Seismic Shift in the East: Thomas Bryant a Wizard

[FAH1223]

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[pcbothwel]

There is no conceivable way that he's not ready in the next 60-90 days. That December/January time frame seems excessively cautious. But we can just give him 10-15 mpg and rest him back to backs/every 3rd/4th game.

[payitforward]

There is no conceivable way that he's not ready in the next 60-90 days. That December/January time frame seems excessively cautious. But we can just give him 10-15 mpg and rest him back to backs/every 3rd/4th game.

Ummm, 90 days = November 18. Not so far off December.

Great to see him making this kind of progress, that's for sure!

[doclinkin]

Shoot, he looks laterally quicker than when he played last. Looking good TB!

[Ruzious]

He hasn't exactly been Mr. Durable ever, so I'm skeptical even though that looked good... and I bet he could shoot those medicine balls.

[gambitx777]

Well it's possible he took his injury and used the lean down. He looks slimmer Bryant's always had some baby fat on him even with out cardio if you eat well restrict your calories and hit the weights and upper body work outs you can slim up and that's really what he needed for his legs lean down and add a few of that back in muscle.

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[Kanyewest]

I can't get excited about offseason rehab videos after this

[pcbothwel]

There is no conceivable way that he's not ready in the next 60-90 days. That December/January time frame seems excessively cautious. But we can just give him 10-15 mpg and rest him back to backs/every 3rd/4th game.

Ummm, 90 days = November 18. Not so far off December.

Great to see him making this kind of progress, that's for sure!

PIF, I know you said it in jest, but TB tore his ACL on January 8th. All information I had seen in the 6-8 months following was they were aiming for a 12 month return around the new year. He looks closer to 6 weeks away than he does 18-20 weeks. Thats all.

[nate33]

There is no conceivable way that he's not ready in the next 60-90 days. That December/January time frame seems excessively cautious. But we can just give him 10-15 mpg and rest him back to backs/every 3rd/4th game.

Ummm, 90 days = November 18. Not so far off December.

Great to see him making this kind of progress, that's for sure!

PIF, I know you said it in jest, but TB tore his ACL on January 8th. All information I had seen in the 6-8 months following was they were aiming for a 12 month return around the new year. He looks closer to 6 weeks away than he does 18-20 weeks. Thats all.

I never understood that 12 month timeline.

I tore my ACL, MCL and meniscus when I was 39 years old and I was playing basketball again (albeit a little gingerly) in 5 months. By 7 months, I had total confidence in it and was 100% back to normal (other than my hamstring being a bit weaker because they took part of it to make a new ACL).

Bryant was 23 when he tore his. Yeah, he's an elite athlete, not a YMCA weekend warrior, but an extra 5 months seems excessive. Maybe it's because it's a different type of operation. I'm assuming they didn't borrow from his hamstring tissue to make an ACL. They probably used a cadaver, which might affect the timeline some. I dunno.

[pcbothwel]

Ummm, 90 days = November 18. Not so far off December.

Great to see him making this kind of progress, that's for sure!

PIF, I know you said it in jest, but TB tore his ACL on January 8th. All information I had seen in the 6-8 months following was they were aiming for a 12 month return around the new year. He looks closer to 6 weeks away than he does 18-20 weeks. Thats all.

I never understood that 12 month timeline.

I tore my ACL, MCL and meniscus when I was 39 years old and I was playing basketball again (albeit a little gingerly) in 5 months. By 7 months, I had total confidence in it and was 100% back to normal (other than my hamstring being a bit weaker because they took part of it to make a new ACL).

Bryant was 23 when he tore his. Yeah, he's an elite athlete, not a YMCA weekend warrior, but an extra 5 months seems excessive. Maybe it's because it's a different type of operation. I'm assuming they didn't borrow from his hamstring tissue to make an ACL. They probably used a cadaver, which might affect the timeline some. I dunno.

Agreed Nate, but Harrell will eat up a ton of minutes and relieve pressure.

Side note.... I fully expect LAC to implode. I think Kawhi will be FULLY healthy from a PARTIAL ACL tear by March, but he wont even come back in May when LAC really needs him in trying to make a run at the chip. I think you'll see teammates turn on him quick. While LAL and GSW will be a little better, I think the Jazz and Suns while come back to earth a bit and Denver stumbling without Murray.
LAC could be the 1st/2nd seed and a Co-Favorite to be in the finals (I think their team outide of Leonard/PG13 is better this year). If that happens and Kawhi still chooses to sit in May/June.... Man oh man. The headlines.

[doclinkin]

Ummm, 90 days = November 18. Not so far off December.

Great to see him making this kind of progress, that's for sure!

PIF, I know you said it in jest, but TB tore his ACL on January 8th. All information I had seen in the 6-8 months following was they were aiming for a 12 month return around the new year. He looks closer to 6 weeks away than he does 18-20 weeks. Thats all.

I never understood that 12 month timeline.

I tore my ACL, MCL and meniscus when I was 39 years old and I was playing basketball again (albeit a little gingerly) in 5 months. By 7 months, I had total confidence in it and was 100% back to normal (other than my hamstring being a bit weaker because they took part of it to make a new ACL).

