LaMelephant: The LaMelo Ball Thread (#2)

[MasterIchiro]

I know we all have PTSD when it comes to injuries in general, especially with LaMelo. I expect him to miss some games, but did the ankle tweak really seem that bad? He sprung back up to foul and gingerly jogged to the locker room and was able to put weight on it. Feels like we all need to chill until official word comes back today.

Yeah he did walk out on his own two feet while some acted like the medics carried him out on a stretcher from an ice hockey injury.

LaMelo seems to have a very low threshold for pain. Everyone is different. When I got in a frat fight in college, I broke my left ring finger. It was sideways and torn from its socket. A pin was inserted and I had physical therapy, where I was to squeeze a grip vice until I felt pain.

The PT (this is Penn State) said I had a higher tolerance for pain than the Pittsburgh Steelers starting quarterback. She worked with him.

Trust me, I could never survive death on a football field, or traumatic injury. I'd be in a wheelchair. But I can take as much pain as some pro athletes.

Some are just babies. I think LaMelo raced off the court because he just feels overwhelmed with pain.

We will see though. If he tore an Achilles he'd be barfing on the floor and might pass out from shock.

[KembaWalker]

did he ever come back out? i turned the game off at halftime
if it wasn't too bad youd think he'd have made it back to the bench in a boot or something

[EmpireFalls]

Hate to say it but he’s just not built for this. The whole 82 game grind, physical toughness, resilience, all of the things great players who win titles have. He’s just not going to be there over the full season.

[JMAC3]

Even if he was feeling 90% after the ankle turn what would be the point of playing him when we are 12-30? I would rather them give him a game or 2 off if it is going to reduce the chances of him immediately reinjuring it.

[KembaWalker]

Hate to say it but he’s just not built for this. The whole 82 game grind, physical toughness, resilience, all of the things great players who win titles have. He’s just not going to be there over the full season.

yeah im not a LeBron fan by any means but 22 years of watching him roll his ankle and simply lace the sneakers back up tighter and go back out there, it takes a whole lot of imagination to envision LaMelo EVER doing that, even in a postseason game (this was even harder to vision). He's soft

[yosemiteben]

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[EmpireFalls]

Hate to say it but he’s just not built for this. The whole 82 game grind, physical toughness, resilience, all of the things great players who win titles have. He’s just not going to be there over the full season.

yeah im not a LeBron fan by any means but 22 years of watching him roll his ankle and simply lace the sneakers back up tighter and go back out there, it takes a whole lot of imagination to envision LaMelo EVER doing that, even in a postseason game (this was even harder to vision). He's soft

Yeah look, i don’t like to call a pro athlete soft or doubt their competitiveness. I know that he wants to be out there playing, but it doesn’t seem like he does the things necessary to keep playing.

To be honest it might be our medical team as well. The parallels between him and Embiid at the start of their careers are getting concerning… “no need to rush back, we’re tanking”, “he’ll play when he’s ready”, vague indefinite absences, etc.

But as you said… it just seems like some players are built for the 82 game grind and some aren’t. And in the NBA half the battle is just being there and giving yourself a chance. Look at the Celtics last year, after 6 years of playoff failure. They showed up every single year and it finally fell for them. Are we even going to get a ticket to the raffle?

[KembaWalker]

is the dude even wearing his braces anymore? maybe the model changed at some point between these 2 pics but I'm not even seeing that front part. i guess its hard to tell whats under there versus whats bunched up sock

from the Observer (right click to open in new tab to blow it up bigger)


versus when it was reported he was wearing them


you can see the flat parts on the sides here

[JMAC3]

Lol at calling him soft. The dude leads the NBA in usage. Our entire offense relies around him sprinting around and creating shots. On defense teams are constantly going at him trying to draw fouls and score as he is seen as a weaker defender. Every second he is on the floor he is having to go 110%, that is the opposite of soft imo.

Hey LaMelo go play harder than virtually anyone in the NBA and if you get hurt we are going to assume you are a broken man... gtfoh with this.

[Bassman]

Good catch on the comparison pics. Does not appear to be any brace underneath those socks from yesterday. I’m sure he hates wearing the braces, but until he DOES the Curry regimen and builds up to 400lbs of squat power…put the bloody braces on!

[Rich4114]

Even if he was feeling 90% after the ankle turn what would be the point of playing him when we are 12-30? I would rather them give him a game or 2 off if it is going to reduce the chances of him immediately reinjuring it.

It's like people forgot we just held him out with a fake wrist sprain a few days ago for a game because it was part of a back to back. They are simply not going to grind these players through games this season given the plan is to simply evaluate what they have and plan for next season. I don't expect him to play Wednesday or Friday but wouldn't be that surprised if he's back after.

[Rich4114]

Good catch on the comparison pics. Does not appear to be any brace underneath those socks from yesterday. I’m sure he hates wearing the braces, but until he DOES the Curry regimen and builds up to 400lbs of squat power…put the bloody braces on!

Looks like they're still on there to me. This narrative is getting old.

[fatlever]

There's some optimistic people on this board. If he plays before the All-Star break I'll be shocked. I suspect we'll get an announcement later today that says his ankle will be reevaluated in 2 weeks.

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[JDR720]

This shows it's useless to sit him out for games too. He's going to be injured no matter how many games he plays, it's just a question of how badly.

[KembaWalker]

I found another image, looks like he’s got them on. Guess we’ll find out if they lessened the degree soon

[yosemiteben]

I dunno, let's maybe just keep criticizing him just in case he wasn't wearing them...

[KembaWalker]

I dunno, let's maybe just keep criticizing him just in case he wasn't wearing them...

Never criticized him for not wearing them, simply posted a photo from the observer, asked the question and answered it myself

The criticism of him being a giant wuss is irrelevant to the braces. He simply is too unreliable to plan anything around . Its not gonna change

[yosemiteben]

I dunno, let's maybe just keep criticizing him just in case he wasn't wearing them...

Never criticized him for not wearing them, simply posted a photo from the observer, asked the question and answered it myself

The criticism of him being a giant wuss is irrelevant to the braces. He simply is too unreliable to plan anything around . Its not gonna
change

Was more referring to Bassman.

But doesn't seem all that different to me than you now trotting out judgments of Melo before we even know the extent of his injury.

[KembaWalker]

I dunno, let's maybe just keep criticizing him just in case he wasn't wearing them...

Never criticized him for not wearing them, simply posted a photo from the observer, asked the question and answered it myself

The criticism of him being a giant wuss is irrelevant to the braces. He simply is too unreliable to plan anything around . Its not gonna
change

Was more referring to Bassman.

But doesn't seem all that different to me than you now trotting out judgments of Melo before we even know the extent of his injury.

doesnt really matter to me whether its 2 weeks or the rest of the season, if it drags people will say the team is acting to protect the future or whatever

if every single time you roll an ankle youre running to the locker room and youre a 100% guarantee to miss the entire game, youre a wuss. ive seen enough guys tough it out over the years, i'm sure you have too. every little thing feels like its a career threatener with the guy. we're on year 4 of the wrist rolling routine and phantom revisits to the same injury

its getting pretty boring. the dude simply doesnt heal.

[Bassman]

I dunno, let's maybe just keep criticizing him just in case he wasn't wearing them...

Never criticized him for not wearing them, simply posted a photo from the observer, asked the question and answered it myself

The criticism of him being a giant wuss is irrelevant to the braces. He simply is too unreliable to plan anything around . Its not gonna
change

Was more referring to Bassman.

But doesn't seem all that different to me than you now trotting out judgments of Melo before we even know the extent of his injury.

Hey I’m not trying to troll any narrative…in that first pic I couldn’t see anything pushing out from the sock to look like an ankle brace. The second one seems to indicate something there. I just want him to wear them even if it’s a PITA. Another poster brought up the Curry power squats. Some version of that could help him. I am a Melo fan, and want the best for him and from him.