Lakers coach Phil Jackson expressed serious frustration over the absence of center Andrew Bynum prior to Sunday's loss to the Pacers.
Bynum is still recovering from offseason knee surgery and extra minutes have been forced upon Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom.
"We put all our eggs in the basket of Andrew coming back and we hoped he'd be back by this time, by Nov. 15, by Thanksgiving time, by [our last] road trip, etc. We don't know when Andrew is coming back," Jackson said Sunday.
On Monday, Jackson clarified his comments, indicating that he's upset with the situation and not Bynum himself.
"I think it just has to be what it is. It's unfortunate that we have a lot of games right now on our schedule, but that happens. Three, three and a half games a week, and it kind of averages out," he said.
"We've been ending up playing a game every other day for the first part of the season, so here we are with a lot of games under our belt, and [Gasol] has played a lot of minutes. It's taken away from our effectiveness a little bit."
The coach made sure to complement Bynum's work ethic.
"He's a very willing worker. Absolutely no doubt," Jackson said.
Phil doesn't like dealing with injuries and is crying because his team has to play some starters a few extra minutes. GK has had to go with a staring lineup that includes Shelden Williams and Gary Forbes. Portland has had similar issues, OKC has had both Green and Durant out of the lineup, and this is just in the Northwest Division. I think what Phil is really upset about is that Miami signed Dampier and the Lakers haven't signed anyone since Theo went down. Phil reminds me of the spoiled rich kid that doesn't get his way with these comments