Bryant was 23 when he tore his. Yeah, he's an elite athlete, not a YMCA weekend warrior, but an extra 5 months seems excessive. Maybe it's because it's a different type of operation. I'm assuming they didn't borrow from his hamstring tissue to make an ACL. They probably used a cadaver, which might affect the timeline some. I dunno.

He's also 6'10" tall and trying to play 82 games a year plus practices plus playoffs -- all against the worlds tallest elite athletes. And he is in a low-post position where he has to use those legs for leverage against other guys equally huge who are either trying to dislodge him or have people jumping into him. You have to figure the sheer and torsion on that skinny cord of collagen fibers is a serious stress load. Especially when you are talking millions of dollars, and a potentially short career. I have to figure most players that leave basketball early do so because of leg injuries slowing them down. If they want a guy to be fully recovered and not playing 'gingerly' or 'a bit weaker' then I'm all for the conservative estimate. When you play while favoring a weaker limb is when you are more likely to get another injury elsewhere while you try to compensate.

[nate33]

PIF, I know you said it in jest, but TB tore his ACL on January 8th. All information I had seen in the 6-8 months following was they were aiming for a 12 month return around the new year. He looks closer to 6 weeks away than he does 18-20 weeks. Thats all.

I never understood that 12 month timeline.

I tore my ACL, MCL and meniscus when I was 39 years old and I was playing basketball again (albeit a little gingerly) in 5 months. By 7 months, I had total confidence in it and was 100% back to normal (other than my hamstring being a bit weaker because they took part of it to make a new ACL).

Bryant was 23 when he tore his. Yeah, he's an elite athlete, not a YMCA weekend warrior, but an extra 5 months seems excessive. Maybe it's because it's a different type of operation. I'm assuming they didn't borrow from his hamstring tissue to make an ACL. They probably used a cadaver, which might affect the timeline some. I dunno.

He's also 6'10" tall and trying to play 82 games a year plus practices plus playoffs -- all against the worlds tallest elite athletes. And he is in a low-post position where he has to use those legs for leverage against other guys equally huge who are either trying to dislodge him or have people jumping into him. You have to figure the sheer and torsion on that skinny cord of collagen fibers is a serious stress load. Especially when you are talking millions of dollars, and a potentially short career. I have to figure most players that leave basketball early do so because of leg injuries slowing them down. If they want a guy to be fully recovered and not playing 'gingerly' or 'a bit weaker' then I'm all for the conservative estimate. When you play while favoring a weaker limb is when you are more likely to get another injury elsewhere while you try to compensate.

That's all true, but at some point, the difference between 7 months of healing and 12 months is infinitesimally small. The point is, most of the healing is done in 5 months. The rest is strengthening. 7 full months of strengthening seems excessive.

Basically, he is probably healthier right now than Giannis was in the playoffs, but he is still going to take 5 more months?

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Look at that pic! Sometimes you forget how BIG these guys are!

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I hope we don't trade TB for some washed up veteran.

That is a big dude!

He does look like he'll be ready to go soon.

[doclinkin]

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[payitforward]

What a great kid!

[doclinkin]

What a great kid!

Yeah, with him and his summer workout buddy Montrezl we are going to have the loudest cheerleading section in the league.

It will be a challenge to find minutes for each of the three unless we keep a quick rotation like last year's center trio, but what other team has three high effort high energy centers?

Used right I expect we can run ragged some teams that rely heavily on a star Big. It's not just the 18 fouls on defense, but on offense you have the option of a flying lob dunk rim-runner in Gafford, a pick and roll quick big with great hands who can dribble drive like a giant guard (Trez), and the high efficiency Bryant, hitting shots from the perimeter if you leave him open, rattling around in the paint to bang home any pass you feed him.

Granted I want as much positional intelligence and effort on Defense as they give you on the attack (from Trez and Bryant especially, but even Gafford, who is foul prone since he jumps for everything). Still, if Wes is a stickler for fundamentals of defense, I get the sense he will be able to use their strengths to good advantage. And with quick rotations they each can give high effort at both ends with no need to conserve energy since their rest will come soon enough.

Beal's total game, Bertan's 3pt shot chart from the left side. Dinwiddie getting to the free throw line on attacks to the paint. KCP from three on the right side of the court. Our trio of high efficiency centers. Rui's one-on-one defense vs tall perimeter players. These are where we have mismatches in our favor relative to the rest of the league. Seems like a smart coach should be able to do something with that.

[penbeast0]

I still like playing Bryant with Harrell too, seems they would be a good fit.

[CntOutSmrtCrazy]

I still like playing Bryant with Harrell too, seems they would be a good fit.

But then there's defense.

[penbeast0]

Harrell has energy, and yeah, I'd love a much better defensive front but not sure that Rui brings that much more defensively at this point in his career though hopefully he can become much more. Bryant, yeah, you live with it.

[payitforward]

I still like playing Bryant with Harrell too, seems they would be a good fit.

But then there's defense.

You know what would be great? To have 15 perfect players. Or just one!

Since we don't, we'll just have to play the best players we have. Bryant is one of them.