Andrew Bynum to start for Cavaliers if healthy, says Mike Brown

Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown says that if Andrew Bynum comes to training camp in shape and healthy, he will be the team’s starting center.

by Jason Patt

Jul 20, 2013, 4:21 PM UTC

Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports

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The Cleveland Cavaliers have no intentions on slowly easing Andrew Bynum back onto the court. Head coach Mike Brown says that the 25-year-old will start as long as he's healthy, according to Jason Lloyd of the Beacon Journal.

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Bynum was introduced as a Cavalier on Friday after inking a two-year, $24 million deal that has only $6 million in guaranteed money. The oft-injured center didn't play a single game last year with the Philadelphia 76ers due to recurring knee problems, and the Cavs could make his return a bit less stressful by bringing him off the bench to start.

Brown says that won’t happen if Bynum comes to training camp healthy and in shape, though.

“He’s most likely going to start for us because he’s obviously an All-Star caliber player,” Brown said. “But we need to see where his health is as we progress toward training camp, into training camp, preseason and into the regular season. If everything fits right, if he’s completely healthy, no doubt about it, he’s our starter at center.”

If Bynum is healthy and ends up starting at center, Brown would then have to make a decision about who to start at power forward. Tristan Thompson manned that spot last season, but Brown could slide current starting center Anderson Varejao down to the 4 and bring Thompson off the bench:

“[Varejao] can start at the 4, he can start at the 5,” Brown said. “I’m not sure what I’m going to do yet with Anderson.
“You can go into so many hypotheticals ... it’s too early to try to peg who’s starting where and all that other stuff. But I’m excited about all our bigs, including Tyler [Zeller]. I thought Tyler had a productive week, too.”

While Bynum being healthy is obviously a huge question mark, the Cavs have options either way. And if the big man is able to stay on the court, Cleveland has quite the formidable frontcourt rotation.