Sixers Shut Down Andrew Bynum Until Knee Pain Ends

Well, so much for Andrew Bynum joining his Sixers teammates on the court. Philadelphia elected to keep Bynum on the sidelines until his knee pain subsides (whenever that may be.) Per the Philly Inquirer: “Two days ago he had the Synvisc injections [bone joint lubricant in each knee], which he routinely does before the season,’ general manager Tony DiLeo said. ‘He still has some discomfort in his [right] knee, so we are going to hold him from basketball-related activities until he is pain-free. He is improving, so it’s nothing new, but it is something that is not completely healed, so we are going to hold him out until he is pain-free.’ The pain that is costing Bynum time on the court stems from something that happened while he was working out before training camp. ‘I didn’t go down [to the floor in pain], it was just an up-and-under [move],’ he said. ‘I didn’t feel any pop or anything like that. It just kind of buckled. From that point on, we’re just being really cautious and just using the doctor and listening to them, and they’ve basically been saying to let it rest and everything will be fine, and I’ll be all right.’ […] ‘Every day that he is not here on the court diminishes his chances of being there for the opener,’ DiLeo said of the Oct. 31 game against the Denver Nuggets. ‘We just have to talk to Andrew every day and see how he’s feeling, and when he is pain-free, that’s when we’ll start basketball activities. Now he’s going to rest a bit, and then he’ll slowly do the low-impact things and build up. The same things that he was doing before but probably a little more rest after the Synvisc injection, and then after that, he’ll do the same activities, low-impact, and build it up to a place where he can get out on the court and do basketball-related activities. His pain isn’t as much as it was before. It is healing, it is improving. It’s not completely healed. He is a big investment for our team, so we want to be cautious and we want to make sure, especially at the beginning of the season, that he’s healed and that we can put him out on the court at the right time.'”