While the preseason is largely about players avoiding injuries so that they can suit up for the regular season, there are always the select few that are working to recover from injuries.
Nobody has entered the preseason with high expectations for Andrew Bynum — newly acquired by the Cleveland Cavaliers — in his recovery from chronic knee injuries. After all, it’s been how long now since we’ve seen him play?
But Bynum has quietly gone to work since signing with the Cavaliers, and is reportedly closer than many would expect to being “game ready.”
From Jason Lloyd, Cavaliers beat writer for the Akron Beacon Journal:
No one has definitively said this, but I’m getting the sense Andrew Bynum could return to the court for the season opener Oct. 30 against the Brooklyn Nets in a limited role. If not in time for the opener, soon after.
Excuse me?
This may be a surprise to some, but despite the Bynum signing being such a low risk/high reward proposition (with extremely low expectations) for the Cavaliers, they have taken it very seriously. Since Bynum has arrived in Cleveland, he has been on a strict rehab regimen. According to Kyrie Irving, this is one of the reasons Bynum chose Cleveland over Dallas. More from Lloyd:
Of course, that’s assuming Bynum doesn’t suffer any setbacks. He hasn’t yet. The Cavs keep giving Bynum guideposts in his recovery and he keeps hitting them. Team personnel seemed pleased to sort of show him off to the media Wednesday by allowing him to play in a 3 on 3, half-court scrimmage in front of reporters. I wasn’t there but from all accounts, Bynum looked great. He’s down to his playing weight, as I wrote during the game, so the last step seems to be a return to practice.
Lloyd even goes as far as to state that he believes there is an outside chance that Bynum could see preseason action.
The Cavs have internally discussed the merits of playing him in the preseason, but that seems unlikely. Their last home game is Saturday night and he won’t be ready by then. After that, they’re in Columbus and Cincinnati for games next week, then fly from Cincinnati to Charlotte for the preseason finale. The overwhelming belief seems to be that Bynum is better served to remain in Cleveland for treatment and more work rather than waste three days away from the facility just for a few minutes in a preseason game. If the Cavs had a home preseason game closer to the start of the season, I think there would be a greater chance Bynum could make an appearance. Instead, his debut will likely come when the games matter.
Personally, as excited as I am to see Bynum suit up for the Cavs, seeing this accelerated timeline of recovery worries me a lot. This is not just one injury or one surgery Bynum is recovering from. He’s had chronic knee issues for the entirety of his career. We all know what happened to Greg Oden when he tried to come back early. Four years later he is still trying.
Cleveland has the talent and depth to survive without Bynum. I think they are a playoff quality team in the East without him, he’s just the icing that puts the cake over the top.
This is a competitive organization, which is exactly why they took a risk with Bynum, but also what could derail his value to the team. Cleveland should not be in a rush to win as many games as they can now, they should be doing everything they can to ensure they have an opportunity to win games in the spring.
As many as they can.
Onto more from around the NBA:
- New team, same rivalry between Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and the Miami Heat: “Of course, James’ assault made little sense, considering the Celtics traded Pierce and Garnett to the Brooklyn Nets. The Celtics pushed Garnett to waive his no-trade clause, insisting they no longer wanted him as part of a rebuild. As a free agent, Allen turned down $12 million from the Celtics to take $6.5 million from the Heat. Allen had his reasons, and they’re well-documented. In the end, Doc Rivers could no longer get Garnett and Pierce to recruit Allen to stay, sources told Yahoo. Neither player would call Allen, and only Pierce could be counted upon to even text him. The partnership had run its course, and Allen made the right, if unpopular, decision for himself. Nevertheless, two championships have emboldened James to take his shots – perhaps because he’s tired of absorbing them for years. When asked about James’ criticisms on Thursday night, Pierce said, “I left Boston?” It was his way of simply saying: What the hell’s LeBron talking about?”
