We’ve been talking a lot about Andrew Bynum lately, haven’t we?
It’s a simple supply and demand thing … But you’re ready for some more, right?
Before Sunday’s game against the Clippers - whom Bynum torched for 42 and 15 a few games before going down - Phil Jackson had his most positive comments to date regarding his young center’s return: “There’s an outside chance that we may activate him before the week’s out.”
In fact, Jackson hinted that Bynum could begin playing in games almost immediately, but that the team would like him to have a few more solid practices before he sees game action. Apparently, Bynum was back to his dominant self in Saturday’s practice.
“He looks good - physically he’s strong,” Jackson explained. “He had contact on Thursday and on Saturday we played 5-on-5 without Pau, Fish and Kobe. (Bynum) did well. He stood out, he was aggressive … He was kind of a dominant force in there.”
Alas, Bynum will not accompany the team to Sacramento on Monday afternoon for Tuesday night’s game; it still appears that the Memphis* game a week from today is the most likely return date for Bynum. Jackson didn’t rule out an earlier return, which would mean Denver on Thursday or Portland on Friday.
*Jackson did acknowledge the mental challenge Bynum would face in going against the team he’s hurt both knees against, but said he expects ‘Drew to handle it.
The next question, of course, is whether or not Bynum returns to L.A.’s starting lineup or comes off the bench, and Jackson implied the former.
“I haven’t crossed that yet but I kind of envision him going back as a starter again, just because he has an injury that he’s recovering from that takes some activation still,” said the head coach.
Jackson’s basic reasoning is that Bynum can use pregame warmups to get his leg going, and not run the risk of it cooling down by sitting for the first few minutes of the first quarter. This also makes sense alongside Lamar Odom’s recent comments that he’s more than willing to go back to the bench if that will help the squad.
