On Wednesday, Andrew Bynum had surgery on his right knee to repair a tear of the lateral meniscus. Dr. David Altchek, who is the Medical Director for the New York Mets and a medical consultant for the NBA, completed the surgery. Andrew Bynum is expected to make a full recovery by the start of the season and is expected to be available on a “limited basis” for the Lakers training camp in late September.
Bynum hurt tore his meniscus in the first round of the playoffs against the Thunder and worked through the pain for the remainder of the post season earning the respect of his teammates and fans alike. He had the knee drained three times since the injury (twice during the post season and once more after the Lakers championship parade). After his exit interviews, Bynum said that “he planned to work out with a Lakers trainer in L.A. and Vancouver following the surgery to rehab his knee and improve his core strength as a preventative measure against injuries in the future.”
This news comes only days after the Lakers released a statement saying that Kobe Bryant underwent arthroscopic surgery on a knee that he also had to have drained during the post season. Kobe is expected to be fully recovered by the start of training camp and has already began his rehab.
Health will be one of the biggest obstacles that the Lakers will have to overcome next season. Getting both Kobe and Drew to take care of their respective knees months before training camp is just one of many huge steps the Lakers have taken this off-season to begin their two-time title defense journey. Taking care of these injuries were every bit as important as brining back Derek Fisher and the signings of Steve Blake, Theo Ratliff and Matt Barnes. It’s hard to be satisfied with every way the Lakers have handled this off-season. If they’re able to bring back Shannon Brown, the Lakers will have essentially done everything they set out to do. Lets just hope for full, timely recoveries.
Rob says
Phillip – Are you, as a blogger on the TrueHoop network on ESPN, prohibited from mentioning or even acknowledging the story by Arash Markazi about Lebron’s weekend party in Las Vegas?
exhelodrvr says
Rob,
the combination of “The Decision” combined with “the decision” to pull the article has me treating ESPN’s coverage with MUCH more skepticism than previously. (FWIW, I don’t for a second believe the excuse that Markazi’s column was initially posted by accident.) It seems pretty clear that in LeBron’s case they have crossed the line from honest reporting to product “promotion” at the expense of product “integrity.” It’s not the first time, and won’t be the last time, but them being so blatant about it leads me to believe that it’s more pervasive than I thought, and thus their product is less trustworthy.
Lou says
What is to mention, that a young rich guy had a party in vegas with his boys?
Jake says
Lakers should pry away Rudy Fernandez from the Blazers. He should be a really good fit in the triangle. 1st round pick should suffice. Oh yessss.
thomas says
http://deadspin.com/5598719/read-espns-spiked-story-about-lebron-among-the-naked-ladies-in-vegas?skyline=true&s=i
there it is. actually pretty lame. the dude likes to party. ummm…he’s 25, no shit.
lou beat me to it
magic days says
What is the possibility of turning Sasha or Brown if we can get him to re-sign into Rudy Fernandez? I’ve always liked him and thought he would be a good fit on the Lakers.
Not to tamper, but maybe Pau should text or tweet him.
Feel says
If the Lakers can somehow acquire Rudy it would be completly astonishing. I’ve seing this guy play for a while and I can certainly say that he hasn’t played even to half his capabilties in Portland. The guy is the best poor-man Ginobili you can get.
Rob says
The story it’s self isn’t that revealing or shocking. It’s only shocking that ESPN would yank it.
And, if it’s as I suspect, anyone that works for ESPN is prohibited from talking about it or even acknowledging it.
Taylor says
“It’s hard to be satisfied with every way the Lakers have handled this off-season.”
Hard “NOT” to be satisfied? Or are you just really difficult to please, Phillip? ; )
I’m more than satisfied!
Pat B says
Where are the rest of the player reviews?
Darius says
#9 Pat B.
We’ll have more reviews over the course of the next couple weeks. For those that don’t know, I’m on vacation but will be back posting regularly in the next few days. And I’ll definitely have some player reviews up soon.
harold says
Eddie House joined the Heat.
I’ve just re-watched Any Given Sunday, and for some reason Al Pacino and Riley are overlapping in my mind…
Anyway, I like our chances.
