Daily Drew: UPDATE 8-28..Kupchak to Atlanta to check on him

DahaDan wrote:Gosh, its taking way too long. And the injury used to be thought to take 6 weeks to heal. Damn.

Better safe than sorry I guess. There's no reason to rush him back with camp still a little while off so there's no reason to risk more injury.

When Drew's agent David Lee says it's critical that his extension be done before the season starts, all I hear is: "we are afraid Bynum might get injured again and we want a max contract before that has a chance to happen."

The max is the max, so the way I see it, the Lakers can take as long as they want to evaluate how effective Bynum is post-injury or if he is going to get re-injured playing this season. Once they are convinced his injury is behind him and there is not going to be a relapse, THEN and ONLY then should the Lakers sign him to a max deal. Teams in the NBA are saving their money for 2010, not 2009, so I doubt the Lakers will see Bynum leave and sign a max deal somewhere else just because they didn't offer to give him an extension until December.

David Lee is an agent, so of course he's trying to get as much as he can as quickly as he can. That doesn't mean the Lakers have to do what he wants. If Drew really is healthy, everyone will get what they want.

GREAT NEW ARTICLE ABOUT BYNUM'S PROGRESS!!

Andrew Bynum is running on the track. He’s hitting the weights. He’s doing basketball drills. More importantly, the young Lakers center shows no signs of any lingering problems from his knee surgery.

Bynum has spent the past month down south, working on his conditioning following surgery in June to repair a partially dislocated left kneecap he suffered Jan. 13. He was cleared to begin drills after a month of rehabilitation, and is expected to be 100 percent for time training camp in October.

“Andrew has dedicated another summer to getting into the best possible shape,” Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak said. “A month ago he was cleared from the knee surgery he had and at that point he began working on conditioning and getting into shape and I thought he looked like he has made progress.”

Kupchak didn’t rely on second-hand reports. He traveled to Atlanta earlier this week to check on the fourth-year player from New Jersey and said he liked what he saw.

“I could see improvement in his body, his conditioning and mobility,” Kupchak said. “I didn’t see any signs of effects from the surgery.”

Kupchak said he expects Bynum to report to training camp at full strength, considering camp doesn’t start for another month.

“He told me that he is ready to comeback (to L.A.) to start playing full-court drills,” he said. “He sounded eager to play.”

On Bynum’s website, his personal trainer Sean Zarzana wrote that his client has been eager from Day 1 to get back to the court.

According to Zarzana, Bynum, while cradling a basketball, recently told him, “I can’t wait for this season.”

“There is a look in his eyes and a confidence in his workouts that should get all in Lakerland really excited,” Zarzana wrote.

Bynum suffered the knee injury during a game against the Memphis Grizzlies eight months ago when he attempted to grab a rebound and landed awkwardly on Lamar Odom’s left foot. He had been averaging 13.1 points and 10.2 rebounds before his injury.

The Lakers had hoped Bynum would return in time for the first round of the NBA playoffs, but eventually announced he needed arthroscopic surgery to smooth over rough spots and fraying on the underside of his kneecap.

Kupchak’s concern regarding Bynum’s health extends further than having him help the Lakers this season. It’s also a financial concern.

The Lakers recently exercised a fourth-year contract option on Bynum, but his agent, David Lee, is seeking a maximum five-year, $80 million extension. Kupchak had said that he wanted to wait and see how well Bynum was well he would rebound from his surgery before offering an extension.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bynu ... kers-month

now that the injury is over, I would like to lock this thread because

1. It reminds us of the injury
2. People want to discuss articles seperately and it doesn't work when you have all articles in one thread.

after all

props to the original thread poster that kept us updated through out the injury period. the work is greatly appreciated by the staff.