By: Roy Burton

Less than three months ago, it was always sunny in Philadelphia.

The fact that the calendar read August at the time had something to do with it, but the cloud hanging over the city suddenly lifted when the Philadelphia 76ers acquired center Andrew Bynum in a four-team trade that – due in large part to Dwight Howard being sent to the Los Angeles Lakers – shifted the landscape of the entire NBA.

Included in the deal was Andre Iguodala: a brooding, mercurial talent who was never embraced by the city of Philadelphia. After Allen Iverson was traded by the Sixers in 2006, Iguodala was saddled with the (somewhat) unfair burden of being “the man.” We soon found out that he was unable (or unwilling) to meet those expectations, and neither he nor most fans of the team that he represented wanted the marriage between player and team to continue.

His time here had run its course: Iguodala knew it, the fans knew it, and most importantly, the Sixers’ front office knew it. So when the chance to acquire the 7-foot Bynum this past August presented itself, the team had no choice but to pull the trigger.

For a while after that, things were good. Roughly 1,500 people turned out at the National Constitution Center this summer to welcome Bynum and Jason Richardson (who was also acquired in the deal) to Philadelphia. At his introductory press conference, Bynum – the first premier center the Sixers have had since Moses Malone – even expressed a desire to sign a long-term deal once his current contract expires at the end of this year.

But after an entire preseason where Bynum hasn’t even been able to step on the practice court, we’ve all received a cold, sobering dose of reality: The Sixers traded for a 25-year-old with chronic knee issues.

This summer, we’ve become all too familiar with the words Orthokine and Synvisc-One. We’ve heard the word lubricant far more than we’re accustomed to on over-the-air television. The fate of the 2012-13 season rests on Andrew Bynum’s right knee, and much like Meek Mill, the next few months will be filled with dreams and nightmares for Sixers’ fans.

Now, to be fair, this team has looked relatively good in the preseason sans Bynum. The Sixers brought in three shooters this offseason (Richardson, Nick Young, Dorell Wright) who are all capable of going off for 20 points on any given night. Gone are the days when many of us cringed when Iguodala and Lou Williams used to let one fly from 23 feet out: Head coach Doug Collins is now blessed with more long-range threats on the roster than the franchise has had in recent memory.

Reserve forward Thaddeus Young has added about 20 pounds of muscle and settled into his niche as a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none option off of the bench. Jrue Holiday appears ready to take the next step in his development as one of the NBA’s best young playmakers, while Evan Turner now has the chance to shine as the Sixers’ best wing player.

This team is more than capable of making the postseason even if Bynum spends most of the next six months in street clothes. But let’s not fool ourselves, either: If the Sixers have any chance of replicating (or even improving upon) their playoff success from last year, No. 33 needs to patrol the paint for a good portion of the season.

What portion of the season that ends up being is anyone’s guess. Opening Night is definitely out of the question, and it’ll take some time for him to get into game shape whenever he’s ready.

Bynum has the potential to turn this decent Sixers team into a very good squad, but more importantly, he’s the franchise-altering talent that has been missing in Philadelphia since Iverson’s first stint ended six years ago. His health is vital to the long-term health of the Sixers as a whole, so it makes little sense to rush him back onto the court until he’s 100 percent healthy.

In the interim, newly acquired center/former No. 1 draft pick bust Kwame Brown will get more burn than he deserves (read: more than none), and the Sixers will go with a undersized frontcourt of Thaddeus Young and Lavoy Allen.

The X-factor, of course, is Collins: A steady hand capable of weathering the storm of uncertainty surrounding Bynum. And because of their head coach, the Sixers will probably win somewhere in the neighborhood of 46-48 games this season, barring a catastrophic injury to one of the team’s key players.

So while dreams of an Eastern Conference title may need to be put on hold for now, this season will be far from a nightmare, regardless of what happens to the Sixers’ biggest star.

Brandyn Campbell

Brandyn Campbell is founder and writer of The Sports Muse and Philly Sports Muse. She is also Fashion and Entertainment Columnist for OCNN Report. Brandyn is a freelance writer and blogger who loves both fashion and sports in equal measure.

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