Thaddeus Young has been told by doctors that he will miss the next three weeks of basketball due to a Grade 1 strain of his hamstring. The news could be worse for the 76ers, who are still waiting on Andrew Bynum to make his return from injury, if it had been a Grade 3 strain, Young would have been sidelined a lot longer. The franchise is looking on the positive side of things.

From Philly.com:

An MRI exam on Tuesday revealed a Grade 1 left hamstring strain that occurred in the second quarter of Monday's 78-61 win over the visiting Orlando Magic.

"Considering how it felt and me feeling like a rubber band popping, you think it's much worse than it is," Young said Tuesday after the Sixers finished practice. "You just thank God it wasn't a season-ending injury or that I could have been out two months."

With hamstrings, nobody knows for sure. But in this case, the Sixers felt fortunate to receive a lower grade.

"If it was Grade 3, you are starting to talk about a long period of time," Sixers coach Doug Collins said. "If there is any ray of sunshine, it's that it is occurring during the all-star break."

The Sixers have four games until the all-star break, the last one next Wednesday at Milwaukee. They resume action Feb. 20 at Minnesota.

If Young is back Feb. 26 - three weeks from Tuesday - he would have missed seven games.