LaMelephant: The LaMelo Ball Thread (#2)

[Braggins]

I think people are being a little dramatic about this. It looks like he lightly tweaked the ankle he hasn't had any surgery on. I don't see any reason yet to think this is serious at all. They should probably hold him out a couple weeks to be safe since they are obviously trying to tank.

don't see any reason to think it's serious but they should hold him out a couple of weeks

7ft 250lb Kalk rolled his ankle worse and played the next game.

make it make sense

I don't see what the confusion is. They are clearly trying to tank. Might as well lean into it and rack up as many losses as possible. No need to rush him back for that. This seems (didn't look bad at least) like an injury he could return from quickly if the games mattered but I don't see the point.

Kalk is a rookie without extensive injury history (I think?) who is still fighting to establish his place in the league. Its a different situation for him than LaMelo.

[SWedd523]

so you're just leaning into the tank aspect of it.


Why not just go on ahead and shut him down for the year then? keep him in bubble wrap until 2034 when they're finally ready to try and be competitive

[Braggins]

I assume they would get in trouble with the league if they tried to sit him out the entire year. I just meant that I think they should be as conservative as they can reasonably get away with given the circumstance. The urgency to get him back on the court asap should be low.

I wish they were trying to be more competitive this season, but it is what it is I guess. Might as well be consistent with the approach if thats what they are doing. I don't want them rushing players back as fast as possible if they aren't serious about winning this season anyway. They seem to be conservative with injury returns so I doubt they'll rush him back.

Apparently he is listed on the injury report as having a left ankle bone bruise. I think thats generally less serious in terms of long term implications but can be slow to heal to the point of no discomfort. I wouldn't be surprised if he misses a bit of time.

[GiggitySmalls]

I think people are being a little dramatic about this. It looks like he lightly tweaked the ankle he hasn't had any surgery on. I don't see any reason yet to think this is serious at all. They should probably hold him out a couple weeks to be safe since they are obviously trying to tank.

The rate of injury and the use of this excuse has expired. How many "lets see if he can get healthy and see how it looks next time" does he get? No more hes cooked. The longer hes on the roster the longer we cant move forward. We lose with him or without him. Its not like he makes an impact on us making the playoffs. Melo might be the worst attempt at a franchise player ever with zion being a close 2nd.

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[JustBuzzin]

I think people are being a little dramatic about this. It looks like he lightly tweaked the ankle he hasn't had any surgery on. I don't see any reason yet to think this is serious at all. They should probably hold him out a couple weeks to be safe since they are obviously trying to tank.

The rate of injury and the use of this excuse has expired. How many "lets see if he can get healthy and see how it looks next time" does he get? No more hes cooked. The longer hes on the roster the longer we cant move forward. We lose with him or without him. Its not like he makes an impact on us making the playoffs. Melo might be the worst attempt at a franchise player ever with zion being a close 2nd.

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I agree 100%

Enough is enough already. We gave LaMelo 6 years to prove himself. It's just not gonna work in Charlotte unfortunately.

We don't win when he's healthy anyway. Their is no reason why we should keep giving him so many chances. We are wasting each other time at this point.

[yosemiteben]

IMO there is no way that our FO and coaching staff are keeping a healthy Melo out of games to tank. Kon, Melo, and Brandon have played in, what, 4 games this season? There is obvious value in those 3 playing more together, no way are we robbing all of them of the opportunity to develop together.

Also Melo is the one that pulled himself out of the game, clearly there's an actual issue.

[GoBobs]

If Brandon gives us something this year we are just way to good to tank. We might miss the playoffs, but we won't be bottom 4 range.

We could easily get Grant and Josh Green back and suddenly make a playoff push. It is going to happen.

[Braggins]

IMO there is no way that our FO and coaching staff are keeping a healthy Melo out of games to tank. Kon, Melo, and Brandon have played in, what, 4 games this season? There is obvious value in those 3 playing more together, no way are we robbing all of them of the opportunity to develop together.

Also Melo is the one that pulled himself out of the game, clearly there's an actual issue.

Let me put it this way. I think there is generally a spectrum of how aggressive teams are willing to be in clearing a player to return to play based on the circumstance.

The Haliburton situation in last years playoffs is an example of one end of the spectrum. He was technically healthy enough to get on the court, but clearly wasn't fully healthy and I think there is a 0% chance he would have returned on the timeline he did if it was the regular season. Being healthy enough to play and being 100% healthy aren't necessarily the same thing. It blew up in their faces, but it was the NBA finals, so its understandable that they were willing to take the risk.

The LaMelo situation right now is pretty much the other end of the spectrum. They should be as conservative as they can within reason. Putting him at any unnecessary risk at all of reinjury and developing chronic issues injuries in his other ankle does not make any sense in this scenario. If they were in the NBA finals right now I wouldn't be shocked if he could play in the next game, or in a game or two at least, but that doesn't mean he should try to return that fast right in the actual circumstance hes in. We don't have any solid info right now so I'm just kind of spitballing with the timelines to use as an example.

[JMAC3]

It is pretty clear a lot of folks don't pay attention to the rest of the league, typically an ankle injury is something that most guys miss time with. Guys miss a lot of games, that is the nature of the NBA at this point. Hornets or LaMelo this year isn't anything out of the ordinary.

On any given night there are 10-15 players who are out with a turned ankle.

https://www.espn.com/nba/injuries

It is league wide that teams are missing 3-6 guys almost every night.

[JustBuzzin]

It is pretty clear a lot of folks don't pay attention to the rest of the league, typically an ankle injury is something that most guys miss time with. Guys miss a lot of games, that is the nature of the NBA at this point. Hornets or LaMelo this year isn't anything out of the ordinary.

On any given night there are 10-15 players who are out with a turned ankle.

https://www.espn.com/nba/injuries

It is league wide that teams are missing 3-6 guys almost every night.

Man stop it.

The dude is injury prone. If we can't play our 24yr old star in back to back games we have a huge problem moving forward. On top of that we aren't showing any improvement as a team.

It's mainly because our core foundation has shown cracks. What good is a cracked foundation?

This isn't just a LaMelo problem. It's a Brandon Miller problem as well.

These guys seem to be clowning around neither seem serious about winning. I'm watching the Toronto game and our core 3 Lamelo/Miller/Bridges are laughing and joking around during a break. While our rookies Kon/Kalk are stretching trying to get ready to play a game with no smiles.

That's the difference. You build culture by bringing in serious guys. Hopefully over time the other guys buy in.

Never thought I would be this big of a Kon fan, but he's exactly what this franchise needed. I'm tired of playing the injury games with LaMelo and Miller. Either get right or we have to move on.

[GiggitySmalls]

It is pretty clear a lot of folks don't pay attention to the rest of the league, typically an ankle injury is something that most guys miss time with. Guys miss a lot of games, that is the nature of the NBA at this point. Hornets or LaMelo this year isn't anything out of the ordinary.

On any given night there are 10-15 players who are out with a turned ankle.

https://www.espn.com/nba/injuries

It is league wide that teams are missing 3-6 guys almost every night.

Man stop it.

The dude is injury prone. If we can't play our 24yr old star in back to back games we have a huge problem moving forward. On top of that we aren't showing any improvement as a team.

It's mainly because our core foundation has shown cracks. What good is a cracked foundation?

This isn't just a LaMelo problem. It's a Brandon Miller problem as well.

These guys seem to be clowning around neither seem serious about winning. I'm watching the Toronto game and our core 3 Lamelo/Miller/Bridges are laughing and joking around during a break. While our rookies Kon/Kalk are stretching trying to get ready to play a game with no smiles.

That's the difference. You build culture by bringing in serious guys. Hopefully over time the other guys buy in.

Never thought I would be this big of a Kon fan, but he's exactly what this franchise needed. I'm tired of playing the injury games with LaMelo and Miller. Either get right or we have to move on.

100%. The fact that we have people defending this crap shows the somw fans are just as dysfunctional as the supposed best players. Call it what it is. Its not hard.

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[Walt Cronkite]

He just played in a back to back game though? Maybe that was a personal favor to Liver_Pooty? Braggins is saying this isn't even the problematic ankle... IDK. Guys get hurt and miss games when there's 82 of them. When our best players have overlapping injuries it's especially problematic because, while franchise depth is improving, the team doesn't have the high level depth necessary to remain at a high level without them and the inexperience really shows.

