Wall out 8 weeks with injury to patella

[Nivek]

In fairness to the Wizards' doctors who read Wall's MRI three weeks ago, it's not always easy to see small injuries. See for yourself:

[long suffrin' boulez fan]

Can't wait to see that starting back court of AJ Price and Jordan Crawford.

[rockymac52]

Wanted to add that I've seen a few people saying this provides EG with another excuse, giving him at least another year to prove himself. That's probably true. It also gives Wall another excuse, and another year to prove himself.

First it was his rookie season.
Then it was the lockout offseason and lack of a real training camp.
Now it's his injury and a lack of a training camp/preseason.

No matter what happens, if he comes back and is great, or if he misses the entire season and needs surgery, he just bought himself another year of hope. We have no choice but to buy in, even a year in advance. Even if we're skeptical, it is what it is.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Moved post to FA thread ...

[nate33]

Looking desperately for a silver lining here:

According to news reports, the Wizards' found this injury by being very thorough in their care of Wall. 3 weeks ago, there was an MRI that turned up negative, but after more discomfort, they had Wall get a second opinion. And that's how they found the patella issue. This may actually have been an example of medical competence.

Also, Ernie Grunfeld said that Wall's recovery will be "no contact" kind of stuff. Presumably, that means no game-pace scrimmages or vigorous jumping or running. But he should be mobile and able to continue to work on his jumper and to participate in walk-throughs with the rest of the team during training camp. He won't be completely out of shape and out of synch with his team when he does return.

[rockymac52]

Looking desperately for a silver lining here:

According to news reports, the Wizards' found this injury by being very thorough in their care of Wall. 3 weeks ago, there was an MRI that turned up negative, but after more discomfort, they had Wall get a second opinion. And that's how they found the patella issue. This may actually have been an example of medical competence.

Also, Ernie Grunfeld said that Wall's recovery will be "no contact" kind of stuff. Presumably, that means no game-pace scrimmages or vigorous jumping or running. But he should be mobile and able to continue to work on his jumper and to participate in walk-throughs with the rest of the team during training camp. He won't be completely out of shape and out of synch with his team when he does return.

I felt the same way for a little bit, but then the pessimist in me took over. I'd love to believe that's how it went down, and I'd love to be optimistic enough that things have changed and that the Wizards' medical staff really handled this as perfectly as they could have, but like I said, the pessimist in me after the Gilbert years makes me skeptical. Can't decide if this is just PR spin on the Wizards' behalf, or if it's actually the truth. Who knows?

[Dat2U]

Nene, now Wall... another typical start to another brutal Wizards season ahead. The more things change (or don't), the more they stay the same.

If Wall comes back 100% from this in 8 weeks w/o any mishaps, then pinch me because I don't believe it. I believe history. History tells us that this is going to end badly and at best he'll lose most of the season and at worst I'm not even going to mention it.

The good news out of the terrible news about Wall & Nene is that Ernie Grunfeld's plan of striving for mediocrity is foiled. With a backcourt of JCraw & Price or Mack or NBDL'er to be named later, the tank is impenetrable and chances for a high lottery pick are possible as long as were not doomed by another feel good, late reason run that will lead to the 9th pick in the lottery.

We needed more talent anyways. A Wall/Beal/Seraphin/Vesely core wasn't enough. Maybe there's a silver lining in this disaster but most likely I'm just talking up my ass to relieve the depression I'm feeling as a Wizards fan at the moment.

[rockymac52]

More reasons why I'm pessimistic about this injury (although these are unrelated and may very well mean nothing in regards to Wall's injury):

From wikipedia: "The day before the 2009–10 season started it was confirmed that Blake Griffin had a stress fracture in his left knee, delaying his NBA debut for seven weeks. After resting the stress fracture for several weeks, tests revealed that his knee was not recovering properly. In January 2010, Griffin had surgery on his broken left kneecap, missing the entire 2009–10 season."

The main difference is that Griffin's injury was originally announced as an actual stress fracture, not simply the early stages of a stress injury (that's how Wall's injury is currently being described). But I find it odd that the Clippers announced an actual stress fracture, yet only had a timetable for Griffin's return of 6-7 weeks. Meanwhile the Wizards claim there's no stress fracture yet for Wall, but his timetable for return is set at 8 weeks. Is that us just being cautious after the Gilbert knee saga, making sure our (hopefully) star player is truly fully healed before he returns? Or is that just us delaying the inevitable? I'm worried...