Carmelo Anthony wants to make it clear that this season is his only focus: “I’m a guy who’s strong-minded person who’s not gonna let that outside stuff bother me,” Anthony said Friday. “(Woodson) knows that.” The Knicks’ star forward says he will opt out of the final year of his contract and test free agency this summer. Woodson said on Thursday that he wants Anthony to “worry” solely about the coming season, not on his pending free agency. Anthony recently assured Woodson that he won’t let any “Melodrama” impact his play in a conversation the two had before training camp.”
“I told him, ‘Don’t even think about worrying about me, as far as letting that interfere with my game or this team – I’m not, so you shouldn’t,’ ” Anthony said.
Joakim Noah has been shut down for a week due to a groin injury: “We’re going to shut Jo down. He’s got a little soreness so we want to make sure we get that taken care of, so probably another week or so. We just want to make sure he’s completely healthy before we move forward. His groin. It’s better, but it’s not where we would like it to be. Like we want it completely healthy where he doesn’t feel it, and right now he’s feeling it, so we have to take care of that,” Thibodeau said. “We want him to focus on the rehab right now. Like put everything you have into the rehab, and when we get close we’ll see where he is in a week. Because of where we are in the season, too, we want to make sure it’s completely healed. “We want to make sure that we get that [soreness] out and taken care of. His feet are really good, so that’s a plus. Overall, his timing wasn’t great [Wednesday] like it usually is, but defensively his reaction to the ball was terrific and his defense was outstanding, so that part was good, and there are things he can do right now. He’s in the pool, so he’s taking care of his cardio that way and he’s doing a lot of band work, so it’s good,” he continued. “This is what you go through during the season. It gives Naz more work, Taj has played more five than normal, which is good, I think he needed that work. Taj and Carlos is good. It’s given us an opportunity to take a look at Murphy at the four, so you try and take advantage of it that way.””
Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic, now teammates, have been walking a similar career path: “Yet it’s been basketball that has brought out almost poetic similarities between the two playmakers. Both are speedsters who love to push the ball. They’re opportunistic thieves on the defensive end. They’ve also walked career paths that essentially mirror one another’s, with only one to two year’s difference showing between them. Dragic spent his first two years backing up Steve Nash when he was arguably the best point guard in the league. Bledsoe did the same for Chris Paul. Now both guards have transitioned from key backups to go-to cogs in the Suns’ offense, an adjustment Head Coach Jeff Hornacek appreciates.”
“It happens all the time, I think,” he said. “Guys work hard to get to that spot. When they get their chance, they’re ready to prove it. It’s a different mindset.”
- Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe of Grantland compile, in order, their NBA League Pass rankings: “With the 2013-14 NBA season just 11 days away, Grantland’s Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe decided to blow out the annual League Pass Rankings with categories and an admittedly goofy scoring system. The goal? To figure out which of this year’s NBA teams had the best chance to consistently steal our attention every night as we try to watch five games at once. Both Zach and Bill awarded each NBA team between 0 and 10 points in the following five categories. We scored each team on our own, then combined the scores into a bigger score. The lowest possible score? Zero. The highest possible score? 100. One of our two judges turned out to be a pathetically easy grader, to the other judge’s eternal delight. Who was the Randy Jackson of the League Pass Rankings? Who finished with the best score? And did we really need 11,000 words and two parts to figure this out? Without further ado, the 2013-14 League Pass Rankings, from worst to first.”
Iman Shumpert has swelling in his elbow, but should be fine for the opener: “Shumpert became entangled with Washington Wizards guard Bradley Beal during the first quarter of the Knicks’ 98-89 win Thursday night in Baltimore and left the game. Shumpert, whose elbow was wrapped in ice, said no MRI or other test was needed. “It looks worse than it is,” he said. “I just can’t get my arm through right now.” He added: “It’s a day-by-day thing.” Shumpert is involved in a competition with J.R. Smith for the starting shooting guard spot. Smith has yet to play as he recovers from knee surgery. “I think I’ve been playing well,” Shumpert said. “There’s some things I need to work on….I’m not worried about anything going into the season. We’re just trying to win games.” Shumpert was one of several Knicks who sat out Friday’s practice. Smith, Amar’e Stoudemire, Kenyon Martin, Metta World Peace, Tyson Chandler and Pablo Prigioni all watched practice when reporters were let into the gym.”
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