Bynum's health should be big cause for concern

Everyone’s hyped about the Sixers' upcoming season. At least, it seems like most are a little more excited than they were this time last year. 

I’m not sure if they’re more excited about the arrival of Andrew Bynum or the casting off of Andre Iguodala. For all of those who believe this year’s team will be so much better, I can only say be careful what you wish for.

Now, would any Sixers fan in their right mind pull the trigger on the blockbuster deal that brought Bynum to town? Of course. The Sixers finally got something for Iguodala and that something was arguably the best player in the deal.  

However, those good feelings regarding the trade are contingent on Bynum’s health, and that’s not a given because of his history of knee issues. 

It’s already going to be a while until he suits up as the man in the middle with his Sixers teammates. Listening to Bynum, he seems to be aiming for the start of the regular season on Halloween night. That’s good and all, but that means he’ll have missed the entire preseason. That means Doug Collins will have to use regular-season games to fit the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle together around Bynum, which could lead to a rough start. 

Therefore, I’m concerned about the expectations Sixers fans are putting on this team. Let them play a quarter of a season or so before we start believing they’re so much better that they can make a deeper run than what we saw last year. That’s all.  

There is no need to jump the gun. It’s a long 82 games, and that’s plenty of time to build hype around a team based on what is actually done on the court.