"Pain-Free" Bynum Sayes He'll play

Bynum was seen by Philly reporters shooting jumpers from the wings and the baseline on Monday. No running, no jumping and certainly no slam dunking.
No bowling therapy either.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE - http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2013/01/14/pain-free-bynum-says-hell-play/

Progress, I suppose. I think it'll take a little bit more than that to get Sixers fans excited, though.

YAYOMFGBBQ11!!!!

We're having a barbeque?

So he'll be healthy at some point next season?

He claims this season, but I don't think anyone's holding their breath or getting their hopes up too much as to his impact on the Sixers.

HOORAY!!!!.... no, not really. Wonder how many games he'll manage to play before he goes bowling again. Your Philadelphia 76ers for the next 5 years!

If he does miss the entire season or merely makes a token appearance towards the end of the regular season with some ordinary performances, do you think they'd let him walk?

It's extremely doubtful considering the price they paid to get him. The way I see it, the only way they let him walk is if he misses the entire season and then requires a 5-year max without any clauses about his health (e.g. he has to play x games in the first 2 years or else the rest of the contract is unguaranteed, something along those lines). It's starting to look like he will play this season and if his performances will be subpar everyone will very easily justify it by saying he's still rusty after the injury, so I've pretty much lost all hope.

They will give him that max, have him for 30-50 games every season and the fans will be going back and forth between nervously counting days he's gone without getting injured and anticipating his return from injury in excitement. After about 3 years, maybe they'll start to realize that having a guy who can't stay healthy as your franchise player might not have been the best idea and we're never going to be taken seriously since without him, this team sucks. Without Jrue and Thad they wouldn't win a game in the D-League, with Jrue and Thad they still don't win in the NBA very often.

On the bright side though...

As often said, this is hit or miss league. Bynum is exactly the case. If he remains healthy, you guys win big, not just big, but contending big for several years down the road. Risk however is great.

I think they can probably avoid paying him the max. As good as he can be when he's healthy, his injury problems aren't going to encourage other teams to line up to pay him as much as they possibly can, so the Sixers probably won't find themselves in a fierce bidding war...especially if he scarcely makes an appearance this season or doesn't end up playing at all.

Sixers should just let him go at the end of the season and be in the bidding for the services of Al Jefferson or Paul Millsap.

As often said, this is hit or miss league. Bynum is exactly the case. If he remains healthy, you guys win big, not just big, but contending big for several years down the road. Risk however is great.

How can you be so sure we'd contend with a healthy Bynum? Back in August, people had some doubts whether he'd be good enough as a first option and the man that the opposing defense would be most focused on. That problem has been shoved aside by his knees, but it's a valid point - we still don't know that. With the bowler out, this season is supposed to evaluate our other guys. At this point, we know Jrue is worthy of being part of our core. Turner is not. Thad does many great little things, plays very good defense and is worth keeping around, but he shouldn't ever be a 2nd or even 3rd option. The only role players on this roster we should somewhat care about would probably be Wright and Lavoy.

A healthy Bynum won't make this crappy team a contender. As nice as the Jrue/Drew duo could be, it's not enough, especially in the current superteam era. They'd need help and the earliest they could get some would be 2014, that's when most of our contracts expire. Problem? When you have Bynum healthy, you really have to seize the moment, there's not much room for planning and waiting for something.

Even assuming it all works out - Bynum handles the duties of an offensive focal point well, Jrue is a great sidekick, we keep Thad and get them some more support... Bynum has been healthy TWO seasons of his eight-year career. With so many things that could go wrong here, I doubt it's the path we should take.

When he is healthy though, he's too good a player to just give up without at least making him some kind of offer. Again, I doubt many teams are going to be rushing to give him the biggest contract they possibly can, so there's no need for the Sixers to bid against themselves in doing so.

Assuming nobody (or not many teams) splashes out on him, what would you consider a reasonable offer for Bynum from the Sixers' side of things if he doesn't play this season or plays a few games and doesn't show anything spectacular? And would Bynum be willing to accept it?

Before the trade to Philly, Bynum was once asked how he feels about trade rumors involving him (or something like that). He responded: "there are ATMs in every city". Money's all he cares about. If there's one team willing to give him more than the Sixers, odds are he leaves.

I guess I have to agree despite his enormous talent that it might not be the best move to keep hanging onto a little hope that is Andrew BynoKnees. Another concerning thing other than his knees would be his maturity level and his attitude sorta like Cousins. Bynum has tools to become the best center in the league if healthy and be able to keep his head on straight. That's a big if though.

Assuming nobody (or not many teams) splashes out on him, what would you consider a reasonable offer for Bynum from the Sixers' side of things if he doesn't play this season or plays a few games and doesn't show anything spectacular? And would Bynum be willing to accept it?

Probably around $10 million per year, depending on just how healthy he is. As for why Bynum would be willing to accept it, it could quite possibly be the best offer on the table. As I said before, it's not like teams are going to be lining up to give him a max deal, so he doesn't have that leverage and the Sixers are only bidding against themselves.