Questioning Brandon Miller's seriousness when he's on the court in half of a football shoulder pad seems especially silly, but it 's from the same poster that was ready to write off his whole season as a lost cause bc they weren't getting the updates from the team that they were wanting.

If fans are ready to move on from LaMelo (or Brandon Miller) because they have injury history, fine. I'm not there yet, but it is definitely discouraging, so I can see where it's easier to throw out that bathwater and move on. Thinking the team will move off from either of those guys (or both) and somehow be improved in the near future seems very unlikely though. They will almost certainly be moved for more picks and prospects, which means more seasons of losing, which many of you also seem to be tired of.

What will be especially annoying and I'm least looking forward to in a potential trade is the belly aching these same posters will have about how we gave away this amazing player when he's had a better run of health with a more developed franchise. The team has 5 of their 7 wins in games LaMelo has played in, maybe a little patience is in order to see how long he's even out before we load up his go kart and ship him out for spare parts?

[SWedd523]

if you're not there yet, then man I'm curious what it'll take.

Here goes another year where they've called off the dogs before January.

Here goes another year where Melo is staring down the barrel of missing 50+%

I can just picture the conversation now: "Guys they just traded Melo, you can't expect them to compete right now. Just be patient for 4 years and build through the draft"

... after being patient for 4 years of being a doormat and building through the draft

[Walt Cronkite]

Maybe this is a better way of putting it: we can’t expect LaMelo to play, but whenever he does, it’s a bonus. Since we aren’t a contender (for anything), I’m not bothered by this at this point. If a good deal comes along, it should definitely be explored and maybe have the trigger pulled, but you aren’t actively, desperately shopping him because it is unlikely to make a difference. If he’s really injury prone damaged goods, we’re stuck with him for a bit. If this is just a bad break, he is a positive talent to at least build up value on. It’s parallel to how I felt about the Mark Williams situation, with the differences being that Mark had contract uncertainty and LaMelo is way more talented.

At the very least, I’d like to see how much time LaMelo actually misses. People expected the worst when Brandon Miller landed badly two games ago, but he played in the next game.

[GiggitySmalls]

Let me put this in Layman's terms. Melo is cooked. He will never be what you want. Which is healthy, reliable, a leader, focused, mature, winning style if basketball. Melo is none of those. I dont care if we are bad without melo. We are already bad with him. Throw out the bathwater with the baby. 6 seasons of lets see if he gets it right or can stay healthy. If it could happen, it would of happened. Its not going to happen. Deal with it and move on. Its not hard. Whats hard is getting your hopes up with him to have them crash down. Atleast with no melo you can temper expectations, but whats expected of melo is wow a few games cool then boom out for multiple weeks or longer. Some of you need to quit playing yourselfs and the franchise needs to quit playing us fans. DAMN!

/RANT!

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[JustBuzzin]

It's good to see more people on the bandwagon.

We should have moved on years ago. This kid has chronic ankle problems. Don't make the mistake keeping him too long. Or else we will be stuck with that contract.

Yeah it sucks we have to trade him for pennies on the dollar, but that's his value. It is what it is.

[GiggitySmalls]

It's good to see more people on the bandwagon.

We should have moved in years ago. This kid has chronic ankle problems. Don't make the mistake keeping him too long. Or else we will be stuck with that contract.

Yeah it sucks we have to trade him for pennies on the dollar, but that's his value. It is what it is.

2 seasons ago i wanted him gone. Ohh you're crazy blah blah blah. Am i crazy? Maybe, but was i wrong? No!

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[Braggins]

Its true that LaMelo is injury prone, but that doesn't mean that this specific injury is serious or worth all this drama. It looked like a minor tweak on his non-surgery ankle. These happen all the time and literally every player in the league is prone to having these types of things happen from time to time. If we learn there is more going on with it then maybe the conversation changes.

LaMelo missing time isn't the main thing preventing this team from being competitive. They have a bad team with LaMelo and a much worse team without him.

They should really only consider trading him if teams offer significant value for him and otherwise the plan should be to build a team that is good without LaMelo and really good with LaMelo (at least good with and decent without for a next step). The front office has plenty of assets to do so. Trading LaMelo just to trade him without getting a good return does not help the situation.