After Andrew Bynum injured his knee against the Memphis Grizzlies, many Los Angeles Lakers fans feared the worst. While Bynum apparently avoided serious injury, he has been diagnosed with a torn MCL. The recovery time for such an injury is typically 8-to-12 weeks.

For fantasy basketball owners who own Bynum, this isn’t very good news. If he misses the full 12 weeks, that means he’ll miss the rest of the regular season. Even if he misses only eight weeks, he’ll be back only for the last two weeks of the regular season. The only hope for Bynum owners is that he is able to recover quicker expected.

For the Lakers, Bynum out means that Lamar Odom will likely move back to the starting lineup. Odom will play power forward while Pau Gasol will shift to center. Backing up Odom and Gasol will likely be Josh Powell and Chris Mihm.

To pick up the slack, expect Gasol and Bryant to get more shots and more points. Odom should also see a sizable increase in production.

Last season, Bynum was injured at around the same point of the season and the Lakers announced that he’d be sidelined for a minimum of eight weeks. Although the Lakers made the Finals, Bynum never was able to return to the court.

If you have any questions about whether or not Andrew Bynum is healthy following last season’s knee surgery, the video at the end of this entry should help answer your questions. The Bynum video shows that he’s healthy and able to finish at the rim.

While his numbers aren’t quite at the level they were last year, they are still good. Compared to last season, his field goal percentage is down, his points per minute are down, his rebounds per minute are down. However, his assists, block shots and free throw numbers are all either similar are up. He’s also turning the ball over less.

The good news for Bynum is that his stats should only get better. He’s learning how to play next to Pau Gasol and he’s just now getting back to 100% healthy. He’s not going to be a 20-point, 12-rebound monster this season, but he definitely has that potential down the line. But as long as the Lakers keep winning, Bynum is going to continue to be put in a role that has him averaging around 14 points, ten boards and a couple of blocks. For fantasy basketball purposes, consider him a good center prospect with a possibility of becoming very good.

Here is the Andrew Bynum video in which he finishes an alley-oop pass against the Toronto Raptors that few NBA players could have finished:

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Marcus Camby, Los Angeles Clippers
Although Marcus Camby has been a very good fantasy basketball player the last few years, look for his reign of dominance to come to an end. First of all, Camby is always an injury risk and he’s dodged quite a few bullets the last couple of years. Second of all, the Clippers will play at a much slower pace than the Nuggets. That in itself will lower his stats across the board. There is also some question regarding how well he will mesh on the court next to Chris Kaman.

Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers
Pau Gasol is a very good NBA player but he may take a hit in the fantasy world this year. With Andrew Bynum next to him, he’ll likely have to forgo some of the touches downlow that he got all of last season. Additionally, Bynum will likely take away some of the rebounds and blocks that Gasol was getting. His shooting percentages should go up but that in itself won’t make up for the loss of production elsewhere.

Brad Miller, Sacramento Kings
The first strike against Brad Miller is the fact that he’s suspended to start the season. More importantly, he doesn’t quite fit the Kings any longer. The Kings are rebuilding for the future while Miller is already in his prime. In order to take a look at young players, don’t be surprised if Miller sees his minutes limited and other bigs on the roster such as Jason Thompson, Shelden Williams and Spencer Hawes get their opportunities in the sun.

Hedo Turkoglu, Orlando Magic
Hedo Turkoglu has had a habit recently of alternating good seasons. Last year he played really well, so that’s not a good sign for the 2008-09 campaign. Additionally, the Magic will try to play more with Rashard Lewis at small forward, which could then force Turkoglu out of position. He should have a good season but last year was likely his peak.

Lamar Odom, Los Angeles Lakers
With Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol up front, expect the Lakers to try Lamar Odom at small forward. Odom has been pretty decent at small forward in the past but he could very well struggle this season. He’s the type of player who needs the ball a lot to remain effective and consistent. This season, he will likely see the ball less than ever if all the Lakers remain healthy. That, combined with his position change (he was mostly a power forward last year), will likely cause Odom to struggle for portions of the season.

Jamario Moon, Toronto Raptors
Last season, Jamario Moon came out of nowhere and was one of the better stories in all of the NBA. This year, fantasy basketball owners have taken note and are now drafting him relatively high in fantasy drafts. While he may continue his play from last year, that isn’t set in stone. Head coach Sam Mitchell has proved time and again that he isn’t afraid to shakeup his lineup. If Moon is moved to the bench, he could very well become all but worthless in the fantasy world. Moon is a good prospect but still too unproven to bank on.

Shane Battier, Houston Rockets
In the last few seasons, Shane Battier has been a pretty good fantasy basketball player. However, take a closer look at his numbers and you’ll realize that a lot of his production was due to the fact that he played so many minutes. With stars such as Ron Artest and Tracy McGrady at the wing positions, Battier could see his minutes dip — which would make him much less of a fantasy commodity.

With training camp less than one month away, who are the worst teams in the NFL? Let’s take a look.

