This is awful news for Andrew Bynum, and we’re only going to lightly touch on our earlier prognosis about Cleveland’s future with him in a starring role, but nobody wants to see a player miss extended time. A source tells Sam Amico of Fox Sports Ohio that Bynum is “nowhere near ready and is likely to miss the entire preseason.” Meanwhile, the sky is blue and the grass still green. Ugh, this feels like déjà vu to Philly fans.
Maybe it’s because we expect too much of Bynum? Even with only half of his $12 million contract guaranteed — to the point where we’re a little surprised the union didn’t flex a bared-teeth lawyer or two — fans are still expecting to return to that double-double 2011-12 season. Maybe that’s the apex of Bynum’s time in the league. Maybe this last year and a half is his low-point and he bounces back?
One source familiar with Bynum’s progress told Fox Sports Ohio that Bynum is nowhere near ready and is likely to miss the entire preseason. He could, however, give it a go early in the regular season, if not for the opener Oct. 30 vs. the Brooklyn Nets.
So maybe Bynum will give it a go in the opener against the Nets, and maybe Kevin Garnett and Brook Lopez will make his knee look a lot worse than reality, but it’s hard not to think of the worst case scenario if you’re a Cavs fan. This is a man who has already missed an entire preseason and regular season, had surgery on both knees and is now missing all of another preseason.
This is also 26-year-old with so much wrong in his knobbly knees they’ve inherited a Bogeyman distinction in Orthopedic schools across the country as various knee specialists treat his return to health like Ahab did the White Whale.
At this point, NBA fans — not just Cavs fans — want to see Bynum on an NBA court. It’s been long enough and now the specter that hung over the entire 2012-13 season in Philadelphia is like an ethereal mist in Ohio, too.
Get healthy Andrew, you’re too young, and modern medicine too advanced, to be lost forever. Though sometimes players never come all the way back, they at least come back. We hope Bynum gets a chance.
Will Bynum be productive next season? Will he even play?
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