Los Angeles Lakers center Andrew Bynum will be out 8-12 weeks after tearing a ligament in his right knee.

 

     Bynum injured his knee after trying to grab a rebound over Memphis center Marc Gasol in a game on January 30th . As he came down from his jump, Lakers star Kobe Bryant ran into his knee and Bynum collapsed in excruciating pain.  As Bynum was getting helped off the court, my initial reaction was “wow,” he would be lucky to ever play again.  To my surprise, Bynum is expected to return later this season, as the diagnosis shelves Bynum for an upwards of two months.

   

  When Bynum was spoken to before the Lakers game against the Knicks on Monday, he said, “It’s better news than I expected to hear because of the shot that I took.” Regardless, Andrew Bynum is feeling deja vu from a season ago. Last year Bynum was lost to a dislocated kneecap in mid-January.  The ironic thing is that Bynum was predicted to miss 8-12 weeks. Forty six games later, Bynum still never saw action after the Lakers lost to the Celtics in the NBA Finals. This injury is believed to be different, and Bynum is expecting to return closer to the eight week span, which places him back in the lineup 8-10 games before the postseason begins.

 

     Some people blamed the Lakers loss to the Celtics in the NBA Finals last season on the loss of Andrew Bynum, while I blamed it more on the soft play and lack of chemistry between the team and big man Pau Gasol. Maybe Pau wants a chance at redemption? Not saying he sent his brother Marc out there to take out Bynum’s knee, and the tag team of brothers does not quite match up to the duo of Dean Portman and Fulton Reed.  Why is everyone worried about the Lakers chances?

 

     Calm down Laker fans. (something longtime Lakers fan Jack Nicholson has been told before) You have seen this before, and well I think if it hadn’t been for Gasol’s weak play in the finals, a victory over the Celtics would have been more realistic.  Making the NBA finals, with a so-called star out of the lineup, isn’t too shabby. It could just be my love for the Washington Wizards, where Bynum would be the talk of the town.  Sad? I know.

 

     Last year the team was able to win without him, this time they can as well. First off, when you have a fella by the name of Kobe Bryant, there is no need for panic. Let’s take a look at this chronologically.  Bynum goes down on Saturday. The Lakers had a day off to think about how they could overcome the injury.  Kobe seemed to have the most brilliant of the ideas.  He decided to go out and set the opponents scoring record at Madison Square Garden by putting up 61 points against the Knicks. Ok, so it’s the Knicks.  I understand that.  But, you do not see Lebron James going out and scoring 65 against the Charlotte Bobcats every night.  This year’s team is different than last year’s.

 

     I was never one to jump on the Andrew Bynum bandwagon because I feel he has underachieved and been overated in his early career.  Sure, his 7-foot frame provides a presence inside, but his statistics were drastically down from a year ago. The difference has been the play of Gasol this season, in which he has gone up in most of his stats. Although Bynum was averaging a point more than a year ago, he has gone down in rebounds, assists, blocks, and averaged nearly two fouls more per game. He had underachieved priot to this injury, while Gasol seemed to get stronger. Pau went up in rebounds by nearly two and most importantly on the offensive glass. This to me shows a sense of toughness, and a will that he is determined to overcome his critics from a year ago.

 

     Obviously the Lakers play is going to come down to what Kobe Bryant can do, but this year I am liking their ability to actually finish the season strong. I mean that both literally and figuratively. They will need an increase in the production of Gasol, but also find a way to overcome the loss of Ronnie Turiaf in the offseason. If there is one thing I am nervous about for the Lakers, it is their depth.  I am banking all this on the play of Radmanovic, Powell, and Mihm, whom all are not equal to Bynum, but I feel Phil Jackson can motivate this bunch enough to win it all. 

 

     If your a Laker fan, don’t be scared.  Be confidentally nervous as you go two months without a big tree in the middle.  Give the young guys a chance to show what they have, and let Kobe do what he does best. I picked the Lakers to win it all at the start of the 2008 campaign, so why change now. Lakers over the Magic in the NBA Finals, with or without Andrew Bynum.

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