(Associated Press)

Saturday, Jrue Holiday had a Jrue Holiday-type game, which meant everyone was talking about Jrue Holiday. Understandably, right?

Holiday dumped in a career-best 35 points in the Sixers' 97-80 win over the New York Knicks. With Sixers coach Doug Collins unavailable due to health reasons, assistant coach Michael Curry handled questions about Holiday. Here was one of Curry's replies:

“It's good for the organization to have a young guy that comes in and a young guy that can play with Andrew (Bynum) for a long time. That's good for us,” Curry said. “That's good for confidence and when you're bringing guys in in the future, they want to play with those guys.”

Whoa. Hold the phone here. Curry said what?

To date, no one from within the Sixers' organization has said anything about Bynum long-term. Every question has been answered in the same guarded way, that they're waiting and hoping, praying and finger-crossing, that Bynum returns to the court and debuts for the Sixers sooner than later.

That someone mentioned Bynum in the same breath as the term “long time” is kind of a revelation. What does it mean? Nothing much. It's a postgame quote lauding the play of one star with the mention of another. Does it mean the Sixers have had internal discussions about Bynum returning? You could have made those assumptions long before those words left Curry's lips.

But it's certainly news – or, at the very least, new – that someone views Bynum in that light.