Wall out 8 weeks with injury to patella

[what would jack bauer do?]

Lakers fan here. Tough injury to recover from, let him take his time to get back. You don't want to kill a franchise players career especially when you guys just vastly improved your roster. Beal was a steal for you guys and now you don't have the lowest IQ frontcourt in the history of basketball (no offense), your squad is good enough to hold down the fort until wall comes back. I got you guys down as a top 5 team in the east pre-wall injury, but I think you guys will still make the offs with him out half the season.

Sounds to me like you guys got lucky catching this inury in the early stages. Greg Oden trained his leg muscles so hard that the force from his jump literally snapped his patella in half... at least this way Wall has doctors and trainers there to teach him how to strengthen the knee and its tendons and ligaments to avoid injuries like this in the future. Blake Griffin fractured his patella and was out a season and now he's playing at 100% yearly. Yeah wall ain't gonna be 100% in 8 weeks but he'll sure as hell be in prime condition for the playoffs.

[sashae]

Yeah. I don't see the logic in adding another marginal free agent PG.

You are familiar with this franchise, no?

[LyricalRico]

I ran a screen for point guards who played less than 22 MPG last year while posting a PER above 13.

http://bkref.com/tiny/1poul

The most interesting names on the list are John Lucas, Jordan Farmar and Jannero Pargo. All have solid per minute numbers, average about 5 assists per 36, and shoot around 40% from 3-point range. Would any of them be available for a 2nd round pick or something?

Pretty sure Farmar has already signed overseas, but put me down for Pargo (who I think is still out there). I suggested him in the FA thread a week or so ago. Don't know what Lucas' status is. Didn't he light us up last year?

[nate33]

I ran a screen for point guards who played less than 22 MPG last year while posting a PER above 13.

http://bkref.com/tiny/1poul

The most interesting names on the list are John Lucas, Jordan Farmar and Jannero Pargo. All have solid per minute numbers, average about 5 assists per 36, and shoot around 40% from 3-point range. Would any of them be available for a 2nd round pick or something?

Pretty sure Farmar has already signed overseas, but put me down for Pargo (who I think is still out there). I suggested him in the FA thread a week or so ago. Don't know what Lucas' status is. Didn't he light us up last year?

bump!

[dangermouse]

Even with Wallberg out, we still have that rough & tumble front line. We should still bruise up a few teams. So theres that to look forward to...

[verbal8]

Even with Wallberg out, we still have that rough & tumble front line. We should still bruise up a few teams. So theres that to look forward to...

We may not win the game, but we will win the fight afterwards

[Ruzious]

I ran a screen for point guards who played less than 22 MPG last year while posting a PER above 13.

http://bkref.com/tiny/1poul

The most interesting names on the list are John Lucas, Jordan Farmar and Jannero Pargo. All have solid per minute numbers, average about 5 assists per 36, and shoot around 40% from 3-point range. Would any of them be available for a 2nd round pick or something?

Pretty sure Farmar has already signed overseas, but put me down for Pargo (who I think is still out there). I suggested him in the FA thread a week or so ago. Don't know what Lucas' status is. Didn't he light us up last year?

Ricostradamus strikes again! Well done, sir.

[hands11]

Lakers fan here. Tough injury to recover from, let him take his time to get back. You don't want to kill a franchise players career especially when you guys just vastly improved your roster. Beal was a steal for you guys and now you don't have the lowest IQ frontcourt in the history of basketball (no offense), your squad is good enough to hold down the fort until wall comes back. I got you guys down as a top 5 team in the east pre-wall injury, but I think you guys will still make the offs with him out half the season.

Sounds to me like you guys got lucky catching this inury in the early stages. Greg Oden trained his leg muscles so hard that the force from his jump literally snapped his patella in half... at least this way Wall has doctors and trainers there to teach him how to strengthen the knee and its tendons and ligaments to avoid injuries like this in the future. Blake Griffin fractured his patella and was out a season and now he's playing at 100% yearly. Yeah wall ain't gonna be 100% in 8 weeks but he'll sure as hell be in prime condition for the playoffs.

