Chuma Okeke out "several weeks" with bone bruise in his left knee (Woj)

[Knightro]

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[Knightro]

Orlando Magic forward Chuma Okeke is expected to miss several weeks with a bone bruise on his left knee, sources tell ESPN.

Okeke missed his entire rookie season with the Magic rehabilitating a torn ACL in the same knee, but this injury has showed no damage to his ligaments, sources said.

Okeke, the 16th overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft, has been averaging 18.2 minutes a game for the Magic. Okeke left the Magic's loss to the Philadelphia 76ers in the final minutes on Thursday night before getting evaluated. Orlando has a 4-1 record to start the season.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/30633550/sources-orlando-magic-chuma-okeke-miss-weeks-bone-bruise-knee

[Skin]

[basketballRob]

I guess having him play 5 in 8 nights wasn't a good idea.

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[penny_nz]

How does an injury like that occur? Is it from an external impact like banging knees? Either way, I'm sure with it being his left knee they'll be super cautious.

That second unit without T Ross and Chuma just got a whole lot worse

[RookieStar]

Sooo... ummm is this like the JI scenario where we finally got back an injured player we were waiting on for sooo long ( not you Aminu ) only to have him get injured again?

[PrimeThyme]

Man, you would almost think there was some correlation between the fact that we continue to draft/trade for injury-prone underdeveloped players and the fact that they get injured once in the league.

The Weltman Clown show rolls on.

[basketballRob]

How does an injury like that occur? Is it from an external impact like banging knees? Either way, I'm sure with it being his left knee they'll be super cautious.

That second unit without T Ross and Chuma just got a whole lot worse

I thought I saw Ross was probable Saturday, they'll just replace Okeke with Clark.

They have two other B2Bs this month, both against tough teams. They should tank those two and play the third string guys.

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[Kent]

Man, you would almost think there was some correlation between the fact that we continue to draft/trade for injury-prone underdeveloped players and the fact that they get injured once in the league.

The Weltman Clown show rolls on.

Yeah. Because WeHam is responsible for another man's injury.

They didn't draft guys who were injury-prone anyway.

There are superstars who are "injury-prone" that front offices would target and not be given a side-glance.

Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, Paul George, hell, Kawhi.

I'm not saying our guys are superstars or will even come close.

Guys get injured. It's sports.

[cedric76]

Man, you would almost think there was some correlation between the fact that we continue to draft/trade for injury-prone underdeveloped players and the fact that they get injured once in the league.

The Weltman Clown show rolls on.

Lol but you guys wanting him to draft MPJ?

[zaymon]

Well our wheelchair team is actually a lot stronger than healthy team. Fournier/Ross/Isaac/Aminu/Bamba we even have Okeke and Ennis from the bench. Impressive

[pepe1991]

Was going to say it, but Prime Thyme already beat me to a spot.
Stop drafting injuried players and maybe you won't have to be recovery center?

[PrimeThyme]

Yeah. Because WeHam is responsible for another man's injury.

They didn't draft guys who were injury-prone anyway.

There are superstars who are "injury-prone" that front offices would target and not be given a side-glance.

Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, Paul George, hell, Kawhi.

I'm not saying our guys are superstars or will even come close.

Guys get injured. It's sports.

Our incompetent medical staff and the mishandling of injuries under Weltman has been well documented on these boards. We are pretty widely considered a laughing stock In that aspect, so in that sense I think you could blame them for injuries.

Also, there are reasons why guys like Bamba, Chuma, && Cole were at the spot they were. Injury concerns (Chuma, Cole, Isaac) and their under developed bodies (Bamba, Isaac) was partly to do with that. It’s not like they are getting awful luck with fully developed young players who had no injury concerns when they were drafted.

All of them did, && many of us have pointed it out for years. They’ve intentionally gone after specific type of “high” ceiling players who fell to them for reasons outside of their ceiling. Mostly being the fact that they brought along injury risk or were in fact injured when drafted like Chuma was.

[pepe1991]

Man, you would almost think there was some correlation between the fact that we continue to draft/trade for injury-prone underdeveloped players and the fact that they get injured once in the league.

The Weltman Clown show rolls on.

Yeah. Because WeHam is responsible for another man's injury.

They didn't draft guys who were injury-prone anyway.

There are superstars who are "injury-prone" that front offices would target and not be given a side-glance.

Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, Paul George, hell, Kawhi.

I'm not saying our guys are superstars or will even come close.

Guys get injured. It's sports.

Issue is drafting players who have underdeveloped bodies that are bound to break ( Isaac, Bamba) or in rest of nba- Noel,Bagley Porzingis. Those guys simply are toothpicks that get bounced few times, get bruse or lasting injury, after few times, bones and joints just crack. Bamba is worst/best example of it. Guy played 15 min a game and was "overworked" in his rookie year. To this date he never put his body in right shape.
Isaac added lot of weight, kept landing on left foot, they tried to corret it, but by the year 2 , he probably developed nasty lack of balance that adding weight just made it that much worst. Next thing you know- his knee is shot with 3 major injuries.

Or in Okeke's case freaking ACL tear that sidelined him for year and half.

Okeke wasn't even some over a top superstar talent that was worth a risk. He was high end college role player. ACL tear tanked his draft stock, yet there goes two clowns, drafting him 16 , where they could probably draft him in second round from pick they could buy for cash. But nop.

[Def Swami]

The way the Magic handle injuries, I wouldn't expect him back this season. Even if "healthy", they'll wait until his conditioning is up to speed and he gets practice time, which there is a severe dearth of in this condensed season. It's depressing, but I'm assuming we'll see him next in '21-'22 season.

[pepe1991]

It sucks for him ,but it's not like team will notice it. Clark = Okeke. At times i didn't even know who is who on the floor, didn't really matter, non of them did anything.

[Bensational]

NAW would be nice right about now. Perfect backcourt partner for either Cole or Fultz.

Hoping for a speedy recovery from Okeke. I was liking his team play.

[rcklsscognition]

I'd sit him the entire season, maybe two. Don't want him to come back until he's on his 2nd nba contract with a 15+ million dollar a year salary minimum guarantee.

[drsd]

Was going to say it, but Prime Thyme already beat me to a spot.
Stop drafting injuried players and maybe you won't have to be recovery center?

At #16, a team expects to draft a serviceable back-up. Swining for the fences at this slot means taking a chance. Usually that means a player wit an asterisk of some sort, or an overseas player that is not expected to immediately come Stateside.

If Okeke is a bust, that does not make this a poor pick.

..

[Kent]

Yeah. Because WeHam is responsible for another man's injury.

They didn't draft guys who were injury-prone anyway.

There are superstars who are "injury-prone" that front offices would target and not be given a side-glance.

Blake Griffin, Anthony Davis, Paul George, hell, Kawhi.

I'm not saying our guys are superstars or will even come close.

Guys get injured. It's sports.

Our incompetent medical staff and the mishandling of injuries under Weltman has been well documented on these boards. We are pretty widely considered a laughing stock In that aspect, so in that sense I think you could blame them for injuries.

Also, there are reasons why guys like Bamba, Chuma, && Cole were at the spot they were. Injury concerns (Chuma, Cole, Isaac) and their under developed bodies (Bamba, Isaac) was partly to do with that. It’s not like they are getting awful luck with fully developed young players who had no injury concerns when they were drafted.

All of them did, && many of us have pointed it out for years. They’ve intentionally gone after specific type of “high” ceiling players who fell to them for reasons outside of their ceiling. Mostly being the fact that they brought along injury risk or were in fact injured when drafted like Chuma was.

Picking "undeveloped" guys is wrong?

We can go down the list of draftees who were "undeveloped" physically. That's typical of 90% of guys who get drafted, let's be real.

I hear you. You make valid points. And yes, Isaac and Bamba were "toothpicks" at ages 19 and 20 respectively.

I'll say that again. At 19 and 20.

Of course they're still developing.

But you don't draft a guy for how good he is at the time of selection just like you don't pick a guy for his physical maturation in that moment.

You get a guy with a ceiling as well as physical potential.

I see nothing wrong with getting a guy who has room to grow physically as well as skill-wise.

I also have no issue with rolling the dice on guys with high ceilings if you're the Magic FO.

I don't have to tell you we almost have to when you factor in our lack of ability to sign marquee free agents from our current position.

Okeke was a projected lottery pick prior to his injury. WeHam gets him on the bet he would recover and we get a steal in the middle of the first round.

Look at Michael Porter Jr. as an example of that kind of move paying off.

Even better... Look at Giannis being drafted at #15 by, yep, John Hammond. Did you see how skinny and frail he was?

In other words, the strategy is effective.

I'm not saying you're wrong for having a different strategy, that is, drafting more physically developed players with no recent injuries.

But to point at Okeke's bone bruise as the reason we mismanage developing guys, picking the wrong player, and mishandling their health is off-base.

You and I can get a bone bruise knocking our leg into the coffee table.

(After this lengthy reply, I kinda wish I just started and ended with the coffee table remark...)