5. Charlotte Bobcats
Larry Brown will turn around the Bobcats. That said, it likely isn’t a one year project. Expect a few headaches this year until LB can get the team playing the way he wants.

4. Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies are starting to assemble a nice amount of talent. If Pau Gasol’s brother pans out, the Grizzlies could surprise.

3. Oklahoma City Thunder
The former Seattle Supersonics still won’t be ready for the big time. However, with a future Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook, the future is bright in Oklahoma.

2. Minnesota Timberwolves
The Timberwolves are still reeling from the Kevin Garnett trade. Although they have good talent, that talent isn’t going to provide many wins this year.

1. New Jersey Nets
The Nets don’t seem too concerned with winning basketball games. The summer of 2010 and a shot at LeBron James can’t come soon enough for New Jersey.

Which basketball players were the best in the world at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games? While many players performed very good, here are the best of the best:

Kobe Bryant, USA
When Team USA got in trouble, Kobe Bryant took over and got the Gold Medal for the United States. Kobe was lights out down the stretch of the game. His four-point play was the turning point of the game.

Pau Gasol, Spain
While Spain wasn’t able to shock the world and beat the United States, Gasol did all he could. The Los Angeles Lakers forward led the entire Olympic Games in points and played extremely well in all the games except for the first game against the US.

Luis Scola, Argentina
Although Manu Ginobili led Argentina in scoring, Ginobili wasn’t able to play in the Bronze Medal game. Scola, without Ginobili, stepped up and was the best player for Argentina as they took home the bronze. The Houston Rockets had to love what the saw out of their power forward.

LeBron James, USA
Even though Kobe Bryant took the USA home at the end, LeBron James along with Dwyane Wade were the best players on the team over the course of the entire tournament. LeBron was very good on both ends of the court and became the team’s emotional leader.

Hamed Ehadadi, Iran
Although other players such as Dirk Nowitzki of Germany and Ricky Rubio of Spain were equally as impressive, no one was a better story than this little known center out of Iran. Hamed Ehadadi entered the Olympics as a player not many scouts were aware of — even international scouts. Now Ehadadi appears set to join the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA.

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The Team USA basketball squad, called by many the “Redeem Team”, completed their mission by beating Spain in the gold medal game. Although the game was closer than expected, the United States prevailed to claim the gold medal.

With the outcome still in question, Kobe Bryant took over in the fourth quarter. He not only scored but he handed out a team-high number of assists. Helping Bryant close out the game for the USA was Dwyane Wade, who led the United States in scoring.

Spain put up a great fight and was led by Pau Gasol and Rudy Fernandez. Gasol’s fantasy basketball future seems very bright with the Los Angeles Lakers after being very good in the Olympics. Same can be said for Fernandez, who has a chance to star for the Portland Trail Blazers.

Ricky Rubio, the 17-year-old basketball phenom for Spain, started in place of the injured Jose Calderon. Rubio proved that he can more than hold his own and upped his already sky high NBA stock. He now seems to be a lock to be a top five NBA draft pick.

Here is a video talking about what the gold medal means to the players and United States on a whole:

The Spanish Olympic basketball team has been accused by some for being racist due to a picture that was leaked onto the internet. Now another potentially racist picture has surfaced containing Spanish athletes.

This time the picture isn’t of basketball players but rather women tennis players. The picture, which has a caption regarding the tennis playing preparing for China, is reportedly at least a few weeks old.

In the aftermath of the original picture that surfaced which contained the Spanish basketball team, many players on the team apologized for any perceived racism. The NBA players in that original picture included Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers and Jose Calderon of the Toronto Raptors.

Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks, who is on the Team USA basketball squad, stated that if it were the Americans in the picture, the team would have been thrown out of the Olympics and suspended by the NBA.

The Golden State Warriors signed French forward Ronny Turiaf to an offer sheet that the Los Angeles Lakers declined to match. Turiaf is now official a member of the Golden State Warriors.

Turiaf isn’t an overly skilled player and he doesn’t have great size, however he hustles and he brings boundless energy to the court. He’s also a good shotblocker and has an emerging jump shot.

While Turiaf likely won’t start for the Warriors, he’ll be one of the first bigs off the bench. And with the way Don Nelson likes to run the ball up and down the court, Turiaf should see his number improve a little bit. That said, Turiaf isn’t quite at the level of being a solid fantasy basketball option. He’d have to win a 25 to 30 minute role, which doesn’t look likely at the moment.

For the Lakers, they won’t miss Turiaf too much — as long as they can stay healthy. In the middle, Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum will see most of the minutes. Lamar Odom can also slide over and play as a big. Those three players should eat up most of the minutes at power forward and center.

Photo: Newscom

Leon Powe of the Boston Celtics had a night to remember in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. The second year forward not only had this vicious dunk over Pau Gasol, he played extremely well overall.

In 15 minutes, Powe had 21 points on 6-for-7 shooting from the field. The Celtics, led in part by Powe’s dominance of the bench, beat the Lakers 108-102 to go up 2-0 in the 2008 NBA Finals.

Now to the nice part. The video of Powe’s dunk over Gasol: