It’s a mute point because both men are gone, but it is a question that needs to be asked.
Had Andrew Bynum been healthy enough to play meaningful games as a member of the 76ers, would Philly be dreaming of a playoff run instead of the Andrew Wiggins sweepstakes?
Both are members of the Pacers now via different circumstances.
Bynum of course signed with Cleveland this off-season before being jettisoned away for his normal mercurial behavior. He signed with the Pacers a few weeks later and saw his first game action this week.
Turner was traded to the Pacers in a last minute trade before the deadline two weeks ago.
As the starting center for the Lakers in the 2011-12 season, Bynum posted career numbers of 18.7 points, 11.8 rebounds and 1.9 blocks on his way to his very first all-star appearance.
The thought was that the 25-year-old Bynum, surrounded by a core that included Jrue Holiday and Evan Turner could lead the Sixers into the future.
Of course that didn’t happen, Bynum left via free agency, Holiday was traded for a first round pick and the rest is tanking history.
Turner, now visiting Philadelphia for the first time as a member of the Pacers told Chris Vito of the Delaware County Daily Times that the “Sixers would have been title contenders with a healthy Bynum.”
Evan Turner on if Bynum had played for #Sixers: "We would've been a title contender & a lot of people still would've been working here."
— Christopher A. Vito (@ChrisVito) March 14, 2014
Turner is Bynum’s friend and I see what he’s doing, but we’ll truly never know.
Bynum never played in a game with the 76ers, and I have a feeling his passion for the game would have dissipated in the Philadelphia in the same fashion that he lost the love in Cleveland.