DirtySanchez says
Yeah I was wanting to know what LeBron was wearing, drinking, chick he slipped back to VIP. Come on, your turning LeBron’s weekend in Vegas into a Lindsay Lohan night out on Hollywood Blvd.. You can pretty much fill in the blanks, use your imagination, plenty of girls, lots of liquor, trip to the Waffle House( confused with my nights out). If LeBron doesnt go crazy, it will be a miracle. Everything he does from now on will be second guessed and dissected. Man the life of a multi millionaire basketball superstar is so hard. Where do I sign up?
chibi says
We’ve got a chance to deal for Fernandez, alright. Slim and none.
The Blazers don’t need any more guards. They have depth at pretty much every position. So, they’d probably want only draft picks in return.
The only scenario that makes sense to me is probably too expensive. This would involve the Knicks, Blazers, and Lakers.
We’d trade Sasha for Ronnie Turiaf. NY agrees to this because it turns Ronnie’s 2 yr deal into an expiring contract. This clears capspace for next year. That’s the incentive for new york to help make this deal.
The Blazers trade us Fernandez, and in exchange the Lakers convey their #1 and those two extra #2 picks we got from New York and Miami last year. In addition, the Knicks pay them $3M.
Way too complicated and unlikely.
Charles says
4&5: It’s probably best to forget the idea of getting Fernandez. We can’t offer the Blazers anything they want (no, I don’t think they’d be willing to swap him for a pick at the bottom of the first round) and they’d already have a strong bias against packing him off to a conference rival.
Sasha simply will not work, the salaries don’t match and there’s no way Portland would be willing to throw another contract in there to even things up.
Craig W. says
Why do all our scenarios of getting Fernandez involve us picking up additional salaries? If that is the case, we are not getting him, period.
We are far and away the top salaried club in the NBA. The only way we get Fernandez is if Portland trades him to someone else and we do a trade in February.
Anything else just gives me a headache.
Rob says
I fear that Phillip’s silence provides the answer we were all afriad of. I was hoping this blog was not affected by ESPN’s decision to pull the story.
I guess I was wrong.
Zephid says
16, trust me when I say our affiliation with ESPN is loose at best, non-existent at worst. Please take your conspiracy theories elsewhere.
Rob says
18 – I don’t want to believe that. I hate the thought of that.
But considering no one affiliated with ESPN (other than the president I think and Arash) have even commented on it I’m pretty sure it’s a company policy and I wonder if that extends to this blog.
JeremyLA24 says
1) Two posts later and I still don’t understand why or how anyone expects us to land Rudy Fernandez.
2) I hope that Bynum takes note of some of Theo’s knowledge while he spends most of his time on the bench in the pre-season. I hope I see less of the “black hole” and more of the 2 man game that seemed to get better in the post season between Pau and Drew. Lastly, it would be just as good for our offense if Bynum learns how to pass out of the post as it would for Shannon to learn how to pass into it.
3) First OJ, then Kobe, and Now LeBron! What next? You’re going to tell me A-Rod “juices” and lives a scandalous lifestyle in the Big Apple?… Get over it peop’s, these are not the church quire boys you think they are. (Okay maybe OJ wasn’t necessary.)
R says
Must be a slow news week …
kip says
this addition with von wafer doesnt hurt the celtics at all….none of out additions hurt at all the last two years….kg got hurt the year before understandable..magic beat us….perk got hurt in game 6 we lost by 6 points in game 7 to the lakers…hell what more can u ask for
Mike Penberthy says
A little off topic i guess, but is anybody else happy to finally see the day when Shaq is absolutely irrelevant on and off the court?
VERY few things this offseason made me happy more than to see The Big Coattail Rider struggle to find any team that still wants anything to do with his over the hill self.
Warren Wee Lim says
Test Message. Have not been able to post in awhile.
