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Hoopstar23 wrote:
I think your in for a rude awakening if you think hes still going to be quality defender

He’s cutting, running around screens, switching to get open (huge part of him being such a great shooter is that he’s one of the best in nba history at this)...all of which rely on speed and quickness that will be destroyed by an Achilles year and an acl tear

Technique > athleticism

Technique is why Klay was great. Now if you want him chasing down PGs still, that was likely going to stop being an option soon anyways. You dont have 30 year old shooters chasing down PGs and expect them to keep their legs. He wasnt winning on cuts and off-ball screens athletically.

Wes Matthews, someone who actually did rely on athleticism, was still a quality defender after his injury.

FNQ wrote:

Hoopstar23 wrote:
I think your in for a rude awakening if you think hes still going to be quality defender

He’s cutting, running around screens, switching to get open (huge part of him being such a great shooter is that he’s one of the best in nba history at this)...all of which rely on speed and quickness that will be destroyed by an Achilles year and an acl tear

Technique > athleticism

Technique is why Klay was great. Now if you want him chasing down PGs still, that was likely going to stop being an option soon anyways. You dont have 30 year old shooters chasing down PGs and expect them to keep their legs. He wasnt winning on cuts and off-ball screens athletically.

Wes Matthews, someone who actually did rely on athleticism, was still a quality defender after his injury.

I'm happy that you're optimistic about Klay's recovery. It definitely makes me feel better

Onus wrote:

FNQ wrote:

Hoopstar23 wrote:
I think your in for a rude awakening if you think hes still going to be quality defender

He’s cutting, running around screens, switching to get open (huge part of him being such a great shooter is that he’s one of the best in nba history at this)...all of which rely on speed and quickness that will be destroyed by an Achilles year and an acl tear

Technique > athleticism

Technique is why Klay was great. Now if you want him chasing down PGs still, that was likely going to stop being an option soon anyways. You dont have 30 year old shooters chasing down PGs and expect them to keep their legs. He wasnt winning on cuts and off-ball screens athletically.

Wes Matthews, someone who actually did rely on athleticism, was still a quality defender after his injury.

I'm happy that you're optimistic about Klay's recovery. It definitely makes me feel better

Well, at a physical level, yes I'm optimistic that it wont detract from Klay's game too much. I mean its never a *good* thing when you rupture an Achilles. But I've seen enough shooters with major leg injuries to know that unless they were actively creating their own shot, the result isn't nearly as bad as people tend to think.

Keep in mind too, just like with ACLs, or microfracture.. fans tend to have severely negative thoughts about it, when the recovery windows are getting smaller, the surgeries are becoming more precise, and the long-term damages are dwindling. Much like what I told Nets' fans re:KD - you're probably getting 90% KD, which is still way better most players in the league. Ditto with Klay - he may not ever be peak Klay again, but you'd still take him over most SGs, post-Achilles return.

FNQ wrote:Klay will be fine. What will suffer is his first step, which wasn't exactly quick to begin with, and was entirely predicated on his lights out jumper, which will be unaffected. But dont expect to see Klay again until midseason next year

Glad to see you back. Also grateful to read that you're not projecting doom and gloom for Klay's longterm future.

Back when we got Andre, you warned us that he was likely to be injury prone in the back half of his career because he had a record of not missing games and had probably accumulated a lot of wear and tear. I thought of that when we heard about Klay's achilles. Different situations I'm sure, but still.

It's all about flow with Klay, and as someone said before technique. He's an athlete's athlete in that Klay can often look like he's not going all out but he's always in the flow of the game and as fast as he needs to be.

Warriors Analyst wrote:

FNQ wrote:Klay will be fine. What will suffer is his first step, which wasn't exactly quick to begin with, and was entirely predicated on his lights out jumper, which will be unaffected. But dont expect to see Klay again until midseason next year

Glad to see you back. Also grateful to read that you're not projecting doom and gloom for Klay's longterm future.

Back when we got Andre, you warned us that he was likely to be injury prone in the back half of his career because he had a record of not missing games and had probably accumulated a lot of wear and tear. I thought of that when we heard about Klay's achilles. Different situations I'm sure, but still.

