Various injury reports/updates, FYI

Saw these in no particular order:

http://sports.espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/news/story?id=5649550

http://www.boston.com/sports/basketball/celtics/extras/celtics_blog/

Get it to 100%, Kobe. We want you at your best, although we'll take a cake walk through the finals if it presents itself. Been on the negative receiving end of this before. Done that. As for JON, it doesn't sound too serious. Celtics being cautious. I'd hate to have to face Shaq everyday in practice, too!

I was writing this on another thread when you created this one, so I consolidated it with yours. We only need one injury thread.

Kobe's knee is at 60% according to him.

Like the Bynum knee news, this is not earthshaking. It's not even the beginning of the pre-season yet, much less the playoffs. It does, however, show just how much of a warrior this guy is. I've been critical of Kobe's game over the years, calling him "KoME" (a habit I stopped at this site out of respect for the more genteel Laker fans we have here), but I never doubted his heart or his competitiveness.

This also shows, I think, just how more serious his knee operation was on July 10th (the Lakers not revealing just how significant the injury to their franchise player was? How shocking! Not. Kupchak and Ainge must attend the same church). Or perhaps it's showing that, at age 32, he's not healing as quickly as he did when younger. We're just shy of 3 months post-op and he's 60%. We saw, with KG, how "coming back" is not the same as "being back". The surgery was described as "maintenance, just cleaning up his knee". After the surgery, the prognosis was that Kobe "would be back by training camp". Well, technically, he is.

Let's hope Kobe recovers fully and is 100% by the playoffs. I look forward to a repeat of last year's Finals, albeit with a different ending, thanks to our greatly enhanced frontcourt (Shaq and JO and, by then, Perk) and deeper backcourt (West over Tony Allen).

bob

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Sorry, bob. My bad. I have a one track mind that's all over the place. I'll try next time to look outside the box!

dbrown4 wrote:Sorry, bob. My bad. I have a one track mind that's all over the place. I'll try next time to look outside the box!

dbrown,

Not a problem. I hadn't submitted my post when you created your thread, I was still writing it. Great minds think alike. After I submitted my post and returned to the forum I saw you beat me to it, so I transferred it.

bob

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I know the injuries are completely different and I'm not questioning Kendrick's heart or the Celtics doctors or braintrusts, but you have to admire Kobe going out there and playing under those conditions in the playoffs. I know KP and the doctors are thinking it was only one game, but the Celtics needed him and I am convinced if he were out there in Game 7, his presence would have made up the 4 points and we would be hanging the banner, not LA.

Just a Willis Reed moment (or Paul Pierce now!) or something would have probably been enough , but alas, we still sit on 17.

BTW, does anyone know the Celtics pre-season TV schedule or if there is one (tonight and tomorrow's games in particular? NBATV, maybe? League Pass hasn't been "turned on" yet for TWC here in NC.

Signed,

At a lost in NC

Depending upon Bynum's recovery, he might be a part-time role player for the rest of his career. That would be sad for such a talented young man with what should be a long career ahead of him.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers-20101006,0,1985377.story

bob

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Outside wrote:

bobheckler wrote:Depending upon Bynum's recovery, he might be a part-time role player for the rest of his career. That would be sad for such a talented young man with what should be a long career ahead of him.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-lakers-20101006,0,1985377.story

While Bynum has certainly shown a tendency to hurt his knees the past three seasons, I don't think he's in Yao Ming part-timer territory yet. I'm inclined to think this is Phil playing motivational mind games. Just a thought.

Outside

outside,

He's not a part-timer yet. The article suggested that he MIGHT BECOME a part-timer IF he has another serious knee injury. Not that this surgery won't let him come back, but what might happen if he has another knee injury. A lot of IFs there. Whether they are freak accidents or evidence of weak knees becomes less and less of a difference after a while. Knees just don't like being chronically hurt for whatever reason. To me, Phil was just stating the obvious. IF he has another knee injury that might be his knees way of saying "We can't take being an NBA starter". Well, yeah, maybe. Will this statement make Bynum be more careful? I doubt it since, other than carrying around Playboy bunnies, he doesn't seem to be reckless with his body. Will this statement make him work harder? Hell, if anything it might make him think more and react slower and that's not what coaches want their players to do. This isn't a "rehab harder and play harder, Andrew, or you're sitting more" type of speech. It's a "we have to be careful because one more and he's done" type of speech. To me, that's a speech that gives you pause, not one that motivates.

As far as Phil playing motivational mind games in general, NO! He'd never do that!!

bob

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Outside wrote:Bob,

You're probably right. My natural inclination is to assume that Phil is always playing mind games. That seems to be an aspect of coaching that he really enjoys.

outside,

Art, once again, imitating life.

bob

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