Darius says
Rob,
As the person that runs this site, I’m glad that neither Phillip or Jeff mentioned Markazi’s story because it’s not news. And while we do cover league issues at this site, we still are a Lakers site and I just don’t see the relevance of the past couple of days’ events in relation to this site. Also, what is there to write about in regards to this? I don’t know what happened and neither does anyone else associated with this site. We don’t run with speculation here at FB&G (on any topic – not jst in regards to trades) so, again, I don’t see the relevance or the need to discuss it here.
sT says
I am glad our players are having their knee’s taken care of, finally. Shaq seems to maybe have finally lost his luster in the league, I will never hate on him, he significantly helped the Lakers to a three-peat, but then he left in bad terms, somewhat. Also, I could care less about LeBron, by the way.
Albert says
I made some harsh comments about Bynum being weak and not committing himself enough to winning. Well, he played through pain and helped Lakers wining another championship, so the kid has shown his toughness. I admire that quality. Just tough it out, and compete. That is maturity. I hope he comes back even stronger for the third title.
Rob says
Darius, you’re right. Markazi’s story isn’t news, and certainly not Lakers news.
But ESPN pulling the story IS news.
Mimsy says
According to Yahoo! Sports, the story was pulled from ESPN because Markazi didn’t identify himself as a journalist while he was gathering the info.
The fact we even seem to care about this is ridiculous. For one, I thought it was common knowledge that ESPN isn’t nearly on the same level when it comes to journalistic integrity as actual “real” news organizations are? If they didn’t buddy-buddy with the stars they write about, they would lose access to the information that keeps them alive. They know it, they act accordingly, and pretending otherwise is naive.
Second, the story was essentially about a 25-year old millionaire having a party in Las Vegas. That’s not sports news, there was no reason for ESPN to even cover the event in the first place, and when they belatedly came to their senses and realized that, they pulled the story and put their focus back on sports.
Can we please drop this and talk about the Lakers now?
Does anyone know how Kobe’s knee rehab is going, and what’s happening with his fingers?
Chownoir says
@20, Jeremy, regarding your #2 point. I’ve always been a big believer that Drew just needed court time since he had played so little growing up and in the league compared to the vast majority of NBA players.
With his work ethic, it seemed like he was improving in all areas of his game, some faster than others. But I do think his tendency to hold on to the ball gradually receded as the year progressed. It was just a matter of getting reps. Even experienced older centers coming out of college need court time to learn how to recognize double teams and pass out of it properly.
Another area where he showed growth was his pick and roll D. Phil at the beginning of the year still thought it was pretty bad. By the middle of the season, Phil actually had given some compliments, which is rare.
Bottom line, I think Drew wants and will improve in all aspects of the game. Despite some immaturity flareups the past couple of years, overall he seems very coachable and has demonstrated growth in areas that the coaches stress.
He just needs court time. Hopefully he stays healthy all year long.
Travis Y. says
Wow, Rob is just not going to drop it.
To move onto another subject.
We can elevate our entire team game if Bynum comes back healthy, he takes our “A” game to an “A+” game.
What are suitable expectations for the coming year?
16-10-2. All Star?
Less holding the ball in the post and better decision making a la Pau.
Becoming the defensive stalwart that the coaching staff hopes him to become.
Developing a killer high low game with Pau.
Defending the paint, rebounding with energy, and scoring the occasional bucket.
DY says
Oh Bynum, the great “Sisyphus” of the Lakers. Every summer, we drool at the prospects of his improvement. We labor with him through the season, then the rock falls back to the bottom of the hill with his latest injury.
That being said, I take it at face value when Theo Ratliff (any nicknames for him yet, I think someone called him “Minerals”) said Bynum is so big and immovable, and has tons of room to grow. Bynum never really had a “Lindsay Hunter-esque” sage/mentor big man to help him learn the ropes. DJ Mbenga and Turiaf don’t exactly qualify for the Lindsay Hunter role.
Bynum has been saying that he’s going to strengthen other areas of his body this summer, notably, his core-area. Hopefully that pays off. Bynum (plus our corp of big men) represents the difference against the Miami cHEAT and other squads. We have enough perimeter harassers now, but we have an indubitable advantage inside with Gasol, Odom, Bynum, Minerals, and hopefully Caracter. I really hope that this is the year that Bynum finally plays 82 games and edges towards the 17/12/2 guy he can become.
