(AP)

Friday, the Eastern Conference-leading Indiana Pacers visit Wells Fargo Center. Andrew Bynum, however, won’t be among those taking the floor.

Bynum will not play against the Sixers, Indiana coach Frank Vogel told reporters Thursday at the Pacers’ practice in Indianapolis. The 7-footer will be available for the Pacers Saturday at Detroit, Vogel said.

The center, who missed all of last season for the Sixers, was expected to play in Philly given that he’s had two days of recovery. He made his debut for Indiana Tuesday with eight points and 10 rebounds in 16 minutes of the Pacers’ win over Boston. It was his first game action since Dec. 26, when Bynum was with Cleveland.

Evan Turner and Lavoy Allen, who were traded from the Sixers to Indiana in a deadline deal, will be available for the game.

Turner is averaging 9.1 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.1 assists in nearly 23 minutes per game. Allen has played in only three of nine games since the trade, and is averaging 4.3 minutes per appearance.

(AP)

Upon arriving in Philadelphia, Nick Young had two items on his agenda.

He had to undergo an MRI on his left knee, which turned up news that the Los Angeles Lakers guard stands to miss at least the next two weeks. Then, Young went to the King of Prussia Mall. Since Young, who played for the 76ers last season, cannot play against his old team Friday, he opted for the next best thing.

“I want to go out there and play against them, talk some trash to Spencer (Hawes) and Evan (Turner) and Thad (Young) and have some fun. That’s the downside,” Young said. “But I went and got a suit jacket because I still want to be out there and talk some trash. I’m looking forward to it.”

Young came to Philly under the auspices of a season that never came to fruition. He, Dorell Wright and Jason Richardson were brought aboard as shooters with which the Sixers would surround Andrew Bynum. But Bynum, beset by knee injuries, never played. And Young, who was given a one-year, $5.6 million deal, never lived up to the expectations created by his financially bulky contract.

The Los Angeles native, Young took a one-year contract worth $1.1 million from the Lakers. He has a player option for next season that he’s likely to pick up.

“Being able to play at home and for the Lakers is great,” said Young, who’s out for at least two weeks with a non-displaced fracture of his left knee cap. “I was seeing my options, but I was looking at the Lakers and the opportunity that was going to be there for me. Playing for them and being home, I couldn’t ask for better.”

Young has experienced a career renaissance with the Lakers, for whom he’s averaging 16.9 points (second behind Pau Gasol) on 41.9 percent shooting.

With the Sixers, under Doug Collins, he was an on-again, off-again personality. He was Swaggy P, an affable, congenial player who was always smiling. Some days, he was liked. Others, he was not. Some days, he was playing in crunch time and contributing. Others, he was coming off the bench only when the game was out of reach.

“Philly was good. It had its ups and downs,” Young said. “Obviously I wish I played more. But the city and how they embraced the Swaggy P Movement, I didn’t know they were going to be big on it, but they enjoyed it.”

Young played only eight of his final 25 games last season with the Sixers. The other 17 were DNP-CDs.

“Just sitting there and watching it, it’s hard. It was hard for me,” Young said. “I didn’t know why I wasn’t playing. (The Sixers) were bringing in players from the D-League and they were playing over me. It ain’t like I cussed (Collins) out or nothing. I was just sitting and waiting. But Doug hits me up from time to time. He texts me. He says he’s proud of me and stuff.”

In Young’s words, last season “is what it is.” And, Young said, it could have been different.

“Drew never got a chance to play. I know the fans were going crazy over that,” he said. “But what shocked me was this year. I had no idea they were going to trade Jrue Holiday, but obviously they’ve seen something in Carter that no one else did.”

That would be Michael Carter-Williams, Holiday’s successor as the Sixers’ point guard. Young will get a good look at the rookie. Only, it’ll have to come from the Lakers’ bench.

(AP)

Injured guard Jason Richardson is getting his first taste of on-court activity in 12 months, and said he’s looking toward mid-March as a possible return date for the 76ers.

Richardson, who underwent left knee surgery Feb. 19, 2013, started taking short jumpers Monday. He’s doing that an hour a day for one to two weeks. If that goes well, and without incident, he’ll graduate to sliding and shooting, catching and shooting and beyond.

