Nene

[Zonkerbl]

He's a big dude. That puts a lot of stress on your feet. Once they start to break down it's difficult to reverse the process. He doesn't have the option of just not playing basketball anymore, which is the only real way to treat the issues he has.

[fishercob]

Given what Nene costs and his importance to the team's performance on the court, there's simply no investment in protecting his health that should be too expensive for Ted. Trainer, chef, nutritionist, shrink, personal priest -- WHATEVER is needed to keep Nene on the floor and productive is a good investment.

[fishercob]

He's a big dude. That puts a lot of stress on your feet. Once they start to break down it's difficult to reverse the process. He doesn't have the option of just not playing basketball anymore, which is the only real way to treat the issues he has.

I don't know. David West tore his ACL at 30, got it fixed and has basically come back better than ever. Ilgauskas had terrible foot problems early in his career but got past them and became something of an ironman for big.

As Lowe mentioned, Nene just isnt that old.

[Ruzious]

Given what Nene costs and his importance to the team's performance on the court, there's simply no investment in protecting his health that should be too expensive for Ted. Trainer, chef, nutritionist, shrink, personal priest -- WHATEVER is needed to keep Nene on the floor and productive is a good investment.

Ted will approve of anything short of sending the LuvaBulls to attend to him.

[sashae]

I love watching Nene play, and I'm sorry he's injury prone/what have you because he is really, really good -- just a great team player. Gortat's been fine but Nene is special.

[Induveca]

Zach Lowe has a big Q&A article on Nene in Grantland today.

Thought the interview would disappoint/frustrate me....but he comes across very genuine. I've mentioned a few times here I had a tendon tear last year (arm lifting weights, but still). Was a full tear, had surgery and was back lifting just 2 months later heavily. I have no issues lifting whatsoever, back to my pre-surgery weights.

However, I have to admit, it feels differently and always will. Rapid movements, or full extension pullups you feel a ding. I can FEEL that if I push to hard I will hurt something again. My surgeon has operated on Bynum/Kobe Bryant and was the Jets main surgeon. One of the best. His advice to me was "listen to your body, or you'll hurt yourself again."

During a 2 hour weight lifting session, if I feel I tweaked something in my arm I just stop and wait 1 day. As much as it pisses me off Nene sitting out, I somewhat understand. If he has never ripped his Achilles and it's giving him that much pain it's close to popping. I say enjoy him while we can.....business wise he should be traded ASAP.

[queridiculo]

Pretty tough to compare an injury to the upper extremities to a lower leg injury, completely different exposure and forces there.

Achilles and plantar fasciitis injuries sort of go hand in hand aren't just debilitating, they linger with no recourse other than rest and can go from manageable pain wise, to completely unbearable.

Tendonitis in particular, while manageable pain wise once properly warmed up, weakens the tendon over time with a complete break/tear being inevitable if not addressed with proper treatment.

If we hadn't made the move for Gortat I'd definitely explore the option of moving Nene for Asik and would perhaps try to leverage a protected pick for the Kings Thompson.

I feel that boat has kind of sailed though. I think at this point teams are well aware of Nene's health issues and getting value, or even similar production in return is going to be damn near impossible.

Washington doesn't really have much choice but to wait this whole thing out and hope that Nene is going to remain somewhat healthy and available for the remainder of the contract.

[hands11]

Nice post hands. I was actually practicing this a little myself at the gym recently--just thinking about ways to have my arm in a position where I can fend off the defender but have it be close enough to me and at an angle where it wouldn't result in a call--it's a legit skill for sure. I do think LeBron especially takes it a little too far--he basically fully extends his arm to fully prevent a defender from reachin at the ball, but yea...

How is that working out for you.

[hands11]

He's a big dude. That puts a lot of stress on your feet. Once they start to break down it's difficult to reverse the process. He doesn't have the option of just not playing basketball anymore, which is the only real way to treat the issues he has.

They commented on them doing cardio with him with his heart at 160 for a period.

Nene was complaining.

I don't think Nene trains like this. If they keep it up, he will drop some weight and become an even bigger beast.

Training seems to be Nene's weakness. If they can help him there, he could turn it around and recover.

I have seen signs for a while. The medical and training staff is improving.