As to Caracter, Hoopsworld says that Maccabi has offered Caracter a multi-year, multi-million $ deal. Much respect to Caracter if he turns that down to fight his way into the NBA. Man, too bad the Lakers didn’t have more money to throw at Caracter. Also, finding Ebanks and Caracter in 2nd round is precisely why the Machine is being offered for a first round pick.
Phillip says
Hey guys,
Sorry for the late response to all of your questions about the LeBron story. As Darius said, the LeBron story really isn’t any news, and certainly not basketball news. We try to only deal with things that only affect what will happen on the court, whether it be about the Lakers or any other league-wide issue. As someone who has spent a great deal of time on two different newspapers, I can tell you that feature stories get pulled every single day. ESPN pulling a story about a Vegas trip is not news and really doesn’t need to be discussed further.
Travis,
I would really love to see ‘Drew become a consistent double-double guy and 16 & 10 seems completely reasonable. Last season, he showed flashes of a potential ability to be a good passer from the block and he and Pau seemed to finally begin the process of figuring out their high low game. Bynum’s health is really going to be key for the Lakers. If both Bynum and Pau are on the floor together running on all cylinders, the Lakers are going to be awfully tough to beat no matter who is on the other end of the floor — not to mention that those two playing well just makes things easier for Kobe.
As for the Rudy Fernandez thing, I still think I would rather have Shannon Brown. I have been one of Fernandez’s biggest supporters since he entered the league and think he would be an awesome Laker, but I really think that the Lakers could use someone who can come off the bench and excite the crowd. I’ve wanted Shannon Brown back since the season ended for that reason. I think Brown will improve tremendously as a basketball player over these next few years and don’t want the Lakers to miss out on his improved game. Without Brown, the Lakers don’t really have that high energy guy who can catch fast break lobs and jump out in passing lanes to come off the bench. With Kobe’s athleticism diminishing, the Lakers are going to need Brown to fill that void. On top of all of that, I think the Blazers would have to be out of their mind crazy to pull the trigger on any deal that would make the Lakers any better than they already are. A Fernandez to Lakers deal is HIGHLY unlikely and the Lakers will be more than satisfied to bring Shannon back.
Gr8 Scott says
Listen, there is no way that LeBron is going to get negative pubicity or coverage from ESPN, which is owned by ABC/Disney which pays a lot of $$ to air prime NBA games. I don’t see anything wrong with him partying, although he has 3-4 kids from (I believe) the same woman, so I’m not sure where that’s headed. ESPN pulled an article – big deal. As most of us who follow our Lakers, the NBA or the world of sports know that they have remained true to being part sports entertainment/part news coverage media giant.
It’s funny, but when Kobe “quit” on his team in the ’06 game 7 at Phx he was roasted by many at ESPN and yet James gets a nearly free pass for quitting on Cleveland. Oh well. Let’s get to training camp already.
jodial says
I just have a gut feeling that ‘Drew is due for a breakout year.
jodial says
(meant to add this to the above post):
He works hard, his skills are obvious, and I think his playing hurt during the playoffs was a huge marker in his development – the fact that he could still find ways to be effective and help the team while hobbled speaks not only of his tenacity, but his growing understanding of the game.
If he can stay and play healthy for a whole season – and the young man is due for a break – no one is going to touch the Lakers.
Mimsy says
My comment about why it’s lame to refuse to drop the “ESPN pulled a story!” discussion is still stuck in moderation, and it’s really not important, so I’m just going to repeat my questions from that comment so we can keep talking about the Lakers. That way my comment on something that actually doesn’t matter can stay in moderation instead of derailing the thread further.
Does anyone know how Kobe’s knee rehab is going, and what’s happening with his fingers? Or are we going to have a separate post about that later?
As for Andrew Bynum, there’s got to be a limit to how many years in a row someone accidentally lands on your knees! At the same time, I have to admit that if he goes down with a season-ending leg/knee injury again this season, I will start to lose faith… once is coincidence, twice is a fluke… if it happens three times it’s a pattern.