As for the 32-year-old’s role when he returns…

“Player/coach,” Richardson said Wednesday, before the Sixers hosted Boston. “I’ve been through everything and had a long career. Scoring doesn’t matter to me. It’s all about winning. When you’re on a young team like this, it’s all about teaching. Coaching might be something I want to get into when my career is over. What better way to start than while you’re playing?”

That's a good thing, too, because his play declined as last season wore on.

Richardson, who was traded to Philly in August 2012, in the same four-team deal that netted Andrew Bynum, averaged 10.5 points and shot 40.2 percent overall in 33 games last season. He’s due $6.2 million this season and holds a $6.6 million player option (wh

ich he’s likely to pick up) for the 2014-15 season.

The elder statesman of the Sixers, Richardson said he has a voice in the locker room, but that his teammates “get tired of listening to me.” He said he’d like to play “until I’m 50” if he can, but that he’s not willing to chase a championship before his playing career comes to a close.

“That’s one thing I’ve always wanted to do, is win a championship, ever since I was a young guy in this league,” Richardson said, “but I won’t chase a championship. I won’t do it. I don’t think, to me personally, that’s the right way to do it. Even though you want one, I would never hop teams to chase one.”

(AP)

The Portland Trail Blazers brought to Philly a familiar face, in Dorell Wright.

Wright, who spent last season with the 76ers, got a two-year, $6 million deal in the summer from Portland. That’s a pay cut for the 10^th-year swingman, who made more than $4 million for his work with the 2012-13 Sixers.

Still, it’s more than the Sixers were willing to offer Wright, who averaged 9.2 points and shot 39.6 percent last season.

“There was nothing,” Wright said.

That being said, the grass in the Rose City isn’t always greener. Wright, who’s playing with an unspecified bench role for the Western Conference-leading Blazers, is averaging fewer minutes (14.2) than all but one season in his career. He’s averaging 4.9 points and 2.5 rebounds in 23 appearances, with zero starts. Also, he’s shooting 34.9 percent from 3-point range – his lowest total from beyond the arc since 2006-07.

“But we’re winning,” Wright said. “I don’t give a damn how many minutes (I’m playing) as long as we’re winning. I could care less if I was playing 40 minutes a night on a losing team. That don’t make no sense. The ultimate goal at the end of the day is to win. That’s what we’re doing, and I’m happy with my role, I’m happy with this team.”

Wright said he’s stayed in touch with current Sixers Evan Turner, Spencer Hawes and Arnett Moultrie, as well as deposed coach Doug Collins. Wright has no regrets from his one season with the Sixers, a team of shooters assembled around anticipated centerpiece Andrew Bynum.

“When that put the team in, as far as the different pieces, it didn’t work out with all the different injuries,” Wright said. “I still looked at it as me going out there each and every night and leaving it out there on the court. I’m not looking at it just as, ‘I’m here for a year,’ or whatever it was. I wanted to be back. You always want to be in a city as long as you can. They had other plans, as far as going young and rebuilding. I had other plans, as far as going to a different team and getting to the playoffs. I haven’t been the last couple years.”

(AP)

In case you missed it – Andrew Bynum was back in town Friday night.

He played at Wells Fargo Center and, while he said he enjoyed it thoroughly, his old team got the last laugh. The 76ers bowled over Bynum and the Cleveland Cavaliers, 94-79.

Bynum was largely ineffective, despite playing a season-high 18 minutes. The 7-footer, who missed all of last season with the Sixers, was 2-for-3 from the floor with 4 points, 5 rebounds, 1 block, 1 assist and 1 steal.

As for the reception he received, which included boos and chants, Bynum said he didn’t mind.

“I thought it was a little weak, honestly. I thought it was going to be a lot worse,” Bynum said of his Philly homecoming. “Just, it was funny. I was smiling every time they showed me (on the big board). It was just funny. What more can I say about it? No, it didn’t bother me. It was kind of funny.”

For more on Bynum, check out the game story at delcotimes.com and the video below: