Kobe Bryant Says he has almost no Cartilage in his Knee

[Lakers05]

Kobe's knee problems are obviously true, but thanks to everyone for your armchair diagnosis. I guess watching Scrubs and Dr. House == a M.D. and a extraordinary M.D. that allows for diagnosis from simple reporter questions. Nobel prize breakthroughs really.


Look no further to the Thunder series when Kobe had his knee drained. You can easily see the difference in his play. Knee drains are risks which give short term benefits. You feel extremely great at first and have good function in the knee, but in the long run it leads to a worsening of the knee. I guess Kobe had his knees repeatedly drained throughout the playoffs so that he would have an excuse lined up for 3-peat troubles.

You are off, dude. Bynum has his knee drained not once, but 3 times, and he's not having any problems at all.

[qm22]

Kobe's knee problems are obviously true, but thanks to everyone for your armchair diagnosis. I guess watching Scrubs and Dr. House == a M.D. and a extraordinary M.D. that allows for diagnosis from simple reporter questions. Nobel prize breakthroughs really.


Look no further to the Thunder series when Kobe had his knee drained. You can easily see the difference in his play. Knee drains are risks which give short term benefits. You feel extremely great at first and have good function in the knee, but in the long run it leads to a worsening of the knee. I guess Kobe had his knees repeatedly drained throughout the playoffs so that he would have an excuse lined up for 3-peat troubles.

You are off, dude. Bynum has his knee drained not once, but 3 times, and he's not having any problems at all.

To be honest I would avoid making speculation about Bynum's knee.

I did not say everyone who has their knee drained is going to have something similar to what Kobe has/what Kobe described. You can draw what conclusions you like from the fact that Kobe had to have that numerous times in the playoffs and how much better he was when benefiting from the short-term effects. And that was before one of his multiple surgeries. To me it is quite expected that he has severe knee concerns now, much more so than is normal in the NBA.

[TheAnkh]

Maybe he should pass more.

[Lakers05]

Well, he's clearly exaggerating. Stuff like this happens when there's no cartilage:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKggO62YPs4[/youtube]

Not stuff like this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzTDa3KdBc8[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RszYr7oKS_k[/youtube]

Not familiar with microfracture? It grows new cartilage.

The problem is that it doesn't "necessarily" grow in the right place(though I'd like to look into someone like Amare's knees to see how the cartilage has formed.) And the recovery time is much longer.

The only one who this procedure has worked for(that relies heavily on his athleticism) is Amare. But even then, he still hasn't regained that pre-knee injuries explosiveness. Only reason he's putting up the same numbers as the 04-05 season is because he's in his prime and his jumper is much more refined now.

Microfracture should still be the last resort, like on someone like Roy(or Kobe, but we'd pretty much have to sacrifice at least a season).

[tsherkin]

And also it isn't as strong as the stuff you start with. The risk of re-injury is still there and the joint doesn't work as well as it did before.

[Triple M]

Micro fracture surgery at the age of 32 will practically be very tough to come back from and possibly end his career. The Rest route is a more suitable one in Kobe's case imo, he can still have a few more years if managed right but we wont be seeing this.

[Blackmun]

How is this any different than Brandon Roy's case or is it not?

Injury-wise it's very similar. That being said, it's obviously more "understandable" for a player in the late years of his career, compared to Roy who should only be entering his prime.

Micro fracture surgery at the age of 32 will practically be very tough to come back from and possibly end his career. The Rest route is a more suitable one in Kobe's case imo, he can still have a few more years if managed right but we wont be seeing this.

I don't necessarily agree with that. The main problem with MFS is that it's a temporary solution (99% of the time). It's likely to only give you another 4-6 years on the knee. In Kobe's case, that wouldn't really be a problem, he doesn't need more than 4 to 6 years.

But naturally, if rest is sufficient to keep him going, no point undergoing surgery that could potentially go bad.

[Ayt]

More proof of his goatitude.

[Galis4]

It really is amazing how Kobe is still playing great and at a high level, having one of his best seasons (top 2) in points per minutes. If he was playing Durant minutes, he'd be averaging over 32 points a game.

It''s not amazing at all. Because it's a crap argument. It consists of weak facts.

First your calculations(according to bball-ref.com) are wrong.
KD has played 1289 minutes on 33 games having scores 920 points.
KB has played 1224 minutes on 37 games having scored 930 points.

So KD has 0.714 points per minute while KB has 0.760 points per minute.
So if KB played Durant's minutes in the same amount of games, i.e 33, he would have scored 0.76·1289 = 980 points so he would average 980/33 = 29.7 points per game.
So he is your first mistake by giving Kobe +2 points per game average.

Your second mistake is that you assume Kobe wouldn't get tired by playing more minutes(6 minutes more per game AND 6 minutes less for resting!) and that his efficiency would be steady and that it wouldn't drop. That is crap of course to assume so case closes here.

Compared with the other aging superstars like Duncan, TMac, Vince, Shaq, Garnett, etc. he is still one of the top 1-5 players in the league which is incredible for how many minutes he has played and playing in 3 finals in a row. How many players in NBA history have played as many minutes as Kobe and been able to stay a top player? Not many.

This is absolutely true.
For the last 20 years only MJ comes to mind.
Kobe is playing all these years in top level and for some years too, he's been the best of the league.
MJ was like this also but even more of course. MJ managed to play until his 36th not only in the top level but being the best of the league consistently. Above all other players. This is something that can't be done actually! Yet it has been done.

Kobe may not be 36 but he has played as many years Jordan played when he was 36, while of course one can argue that the aging process affects you more severely than playing without a break when you are younger.

Anyway what Kobe does is incredible. I'm seeing a decline(last year and especially this year) but i will not rush to call it a sure one. I will wait and the end of this season.

Shaq is 39 so i will not put him on this list anyway. BTW seeing him play 38 and 39 years old now and seeing his performances, i now realize how amazing was MJ's performances when played being 39,40 and 41 years old. Amazing!

[Jordan23Forever]

I doubt that Kobe has almost no cartilage under one of his knees. I'd actually need to see the scans and hear it from an actual doctor to believe it. He's not above saying and doing anything to make excuses for his and his team's poor play as of late.

[Dr Aki]

whoever made that pic deserves a cookie. thats going to be kobe in 30-40 years doing interviews about the good old days

[menofvalor]

whoever made that pic deserves a cookie. thats going to be kobe next year doing interviews about the good old days

Couldn't help myself.

[Jacks26]

I doubt that Kobe has almost no cartilage under one of his knees. I'd actually need to see the scans and hear it from an actual doctor to believe it. He's not above saying and doing anything to make excuses for his and his team's poor play as of late.

lol

[Framework]

Stop making a big deal out of it with your medical ****.. no one cares.
Kobe's still playing at a high level and lets just wait until playoff time and see what happens.

Let's see what happens?

Squeaking by in a Finals game 7 win because the other teams starting center went down before the game took place? Or shooting 6-24 and having your "mental health advocate" teammate carry you to a title?

[telekenisis24]

I doubt that Kobe has almost no cartilage under one of his knees. I'd actually need to see the scans and hear it from an actual doctor to believe it. He's not above saying and doing anything to make excuses for his and his team's poor play as of late.

HAHA!! shut uppppppp

[reppinthe916]

I doubt that Kobe has almost no cartilage under one of his knees. I'd actually need to see the scans and hear it from an actual doctor to believe it. He's not above saying and doing anything to make excuses for his and his team's poor play as of late.

lol

[Jerry Curl]

Stop making a big deal out of it with your medical ****.. no one cares.
Kobe's still playing at a high level and lets just wait until playoff time and see what happens.

Let's see what happens?

Squeaking by in a Finals game 7 win because the other teams starting center went down before the game took place? Or shooting 6-24 and having your "mental health advocate" teammate carry you to a title?

lol what about everyone else who bombed that game.... im pretty sure the score was in the low 70s, what about kobe destroying the suns in the WCF, or the other great games he had in the playoffs, or the clutch shots he hit in the 4th in game 7?

[mepatrick]

Stop making a big deal out of it with your medical ****.. no one cares.
Kobe's still playing at a high level and lets just wait until playoff time and see what happens.

Let's see what happens?

Squeaking by in a Finals game 7 win because the other teams starting center went down before the game took place? Or shooting 6-24 and having your "mental health advocate" teammate carry you to a title?

[Jimmy Recard]

Because I have very little cartilage under my right knee cap, it’s almost bone on bone.

Oh Jesus...