Phillip says
Mimsy,
At this point, the Lakers are releasing as little as possible on Kobe’s rehab. From what I’ve read, they’ve only said that his surgery went well, his rehab has started and he’s expected to be back full strength for training camp. The Lakers haven’t said whether or not he’ll do anything about his finger, but I think it was the Los Angeles Times Mark Medina who said that him getting his fingers repaired was highly unlikely. He would have needed to have that operation done closer to the end of the season for him to be back for training camp and preseason games. As the days pass, it seems more and more unlikely that he’ll have any kind of finger surgery.
exhelodrvr says
Mimsy,
He’s had four significant knee injuries already, counting his senior year in high school.
kehntangibles says
As much as it strains belief that doing nothing on his finger is the best option, I have to go back to the fact that no one wants Kobe to be 100% more than Kobe himself and Kobe knows his body better than any of us, no innuendo intended.**
(** – that said, Vanessa can’t be happy about him texting Barnes ‘like boyfriend and girlfiend’ or the 3am texts he was swapping with Pau in ’09 =) )
kareem says
This isn’t a site dedicated to analyzing ESPN, its corporatism, or its journalistic integrity. ESPN is a crock. The fact that they’ve networked all these blogs is a sign of their business sense. Just fo’get about it.
Brian Tung says
Something weird going on with the links to the stories and the comments section…
chibi says
if brown re-signs, seems like there’ll be a bit of a minutes crunch at the swing position. if you’re an agent, that could significantly impact a client’s value the next time they become free agents.
if i’m barnes agent, i’d do things to weaken the lakers bargaining position, like let it slip the lakers tried to dump sasha and a #1 for delonte west’s expiring contract.
not saying that’s what happened, but coincidentally both barnes and west are repped by the same agency.
if i’m brown’s agent, i’d let it float that cleveland isn’t exactly my first choice. maybe a team recognizes the lakers are reluctant to have both vujacic and brown under contract at the same time, and swoop in with an attractive offer.
not saying that’s what happened, but in come the knicks.
Oskar says
Am I the only one a little bit annoyed by the fact that Lamar Odom is partying with the ‘dark side’ in Miami?
Obviously you should hang out with your friends but it still doesn’t sit quite right with me..
Chris J says
Oskar,
It didn’t bother me to read about Odom having a good time with LeBron in Vegas last weekend. They were teammates at the 2004 Olympics, and LO is friends with Wade as well. No harm there given the history.
That said, I did gain some respect for Fat Baby Davis after I read he spotted LeBron’s group at the club, gave them a look and then went on his way.
Laker Fan says
Why is Odom partying with LeBron in Vegas. Glad to see he wasn’t part of the craziness at Tao, but what was the dance off about? Where was Khole during this dance off? Granted, it had to be funny for everyone there to see random people pointing at the ring finger while looking at Odom and LeBron… wonder what Prince James thought about being called out by random people on the dance floor?
DY says
44. (Chris J) Maybe Big Baby thought he saw Nate Robinson when someone was dancing wildly with a bottle of Grey Goose, but realized it was Maverick Carter. Remember, they are Shrek and Donkey.
Gpaul says
@ DY Kareem Abdul-Jabaar isn’t a good mentor? I think Andrews game has improved every year, he’s just been derailed by injuries. Our boy is gonna have an awesome season this year.
DY says
47. KAJ is absolutely a great mentor, but he does not have to suit up every game with Bynum. That’s why I said Bynum needed a “Lindsay Hunter” mentor, someone who actually plays in the game and practices together. I doubt Bynum goes against KAJ with 100% physicality during practice.
Phillip says
New post up:
http://www.forumblueandgold.com/2010/07/29/drew-undergoes-surgery/
Just as a heads up, any comments about the LeBron James story being removed or Lamar Odom’s involvement outside of this thread will be deleted.
chris h says
yeah, somethings off, you say this is a new post, but it’s not really
I’m surprised there isn’t a post and discussion about all the chatter on the net about the lakerds wanting to move Sasha, even to the point of giving away a first rounder…
and there’s no takers.
even free Sasha is too expensive
Chris J says
Shrek and Donkey was so fitting to describe those two.
