make front-court play a challenge, if nothing else.
Here’s to a speedy recovery, big fella.
Mohamed Abdihakim is a journalism student at Florida Atlantic University. He is a Phoenix Suns fan, who is not prepared for the possibility of Nash winning a title in a Lakers jersey. Mohamed is also a contributor at “Les Snobs”. Interests include International basketball, Mad Men, and blues music. Nearly all stats are credited to Hoopdata or Basketball-Reference.
Twitter handle: @Abdi_hakim
