Andrew Bynum hasn’t really said much about the trade that sent him to the 76ers, his injury or much about the Lakers struggles but since he’s seems to be in full out YOLO mode, he’s broken his silence on the matter. Read more after the jump.
The Lakers are currently 10-14 and although Dwight Howard has had some terrible games, he is still playing despite his back injury. Andrew Bynum hasn’t played all season for the Philadelphia 76ers because of bilateral knee bone bruises, continuing the trend of knee problems throughout his Lakers career. On Sunday he missed the first chance to play against the Lakers, but he offered some analysis of his former team.
“They’re just struggling,” Bynum said. “They’ve got injuries, and they aren’t posting the ball. So that’s tough, too.”
Bynum said the only Laker he still talks to now is Pau Gasol, which jibes with Bynum’s take that the Lakers need to use post-up offense more — as Gasol and Dwight Howard have indicated. Bynum also questioned the Lakers’ “commitment to defense” and their bench depth.
“Obviously the talent is there to win a championship — from the starters’ point of view anyway,” Bynum said.
Bynum also said: “Dwight’s a great player, but he’s going to have to get accustomed to playing with Kobe (Bryant) and not touching the ball every single play.”
Bynum noted that it does provide more opportunities for him now being away from Bryant, even though “it helped me tremendously” early in his career that Bryant’s presence prevented opponents from double-teaming Bynum.
“Later, I thought I was able to get the ball more and do more things with the ball,” he said, “so I could definitely see how at the end it could stunt growth.”
Bynum stuck with his long-held position of not worrying about being in Los Angeles or traded elsewhere.
“It didn’t really matter where I played as long as I get to,” he said. “Health is the big concern with me right now. I don’t regret anything. Personally, I think they traded No. 1 for No. 2 — and that’s what happened.”
Bynum promised he would “do wonders” for a perimeter-oriented Philadelphia team that entered Sunday with a 12-11 record once he can play. He said he is feeling “much better.”
He is looking forward to beginning treadmill work, perhaps being cleared Thursday by his doctor. He said his right knee feels fine now, but his left knee remains tricky.
“The pain is down in both knees, which is good,” he said. “But there could be something floating around in there, so I have a doctor’s appointment on the 20th and we’re going to do an MRI and check it out.”
Bynum said his offseason injury was inevitable, which means in an alternate universe the Lakers could’ve been missing him, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol all because of injuries right now.
“I’m going to have to work extremely hard to get back into form,” he said. “Obviously, I’ve been off for quite some time now. It’s kind of ridiculous. … I don’t think it was avoidable; I just think it’s something that I have to go through.”
Bynum joked about how he started growing out his hair too late to show it off in Los Angeles — and the Lakers got eliminated too early in the playoffs by Oklahoma City to show it also.
“Overall, I think it was a pretty good time,” he said about his seven years with the Lakers. “I got better every year. I grew a lot there and obviously won chips (championships), so that was really, really fun. But my time is done there.”
Kevin Ding of the OC Register