[rockymac52]

Nene, now Wall... another typical start to another brutal Wizards season ahead. The more things change (or don't), the more they stay the same.

If Wall comes back 100% from this in 8 weeks w/o any mishaps, then pinch me because I don't believe it. I believe history. History tells us that this is going to end badly and at best he'll lose most of the season and at worst I'm not even going to mention it.

The good news out of the terrible news about Wall & Nene is that Ernie Grunfeld's plan of striving for mediocrity is foiled. With a backcourt of JCraw & Price or Mack or NBDL'er to be named later, the tank is impenetrable and chances for a high lottery pick are possible as long as were not doomed by another feel good, late reason run that will lead to the 9th pick in the lottery.

We needed more talent anyways. A Wall/Beal/Seraphin/Vesely core wasn't enough. Maybe there's a silver lining in this disaster but most likely I'm just talking up my ass to relieve the depression I'm feeling as a Wizards fan at the moment.

The bad news is that this draft class is expected to be very weak. A lot can change in a year, and all we really need is for there to be ONE good player (if we luck out and get that top pick), but it's not a good sign. With our luck, we'll end up with the 4th or 5th pick in a draft with 2 or 3 good players, or we'll get the #1 pick in a year where there isn't really a star player to be had. Sigh...

[hands11]

If I were EG, I'd try to make a play for Shaun Livingston, he is still in limbo in Houston.

Yeah, at least Livingston doesn't have a bad injury history.

I wanted Livingston here anyway.

Mack has to be sweating.

[MJG]

I appreciate the team dashing my playoff hopes so early, without having to deal with the ups and downs of the regular season. Like a band aid, right off.

[queridiculo]

Medical staff, we're good there. - Leonsis

[rockymac52]

If I were EG, I'd try to make a play for Shaun Livingston, he is still in limbo in Houston.

Yeah, at least Livingston doesn't have a bad injury history.

I wanted Livingston here anyway.

Mack has to be sweating.

He can't be sweating anymore than he was already. Sure, we're clearly looking for new PGs now as upgrades. But maybe we're not, or maybe we don't end up acquiring one, in which case Mack might have just walked into a starting PG job, or at least a primary backup PG job. This is the best opportunity he could have hoped for (not saying he should have or was hoping for a Wall injury).

[FAH1223]

Silver lining -

We start horribly again and Ernie is fired before the trade deadline

[rockymac52]

Silver lining -

We start horribly again and Ernie is fired before the trade deadline

Yeah right. This is the ultimate excuse for Ernie. We can't fire him because an unfortunate injury that took out our team's only PG. No one could expect us to win without Wall this season. Even if we somehow decided to cut ties with Ernie, it would never be mid-season. That might work with coaches sometimes, but it is a disaster waiting to happen with a GM.

[montestewart]

Either to help the team acquire a PG and maybe some other pieces to try and salvage the season, or to take on a BOYD along with some future assets in a lost season, right now some cap space would look pretty good.

[Earth2Ted]

Blazers edge has a phenomenal breakdown of patellar injuries (LINK HERE)

Among the names of interest are old friends Jarvis Hayes (misdiagnosed as tendinitis, rediagnosed as patellar fracture, multiple surgeries, ..., bust), Randy Foye (stress reaction, missed 43 games, returned next year 100%). Blake Griffin also had a stress fractured patella which was surgically repaired. I think most of us would agree that he was able to get most of his hops back.

From what I'm seeing, I am optimistic that Wall is going to come back 100% from this, though it may take time. Part of my optimism is that this was diagnosed by David Altchek (see Washington Examiner), who is one of the big time ortho guys in NY, and more importantly, NOT part of the Wizards vaunted medical team.

But as for how many games he will actually play this year, who the hell knows....

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Nene, now Wall... another typical start to another brutal Wizards season ahead. The more things change (or don't), the more they stay the same.

If Wall comes back 100% from this in 8 weeks w/o any mishaps, then pinch me because I don't believe it. I believe history. History tells us that this is going to end badly and at best he'll lose most of the season and at worst I'm not even going to mention it.

The good news out of the terrible news about Wall & Nene is that Ernie Grunfeld's plan of striving for mediocrity is foiled. With a backcourt of JCraw & Price or Mack or NBDL'er to be named later, the tank is impenetrable and chances for a high lottery pick are possible as long as were not doomed by another feel good, late reason run that will lead to the 9th pick in the lottery.

We needed more talent anyways. A Wall/Beal/Seraphin/Vesely core wasn't enough. Maybe there's a silver lining in this disaster but most likely I'm just talking up my ass to relieve the depression I'm feeling as a Wizards fan at the moment.