[doclinkin]

http://www.nbcwashington.com/video/#!/n ... /236300231

[TGW]

http://www.nbcwashington.com/video/#!/news/sports/Wizards-Big-Men-Form-Unique-Bond/236300231

Sounds a little suspect.

[stevemcqueen1]

Washington doesn't really have much choice but to wait this whole thing out and hope that Nene is going to remain somewhat healthy and available for the remainder of the contract.

I think you're probably right. We're not going to get back a better player than Nene for Nene. Denver didn't do it when they traded him to us.

But Nene should be tradeable if we had to move him. He's a legit 7 footer with strength and he's actually good. Those are valuable to have.

[sashae]

I'm not Nene's size, but I feel him on Achilles tendonitis. I'm a fairly competitive cyclist, and during racing season a couple of years ago I developed *awful* Achilles tendonitis, to the point where getting up in the morning was really hard as my ankle basically wouldn't bend for 10-15 minutes after getting up. I managed to race a few times on the bad ankle, but couldn't run effectively and always felt like I'd hurt myself. If I weighed Nene's size and had to run constantly on it, there's no way I could go without fear of blowing the tendon.

Rest is the only solution, unfortunately. I think if we get 60 games a season out of him we'll have to feel lucky.

[Higga]

10-7 with Nene. 1-6 without. Just heard on the Tony Kornheiser show.

It sucks because he's such a great player but I just don't know how reliable he can be over 82 games.

[Ruzious]

I'm not Nene's size, but I feel him on Achilles tendonitis. I'm a fairly competitive cyclist, and during racing season a couple of years ago I developed *awful* Achilles tendonitis, to the point where getting up in the morning was really hard as my ankle basically wouldn't bend for 10-15 minutes after getting up. I managed to race a few times on the bad ankle, but couldn't run effectively and always felt like I'd hurt myself. If I weighed Nene's size and had to run constantly on it, there's no way I could go without fear of blowing the tendon.

Rest is the only solution, unfortunately. I think if we get 60 games a season out of him we'll have to feel lucky.

Been there. I was a marathon runner many years ago. For about a full year, I'd wake up with a sore Achilles tendon every day, and the only times when it didn't hurt were when I was a good 5 minutes into a run until about 5 minutes after the run. It was sort of like an addiction - the only times it felt good was when I was damaging it the most. Playing basketball was pretty much out of the question - driving for a layup was excruciating. I also had a stress fracture on that foot, but I hardly noticed it.

[dobrojim]

you did marathon's Ruz? Who knew?

how many? How fast?

[stevemcqueen1]

10-7 with Nene. 1-6 without. Just heard on the Tony Kornheiser show.

It sucks because he's such a great player but I just don't know how reliable he can be over 82 games.

It'd be nice to ween ourselves off of our reliance on Nene but I don't see how we can do it. It'd take a very unexpected and fortunate trade.

[Ruzious]

you did marathon's Ruz? Who knew?

how many? How fast?

Only a few and very slow and many moons ago. I did the DC Marathon twice and the Marine Corp Marathon and one in Switzerland that was tons of fun. Fastest time was 3:50. Have you dabbled?

[dobrojim]

started in 1996 and continued thru earlier this year. I ran 40 marathons incl MCM, DC/National
and a bunch of Bostons and 1 NY.

I was reasonably decent at it with a PR in 2002 of 3:08 at the age of 45.

Now I have a bum knee, not from running marathons, but from running
marathons with a bio-mechanical defect which I am considering getting
a fairly aggressive surgery for. So I can keep doing it. Or at least get back
to regular running of up to 10 miles.

Not running sucks.

[Ruzious]

started in 1996 and continued thru earlier this year. I ran 40 marathons incl MCM, DC/National
and a bunch of Bostons and 1 NY.

I was reasonably decent at it with a PR in 2002 of 3:08 at the age of 45.

Now I have a bum knee, not from running marathons, but from running
marathons with a bio-mechanical defect which I am considering getting
a fairly aggressive surgery for. So I can keep doing it. Or at least get back
to regular running of up to 10 miles.

Not running sucks.

That's awesome. I had to basically stop running at age 23 You were running 26.2 miles at a pace of barely over 7 minutes per mile - which is something most people can only dream about. Best of luck with the surgery if you choose to go for it.