[Edited by Zephid: too mean]
Anonymous says
Philip, that link you posted to the new posting is the link to this post. Is there a new post? I keep clicking on the home and the first item is “Drew undergoes surgery.”
VoR says
I confess that I am a little suprised and disaapointed in how the Markazi article issue has been handled on this site.
1. The original story was most definitely a non-story.
2. That FB&G chose not to cover it or the pulling of it is not surprising in the least.
3. Rob’s initial question, given FB&G’s affiliation with Truehoop was perfectly legitimate. A direct answer, of no, or yes, would have been simple enough to address the question.
4. To imply that the pulling of the story is a nonstory is comical at best, disingenuous at worst.
MannyP says
I’m confused.. is there a new post or not?
Anonymous says
Seems my post regarding the lack of a new post got stuck in moderation for the last hour or so. There’s something freaky going on with the links, maybe?
Hmmm…I’m starting to think that maybe there’s a conspiracy going on. Oh! I know, ESPN must have pulled the post before it even got posted! That must be it.
Joel Lawrence says
No comments?
Phillip says
Wow… Don’t know what happened there. The post showed up on my computer but wasn’t actually published. Sorry about the confusion. Here’s the actual link to the new post:
http://www.forumblueandgold.com/2010/07/30/fast-break-thoughts-70/
tsuwm says
the previous thread had no link at the bottom to this one; ergo, it must been misplaced in this thread instead.
it’s a strange loop, batman.
Chris J says
Too mean? Come on, Z, that was a funny post.
Mimsy says
@Phillip
Thanks for the Kobe update. 🙂
Darius says
#53. FB&G is independently owned and operated. ESPN does not dictate how I run the site. And maybe “non story” isn’t quite accurate…it is a story. But not a basketball one. It’s a media story and general story about ESPN the company/organization. Those aren’t topics that I’ll look to address with posts too often. If you’re disappointed in that, fine.
Celtics fan says
Darius & Phillip. With all due respect, I think that you are still dodging the question; As #53 asks: Yes or No?
BTW, I enjoy the blog even though I’m a C’s fan.
Joel says
62
I’m pretty sure the post just above you answered the question quite clearly.
“FB&G is independently owned and operated. ESPN does not dictate how I run the site.”
Darius says
#62. Celtics fan,
With all due respect, I’m not going to get into the communications that I have with any representatives from ESPN. The reason being is that it’s not relevant. I can run what I want at this site because I own/operate the site. No one dictates to me what can and can’t go up as those decisions are made by me and the other writers that contribute here. So, while some may be looking for further explanation, I hope this is enough.
On a side note, just because someone else thinks this is a relevant topic to be covered doesn’t mean I have to agree with that. My opinions (or those of the other contributors) are what make up the posts of this site. Said another way – and I by no means want this to come off as snarky or condescending – if someone wants to discuss a topic in more depth, they can run it at a site that they control. What ESPN does with their content is their deal. If the story was Lakers related in any way, I’d probably feel different, but the story in question was not. So, why exactly is this important for FB&G to cover? No one has really answered that question. I feel the topic only came up because some commenters were interested in the story, see that FB&G has an affiliation with ESPN, and then jumped to the conclusion that this site is controlled by them so there must be some cover up. That reasoning doesn’t hold up from my end (me being the guy that actually runs the site). Even sitting here and explaining it further is annoying, but there were still questions, so I hope to answer them with this last statement. What I’ve just written will be the last thing I say on the matter.
Laker6.17.10 says
I was at Lebron’s party at Lavo in Vegas. Now that I have personally seen the sycophants surrounding him, his terrible decision makes sense. He may be the most gifted athlete in history (a guard in a center’s body), and no doubt an articulate, intelligent man. When the party ends, he will have not a penny to his name and no rings to ease the suffering. No one will have time for an old, angry, bitter Lebron. It is not too late for him, but those leeches have their teeth into him and won’t let go without a fight.