Nice to get an outsiders view once in a while.

[rockymac52]

I'd like to publicly say that I've calmed down since the news broke last week, and that I'm feeling a lot better about Wall's injury and this team's potential for success this season.

Before Wall's injury, I was a part of the optimistic group that was predicting this team would play roughly .500 ball and make the playoffs (or miss out by 1 or 2 games at most). Then I went into "the sky is falling" mode, and assumed the worst, on all accounts.

While I still think something doesn't add up with what we were told about Wall's injury and the timetable for his return, I don't think it's a big coverup where Wall will end up having season-ending surgery come December or January. I have been very encouraged by Wall's attitude about his injury, as well as the entire team, since the day the news broke. If they knew the injury was much more severe than they were letting on, I don't think we'd see Wall in such high spirits.

I'm hoping we're just taking Strasburg-like precautions because Wall is our franchise player. I also hope he might be able to return a few weeks early, as other people's past injuries would indicate the very real possibility of.

It's still depressing, and it's a shame that we don't have any capable options at PG to fill in (Pargo is an upgrade over Mack/Price, but only a little bit, although I understand that he was pretty much the best available this late in the game), but once we get through this little hump of a first month, it could still end up a good, fun, and encouraging season. With that said, this first month is going to be brutally painful to watch, and it's going to drag on like none other. Unless, somehow, we manage to win a lot of games, even without Wall, in which case optimism for this team will be at an all-time high. Let's hope for that!

[Rafael122]

I'm not jumping off the ledge because we actually have a complete team right now, so I think they could tread water with him out for the first 10 games. But that's assuming that all Wall needs is rest and rehab. The fact that he can't bowl is a little worrisome.

[rockymac52]

I'm not jumping off the ledge because we actually have a complete team right now, so I think they could tread water with him out for the first 10 games. But that's assuming that all Wall needs is rest and rehab. The fact that he can't bowl is a little worrisome.

Don't read too much into that. I could be wrong, but I thought he just said he sucks at bowling, even though it's one of his favorite hobbies. I only saw a tweet or two about it, but I took that to mean that he sucks at bowling in general, as in, he's never been good at bowling. But maybe I'm missing a crucial part of that story?

[Rafael122]

I took it as his knee is so bad he can't even bowl, but I'm generally negative when it comes to injuries with this team, and I fear the worse so yeah. Here's where I'm coming from, he had an initial MRI that showed nothing, then 3 weeks later something flared up. Now question:

a) was he still working out and as a result he hurt himself
b) did he stop working out b/c he felt pain, did nothing and the injury flared up.

If it's b), why would rest cure it. He got hurt resting after feeling pain right?

[rockymac52]

I took it as his knee is so bad he can't even bowl, but I'm generally negative when it comes to injuries with this team, and I fear the worse so yeah. Here's where I'm coming from, he had an initial MRI that showed nothing, then 3 weeks later something flared up. Now question:

a) was he still working out and as a result he hurt himself
b) did he stop working out b/c he felt pain, did nothing and the injury flared up.

If it's b), why would rest cure it. He got hurt resting after feeling pain right?

If I recall correctly, the Wizards are telling us that it's situation A.

“It was like a month ago when I started feeling discomfort, so I just came back and kept doing the same thing I was doing, and late last night — when I went to the doctor yesterday — late last night I found out the bad news that I have to spend some time out" - John Wall

[rockymac52]

The recent Wall quote that nobody seems to be talking about...

“It was everybody’s opinion. Everybody decided that we should check it out and make sure everything was good. Because I’m not the type of person that would try to play through an injury, so we wanted to make sure everything was good before I hurt it and did anything else, so that’s why we did it.”

I mean, I'm all for player safety and not overdoing it to the point of injury. I'm also a fan of letting injuries fully heal before returning to action, just to make sure they don't linger and possibly get even worse. I'm willing to play it safe and be patient just to make sure a guy is truly 100% healed. BUT COME ON, that's not what I want to hear from my star player.