Cody Zeller or Shabazz Muhammed? That Nerlens Noel kid looks skinny to me. Too soon after Anthony Davis to go first on a shotblocking phenom early in the draft.

Being a Wizard fan, Dat, it alway helps to be thinking about the future. It's never about THIS season.

http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2013/

Rudy Gobert? French dude…Can he pick and pop? Isaiah Austin, C????? Oh, hell, no. I remember Ike Austin.

My two favorite players (which means there is no way they'll be Wizards) are Cody Zeller and C. J. McCollum. I also love the game of Doug McDermott. Tony Mitchell will be an absolute stud. C. J. Leslie played HS ball with Wall, and should be a pretty good athlete in the NBA. No sense staying down. Look forward.

[rockymac52]

I don't doubt that Wall will be able to recover from this injury in the long-term. But I do fear that it will ultimately wipe out this entire season when surgery is required.

I also don't know what to make of the diagnosis coming from the Mets doctor in NY, and not one of our in-house guys. At first glance, that makes me feel better about it, because after years of what seem to be misdiagnosed injuries, I've come to despise our medical staff, and I'm more willing to trust an outside source. But what concerns me is that we had to go to an outside source in the first place. On one hand I like that we are realistic enough to recognize our own medical staff's flaws, to the extent that we felt it was necessary to get a second opinion from the outside source. But on the other hand, I can't help but ignore that means we don't have any confidence in our in-house doctors. That means we still don't have a good medical staff, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm also curious about the examination that allegedly occurred about a month ago, when Wall first felt discomfort. Aside from having my reservations about if that actually occurred in the first place, I'm concerned, and honestly, a bit alarmed that our in-house doctors may have misdiagnosed/missed the injury when they looked at it a month ago. Was Wall's knee actually fine and healthy a month ago, but over the course of the last month gotten significantly worse? Or was Wall's knee always showing these "early signs" or a stress injury, and our in-house doctors simply missed it or downplayed it a month ago? What if we didn't seek a second opinion from an outside source? Would Wall have played through his discomfort because our in-house medical staff told him he's fine, and subsequently play at a lower level before eventually suffering a much more severe injury requiring season-ending surgery and/or long-term harmful effects? I'm very worried about what this means in the grand scheme of things, the big picture...

[rockymac52]

Nene, now Wall... another typical start to another brutal Wizards season ahead. The more things change (or don't), the more they stay the same.

If Wall comes back 100% from this in 8 weeks w/o any mishaps, then pinch me because I don't believe it. I believe history. History tells us that this is going to end badly and at best he'll lose most of the season and at worst I'm not even going to mention it.

The good news out of the terrible news about Wall & Nene is that Ernie Grunfeld's plan of striving for mediocrity is foiled. With a backcourt of JCraw & Price or Mack or NBDL'er to be named later, the tank is impenetrable and chances for a high lottery pick are possible as long as were not doomed by another feel good, late reason run that will lead to the 9th pick in the lottery.

We needed more talent anyways. A Wall/Beal/Seraphin/Vesely core wasn't enough. Maybe there's a silver lining in this disaster but most likely I'm just talking up my ass to relieve the depression I'm feeling as a Wizards fan at the moment.

Cody Zeller or Shabazz Muhammed? That Nerlens Noel kid looks skinny to me. Too soon after Anthony Davis to go first on a shotblocking phenom early in the draft.

Being a Wizard fan, Dat, it alway helps to be thinking about the future. It's never about THIS season.

http://www.draftexpress.com/nba-mock-draft/2013/

Rudy Gobert? French dude…Can he pick and pop? Isaiah Austin, C????? Oh, hell, no. I remember Ike Austin.

My two favorite players (which means there is no way they'll be Wizards) are Cody Zeller and C. J. McCollum. I also love the game of Doug McDermott. Tony Mitchell will be an absolute stud. C. J. Leslie played HS ball with Wall, and should be a pretty good athlete in the NBA. No sense staying down. Look forward.

My quick thoughts:
1. I doubt we take a true big man in this draft unless he is a can't-miss prospect who has true star potential, and there are no wings with similar potential. Simply because we already have plenty of capable big men (we think), both young and old(er).
2. I love Tony Mitchell (partly because he was supposed to go to Mizzou and I've longed to see him on my team, and partly because of his skill set)
3. If we end up in the high lottery again, how do we not take a SF/SG (unless it's a can't-miss prospect like I described above) with our pick?