eyeatoma wrote:GutUNC wrote:eyeatoma wrote:
Same thing people said about Klay Thompson, Porzingis, Jabari Parker, Brandon Knight, Jarret Jack, Dante Exum. Let's not forget Derrick Rose. That's not really 1992 is it? That being said, I do acknowledge the ACL injury is no longer a career killer, but it's still a major injury, that has a good chance of impairing you from reaching or maintaining your peak production as a player.
Picking a bunch of guys who weren't good when they were "good", a 32-year old, a guy who had a completely separate injury on his return and a guy who was overweight long before he hurt his knee is.....interesting. Porzingis is the only one who a case can be made for and even that is highly debatable considering his numbers are similar and his "deficiencies" seem more about his max contract then his athleticism.
Achilles injuries can sometimes lead to other issues on the leg, ACLs don't subsequently lead to Achilles problems. To draw a correlation there is just false.
People started complaining about Jabari's weight after he injured himself, not prior. Most thought he was productive before the injury. I don't recall a lot about his weight being an issue around the draft or during his rookie year, I may be wrong. Dante Exum was supposed to be pretty damn good before injuries robbed him of his athleticism. Brandon Knight, was a decent player who could have averaged 18-20 ppg in the right situation. Think you forgot to mention Rose. His play style was a large contributor to his injuries, but he's another recent example.
As a big UNC fan, I can assure you that concerns about Jabari's weight were there before he turned pro - long before his injury.
Dante Exum never showed anything in the league, before or after his injury.
Rose is a better example, though I think his decline was more about chronic injuries then his isolated ACL tear against the Sixers. If you want to draw a correlation between his ACL tear to the meniscus issues I guess you can, but it's unlikely there's a connection.
And he obviously relied on his quickness/athleticism far more then most.