That was more due to his runners’ knee than anything. Scaling back his minutes was smart.. I don’t recall saying that about Iguodala though. Definitely said it re: Bogut (microfracture surgery was to extend his prime at expense of back end)

FNQ wrote:
That was more due to his runners’ knee than anything. Scaling back his minutes was smart.. I don’t recall saying that about Iguodala though. Definitely said it re: Bogut (microfracture surgery was to extend his prime at expense of back end)

I remember all our back and forths on Warriorsworld about Bogut's recovery. Glad to find you're still over here.

Faceless wrote:

FNQ wrote:
That was more due to his runners’ knee than anything. Scaling back his minutes was smart.. I don’t recall saying that about Iguodala though. Definitely said it re: Bogut (microfracture surgery was to extend his prime at expense of back end)

I remember all our back and forths on Warriorsworld about Bogut's recovery. Glad to find you're still over here.

It was the worst here.. people preaching doom and gloom about Bogut in 2012, how he'd never play again, how if he did play, he'd be a shell of himself. Then gave us 3 years of great basketball before his leg finally started to give way.

WW handled it way better than here IIRC

FNQ wrote:

Faceless wrote:

FNQ wrote:
That was more due to his runners’ knee than anything. Scaling back his minutes was smart.. I don’t recall saying that about Iguodala though. Definitely said it re: Bogut (microfracture surgery was to extend his prime at expense of back end)

I remember all our back and forths on Warriorsworld about Bogut's recovery. Glad to find you're still over here.

It was the worst here.. people preaching doom and gloom about Bogut in 2012, how he'd never play again, how if he did play, he'd be a shell of himself. Then gave us 3 years of great basketball before his leg finally started to give way.

WW handled it way better than here IIRC

@FNQ, how about his stamina as a 32-yo athlete? That will be his age when he returns mid next season (Feb 2022). From Jun 2019 when he hurt his knee, that is close to 3 years of not playing. I remember reading somewhere that Klay was one of those who ran the most miles during a game. Can he regain his stamina back after this? Sort of like a marathon runner trying to train after not being able to run for 3 years.

Klay himself will be fine with his elite shooting and size. He can gain some muscles, play SF and be an more elite old Vince Carter type. Or Ray Allen type. He will still have many years in this league.

However, he will not be the same Klay who is a perfect SG to complement Steph, especially defensively.

?s=21

wishing Klay well in his recovery and rehab! Dude is one of my all time favorites!

whatisacenter wrote:wishing Klay well in his recovery and rehab! Dude is one of my all time favorites!

Yep he’s probably my favorite warrior since I started watching in 75. How can you not like Klay?

FNQ wrote:

Hoopstar23 wrote:
I think your in for a rude awakening if you think hes still going to be quality defender

He’s cutting, running around screens, switching to get open (huge part of him being such a great shooter is that he’s one of the best in nba history at this)...all of which rely on speed and quickness that will be destroyed by an Achilles year and an acl tear

Technique > athleticism

Technique is why Klay was great. Now if you want him chasing down PGs still, that was likely going to stop being an option soon anyways. You dont have 30 year old shooters chasing down PGs and expect them to keep their legs. He wasnt winning on cuts and off-ball screens athletically.

Wes Matthews, someone who actually did rely on athleticism, was still a quality defender after his injury.

Different sport but less than a year after an Achilles year Richard Sherman was affectively playing Corner at a position with bigger athletic freaks than NBA as far as pure twitch athleticism. Technique and size/ length was a big part of that. Still could get schooled on go routes by speedster freaks but that always can happen to anyone, him included.

Apparently the DPE for Klay was granted by the league today. I’m assuming they’ll just sit on it and see what the situation is closer to the trade deadline.

HiRez wrote:Apparently the DPE for Klay was granted by the league today. I’m assuming they’ll just sit on it and see what the situation is closer to the trade deadline.

It doesn't expire until April 19 so there's no rush for the team to decide now.

I feel terrible for Klay. Dude will end up missing 2 1/2 consecutive years of play. That will take its toll not only physically but mentally as well. With regard to the money, I'm typically not thrilled with seeing professional athletes get paid for not playing (the rest of us schlubs don't enjoy that luxury). In Klay's case though, I'm actually happy for the guy. Every now and then, a good guy's gotta catch a break.

