(AP)

No one mentioned his name. They probably thought about him, Probably remembered seeing him at media day a year ago – the only time he wore a 76ers jersey.

While Andrew Bynum’s name never graced the lips of a Sixers player Friday, his memory was there.

Spencer Hawes said this year’s installment of the Sixers should benefit from not having the distraction created by Bynum, the 7-footer acquired by offseason trade in 2012 who never played a single game for the Sixers. He signed a two-year, incentive-laden deal this summer with Cleveland.

“That whole situation, no one was at fault. It was just an unfortunate situation,” Hawes said at PCOM. “That’s in the past. I don’t think there’s going to be any more of that.”

Then Hawes opined about the Sixers’ newest center.

“Hopefully, Rook gets healthy and stays on the timetable and we can focus and we don’t have distractions,” Hawes said of Nerlens Noel.

This Sixers opened training camp this morning at Saint Joseph’s University.