SelbyCobra wrote:Sark wrote:SelbyCobra wrote:
What's the list of nba bigmen that came back from an ACL and fulfilled their promise?
There's not a lot of bigmen that had it, but many have made full recoveries. Al Jefferson had it.
Now list the players that came back from an Achilles. It's not a long list. It's Dominique Wilkins.
Oh and Durant is 7 feet as well. Only 3 inches shorter than KP, so the whole height thing is moot.
For the record I didn't ask that question as a setup, I asked it because I read your post, really disagreed with "perpetuating the myth that KP's injury will haunt him forever", and since I was at a kids' sporting event I couldn't do the research right then.
I honestly couldn't think of any. And I feel Al Jefferson actually supports my case - that was a young, dynamic bigman who was the centerpiece in the Garnett trade, and had his best season in the one he got hurt. He was on the upswing, and while he came close in later years to the same level of production he posted the year he got hurt, he never fully came back to even that level. He was 24 and seen as a franchise cornerstone when he got hurt, and it turns out that was the pinnacle of a career many people thought was on it's way to another stratosphere. They traded him less than two years later.
If KP's career production trajectory is going to mimic Jefferson's in terms of how he comes back, the Mavs are in a boatload of trouble in my opinion. Regardless, my main point in responding to your initial post was that I don't think that Porzingis' injury is in any way something that is a layup to come back from. In fact, because of his physical profile I think it's actually something that presents strong odds at impacting his career dramatically, whether an instant ceiling upon his return or further problems down the road. David West was not the same, Nerlens Noel never panned out, Gallinari had comparable rate stats upon his return but couldn't stay on the court, Nene came back and became a great backup bigman, but like you said, there haven't been many.
And I'm not insinuating anything at all about Durant and his achilles for the record - it's a horrific injury with a poor track record. Just that I don't think Porzingis is in any way free and clear.
I'm not a doctor, but I don't think it works that way though. It's not like if you're above a certain height you won't recover, and if you're below you will. Everyone has a different physiology, and heals differently.
The fact is that ACLs are a much easier injury to recover from compared to Achilles tears. Of course there is risk for both, but one is significantly worse than the other. It's like comparing a knife wound to a gun shot. Both can be deadly, but the gun shot tends to worse.
Also were you listening to Alan Hahn's radio show? He was asking who has a better chance at recovery, 22 year old KP or 31 year old Durant, and it was his opinion that Durant is the much safer option. As if Achilles injuries are easy to overcome but ACL tears are not.