Surgeon demonstrates what happened to Klay Thompson's Achilles ( optimistic Klay can make it all the way back)






https://sports.yahoo.com/surgeon-demonstrates-happened-klay-thompsons-234758248.html?src=rss

likashing wrote:

FNQ wrote:

Faceless wrote:I remember all our back and forths on Warriorsworld about Bogut's recovery. Glad to find you're still over here.

It was the worst here.. people preaching doom and gloom about Bogut in 2012, how he'd never play again, how if he did play, he'd be a shell of himself. Then gave us 3 years of great basketball before his leg finally started to give way.

WW handled it way better than here IIRC

@FNQ, how about his stamina as a 32-yo athlete? That will be his age when he returns mid next season (Feb 2022). From Jun 2019 when he hurt his knee, that is close to 3 years of not playing. I remember reading somewhere that Klay was one of those who ran the most miles during a game. Can he regain his stamina back after this? Sort of like a marathon runner trying to train after not being able to run for 3 years.

Klay himself will be fine with his elite shooting and size. He can gain some muscles, play SF and be an more elite old Vince Carter type. Or Ray Allen type. He will still have many years in this league.

However, he will not be the same Klay who is a perfect SG to complement Steph, especially defensively.

All of this is very valid, and I think will make the waters murky in terms of figuring out why he's not 'peak Klay' anymore. Ultimately I think the timeline goes like this: year 1, will not be the Klay we're used to. More like a Korver. Year 2, he's probably not going to have any lingering effects from the ACL/Achilles, but he'll be 33 then - about when you'd start expecting some serious decline in lateral movement.

But will he be the guy who took the tougher defensive assignments for Curry? Nah.. although if he was peak Klay right now, we'd probably be seeing little flashes of him not being able to do that anyways. Both he and Steph have to start playing old man basketball (smart defense) if we're going to have a chance going forward

whocurrz wrote:

FNQ wrote:

Hoopstar23 wrote:
I think your in for a rude awakening if you think hes still going to be quality defender

He’s cutting, running around screens, switching to get open (huge part of him being such a great shooter is that he’s one of the best in nba history at this)...all of which rely on speed and quickness that will be destroyed by an Achilles year and an acl tear

Technique > athleticism

Technique is why Klay was great. Now if you want him chasing down PGs still, that was likely going to stop being an option soon anyways. You dont have 30 year old shooters chasing down PGs and expect them to keep their legs. He wasnt winning on cuts and off-ball screens athletically.

Wes Matthews, someone who actually did rely on athleticism, was still a quality defender after his injury.

Different sport but less than a year after an Achilles year Richard Sherman was affectively playing Corner at a position with bigger athletic freaks than NBA as far as pure twitch athleticism. Technique and size/ length was a big part of that. Still could get schooled on go routes by speedster freaks but that always can happen to anyone, him included.

Yup. Not all Achilles' ruptures are the same. Where it happens, how wide/deep it is... important variables. I'm very much out of the loop of medical sports scene these days - as opposed to playing coy in years past when i knew what the deal was - but Sherman looks to be on the low end of that, based on how quickly/effectively he returned. So far, I'm getting the same vibes from Klay, but hard to say for sure at this point

Little Digger wrote:Surgeon demonstrates what happened to Klay Thompson's Achilles ( optimistic Klay can make it all the way back)






https://sports.yahoo.com/surgeon-demonstrates-happened-klay-thompsons-234758248.html?src=rss

Never had the privilege of working with Belzer but heard great things. One of his former residents is a close friend.. went through some classes together. Belzer taught him that doctors are just human mechanics, and when you think like that, it really helps with diagnoses.. anyways..

Great simplified explanation on how Achilles' injuries happen too

I'm not reading too much into this because doctors are almost always going to say this. To say that the player won't be the same is basically an indictment of their own work. I think the takeaway here is that, at this time, there's nothing obvious with Klay's Achilles' that indicates he wont be the same. For example, Alex Smith's surgeon probably couldnt get away with saying "oh yeah, Alex will be right back to his peak status" after his surgery - too obviously a lie. But with an Achilles, you absolutely can say that, because the surgery is rather simple and the factors that impact whether or not Klay recovers well, are almost entirely up to Klay and his rehab team. Or in short, I think Dr. Belzer couldve said "So far, so good" and that would be a more accurate assessment