Andrew Bynum was the 76ers’ haul in the biggest move of the summer, the four-team mega-deal that landed Dwight Howard with the Lakers. But Bynum, who hasn’t played in Philadelphia’s first two games, has a right knee injury, and there is no definitive date for his return.
So the 76ers have to get by with what they have — and avoid a “poor-us” syndrome.
“You have to avoid that,” said Sixers president Rod Thorn before yesterday’s 100-84 loss to the Knicks at the Garden. “You have to because otherwise the other guys pick up on everything. Like Doug [coach Collins] said to the team, ‘We can’t be sitting around waiting on him to be a savior for us. We’ve got to go out, play and win and we’re capable of doing that.’ And when he comes back, he comes back, period.”
Thorn said the 76ers, who beat the Nuggets in their season-opener and are 1-1, can find ways to win without Bynum, but are looking forward to getting him back.
“We’re pretty good without him,” he said. “And we’ll be real good with him. He’s doing stuff on the court. But he hasn’t really done five-on-five type stuff. When will that be? We don’t know. We’ll see how it goes.”
Collins, who saw starting guard Jason Richardson go down with a left ankle sprain (day-to-day) just 1:47 into the game, said he knows his team is facing an early test.
“We’re going through some adversity early,” Thorn said. “Andrew has yet to play and now we’ve got J-Rich going down and we’ve got five games in seven days. … This is the dog days of the NBA in Week 1, and you have to fight through it.”