Sure, maybe athletes in general are incredibly short-sighted and foolish when they "play through the pain" because that often involves ignoring potentially severe injuries. But I can't help but be concerned about an athlete's passion and competitive drive when they come out and say they're not the type of person that would try to play through an injury. Where's the toughness? Where's the do-whatever-it-takes mentality? Where's the personal sacrifice? WHERE'S THE LOVE FOR THE GAME?

Or is John Wall just the smartest athlete ever because he's doing what any doctor would recommend and patiently waiting for his knee to be fully healed?

[Rafael122]

He's one of the fastest players in the league, any injury to the knee would sap that, quickly. Look at Arenas, he was on top of the world 1 year, and out of the league 3 years after that. Injury to his knee and it changed everything.

I'm sure he played through pain last year, but he has to err on the side of caution here.

[LyricalRico]

Interesting quote. Although, he just may not trust playing through the "injury" as defined by the Wiz medical staff. He might just be assuming that things are always worse than their initial diagnosis, so he needs to play it safe. The doc that diagnosed this wasn't a Wiz employee, was he?

[Ruzious]

The recent Wall quote that nobody seems to be talking about...

“It was everybody’s opinion. Everybody decided that we should check it out and make sure everything was good. Because I’m not the type of person that would try to play through an injury, so we wanted to make sure everything was good before I hurt it and did anything else, so that’s why we did it.”

I mean, I'm all for player safety and not overdoing it to the point of injury. I'm also a fan of letting injuries fully heal before returning to action, just to make sure they don't linger and possibly get even worse. I'm willing to play it safe and be patient just to make sure a guy is truly 100% healed. BUT COME ON, that's not what I want to hear from my star player.

Sure, maybe athletes in general are incredibly short-sighted and foolish when they "play through the pain" because that often involves ignoring potentially severe injuries. But I can't help but be concerned about an athlete's passion and competitive drive when they come out and say they're not the type of person that would try to play through an injury. Where's the toughness? Where's the do-whatever-it-takes mentality? Where's the personal sacrifice? WHERE'S THE LOVE FOR THE GAME?

Or is John Wall just the smartest athlete ever because he's doing what any doctor would recommend and patiently waiting for his knee to be fully healed?

Rocky, are you sure you're not Gilbert Arenas?

[montestewart]

The recent Wall quote that nobody seems to be talking about...

“It was everybody’s opinion. Everybody decided that we should check it out and make sure everything was good. Because I’m not the type of person that would try to play through an injury, so we wanted to make sure everything was good before I hurt it and did anything else, so that’s why we did it.”

I mean, I'm all for player safety and not overdoing it to the point of injury. I'm also a fan of letting injuries fully heal before returning to action, just to make sure they don't linger and possibly get even worse. I'm willing to play it safe and be patient just to make sure a guy is truly 100% healed. BUT COME ON, that's not what I want to hear from my star player.

Sure, maybe athletes in general are incredibly short-sighted and foolish when they "play through the pain" because that often involves ignoring potentially severe injuries. But I can't help but be concerned about an athlete's passion and competitive drive when they come out and say they're not the type of person that would try to play through an injury. Where's the toughness? Where's the do-whatever-it-takes mentality? Where's the personal sacrifice? WHERE'S THE LOVE FOR THE GAME?

I agree. If an athlete's injured, play more. If he gets called for a foul, foul more. If his shot's not dropping, shoot more. More more more!

It seems to me that interpretation of off-the-cuff statements can easily overanalyze and misconstrue possibly meaningless throwaway lines, which is why it's so easy for me to apply devil horns to LeBJ.

PS: For all we know, Wall's trying to learn from Arenas' experience.

[DCZards]

Rocky, I think you're taking Wall's quote a little too literally. In fact, I'm not sure that even John realized exactly what he was saying. John's an outstanding PG, but as a communicator he's no Ronald Reagan.

[montestewart]

I never understood Reagan either.