Andrew Bynum Provides Update

Prior to Monday's meeting with the Detroit Pistons, injured center Andrew Bynum (bilateral bone bruises and a weakened cartilage state in both knees) provided an update on his status.

On how he gauges progress

“Just banging it. Walking around. I have an appointment on the 20th. Worst-case scenario, it's another month. Best-case scenario, I can ramp it up.”

On whether or not he will receive an MRI on Dec. 20

“Probably so. I don't know yet.”

On whether his knees feel better than they did when he last spoke (on Nov. 18)

“Not the left knee. My right feels much, much better. Swelling is down.”

On disappointment dealing with injury

“Health is going to be an issue. There's nothing I can really do about it. It's arthritis in the knees. Cartilage is missing. That's not going to regrow itself. Maybe in the future, the next three to five years, there may be something out there that really does help. For right now, it's a waiting game.”

On connection with teammates

“Off the court, we're great. Having fun and stuff. It's good.”

More on progress 

“It hasn't gotten worse. It's just continuous pain. I think it's just the bone bruise has to heal. It's a mirror image of my right knee. My right knee took four months. I think we're a little ahead of the curve because two months (ago), my right knee was swelling pretty big. We've gotten the swelling out of that already and I think it could be quicker.”

On possibility of playing through pain

“As far as a threshold on the pain, it's about I think protecting and being cautious about my knees. I feel this pain walking around, so I think it'd be kind of silly to kind of start running or do anything basketball (related), because it's only going to get worse. Until it heals up, until this Germany procedure's half-life is over, being cautious and taking time and giving it its time to heal (is best). If this was the Finals, and it could be potentially, me helping this team win, I'm going to play because I think that's a serious time and you want to be a part of that. I don't think, especially right now, that it'd be a good time to risk anything. Why risk it when you have time to come back and be 100 percent?”

On how long he thinks it might take to get in game shape, once cleared to play

“Game-wise, I think it’ll be pretty quick – once I’m back. To be in game shape, it’s going to be a week or maybe two at the max to be there. Getting there is going to be the hard part.”

For the complete transcript, check out Chris Vito's blog post for the Delaware County Daily Times.

Posted: 7:29PM, December 10, 2012