The Wait Is Over (For Some)
Even though there was no NBA game action last night, there was tons of activity in the League. As we mentioned yesterday in Smack, while there were certainly some memorable plays in the tune-up games, this preseason will be known for two things: a lack of “real” NBA refs and injuries. Thankfully the former has been cleared up after the NBA reached an agreement with the referees, but unfortunately the latter seems to be an overwhelming reality for many of the League’s standout players … On the eve of the season opener, which includes a matchup between the Lakers and Clippers in a battle for Los Angeles (well, not really), it appears the Clippers will be without their superstar. Announced late last night, Blake Griffin may miss up to six weeks with a stress fracture of his left patella. Suffered during the Clippers’ last preseason game against the Hornets on Friday, this is horrible news for the No. 1 pick and Rookie of the Year favorite … In other injury news, the Mavericks decision of where to play Josh Howard got a lot easier yesterday after they found out that “it could be awhile” before Howard takes the floor again. After undergoing operations on his left ankle and wrist back in May, J-Ho wasn’t cleared for any contact work until Oct. 14, but has yet to complete a full practice. “It could be weeks,” says Rick Carlisle. “I don’t know. I don’t know.” Suddenly all those people that doubted the acquisition of Shawn Marion have nothing to say … Speaking of small forwards, the Blazers took a devastating blow yesterday after hearing that starter Nicolas Batum will undergo surgery on his right shoulder to repair a torn labrum. While a timeline for Batum’s return will be determined following the surgery, he could be out for the year making way for Martell Webster to retake the starting spot after missing all of last season … And then there’s Glen Davis. While all the recent talk surrounding Big Baby has been about his unhappiness with his new role (yes, Rasheed Wallace is better than you), what did Davis do? Did he hit the gym? No. Did he hit the weights? No. According to several unnamed sources, it appears Big Baby hit someone else, thus sustaining a right thumb injury that could cost him several months, if not the entire season. While Danny Ainge “would not confirm or deny” the circumstances surrounding the injury, sources say that it happened Sunday night when he got into an altercation with a friend/former teammate who was visiting from Louisiana … While the Cavs could try and clear house before they attempt to re-sign LeBron next summer, one player who will definitely be on the roster is third-year forward J.J. Hickson after Cleveland picked up his option yesterday. Other teams that did some housekeeping for the 2010-11 season include the Hornets (Julian Wright), Bulls (Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah) and Kings (Spencer Hawes, Jason Thompson and Donte Greene) … After writing that the Suns were very interested in signing Jarron Collins after he was waivied by the Blazers last week, Phoenix indeed won the “Which Collins did I just pick up?” sweepstakes. Not only does the 6-11 Collins bolster the Suns’ frontcourt with Robin Lopez sidelined at least another month, but it also gives Phoenix a full set of Stanford twins (though not an identical pair) … First Jerry West, now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar? According to the Commercial Appeal, the all-time NBA leading scorer is considering a consultant position on the Grizzlies coaching staff. In a related story, seven-footers Marc Gasol, Hamed Haddadi, Steven Hunter and Hasheem Thabeet all walked away from the game of basketball after the 62-year-old gave the Grizzlies frontline “the business” … Speaking of old guys, Lindsey Hunter is now the oldest player in the NBA this season at 38 years old (born in 1970) while Jrue Holiday is the youngest in the League at 19 (born in 1990). We’re pretty sure though that Tim Hardaway – who’s set to have his No. 10 jersey retired before the Heat’s opener on Wednesday – could beat them both … We’re out like Big Baby …
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October 27th, 2009 at 2:02 am
darkdefender says:
The Clipper Curse continues…
October 27th, 2009 at 2:06 am
hoopsguru says:
I would bet that if the Clips were to move, they would have much better luck than they currently do.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:07 am
Mr. Wang says:
Bill Simmons called it…its the curse of the Buffalo/Native Americans
October 27th, 2009 at 2:09 am
A.R. says:
smh…that fucking curse just wont let up will it?
Blake was gonna be a beast! A sure thing! Please Clipper nation if you have any soul at all trade him while there is still time!
October 27th, 2009 at 2:11 am
Captain Jean Luc-Picard says:
This is sad. Blake has worked so hard for this moment, opening day, and now this happens. Get well soon, Blake, and dominate.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:26 am
mustard says:
This is legitimately depressing.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:26 am
the cynic says:
wow, the curse continues
October 27th, 2009 at 2:38 am
hahns says:
so the suns have jarron collins, taylor griffin, and robin loopez. do they have some kind of strategy w/ retaining all these brothers? they need to go after stephen graham to complete the brother thing they have going
and whats w/ the injury bug? the whole league seems to be injured. in college football too, it seems like this is the year of the injury. sam bradford, tim tebow, jimmy clausen, michael floyd, jermaine gresham, tony pike and a whole slew of other guys are out this year…weird.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:39 am
Big Sia says:
HADDADI + KAREEM = BUCKETS
October 27th, 2009 at 3:13 am
BENNYHILL says:
^ BUCKETS PECHEROV
October 27th, 2009 at 5:57 am
alf (from melmak) says:
Too many injuries. It benefits some teams early in their schedule but as Jerry Sloan would always want it — You want to play and beat the best of what the other team has to offer.
My meal allowance says Tim Hardaway could still make it as the 11th or 12th man in a lot of the teams in the league now. Killer crossover.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:01 am
vince says:
Where was the curse with Elton Brand? With Darius Miles, Olowokandi? They all regressed AFTER leaving the Clippers. People just keep talking out of their arses.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:14 am
ToAn says:
“right thumb injury that could cost him several months, if not the entire season.” – in phoenix he would be ready to go in 2 weeks. just kidding…it’s really sad for griffin, i hope it doesn’t turn out to be even worse. way too many injuries all around. and Rondo dind’t get/ or want an extension, so he’ll be a free agent next summer (i think). let the season begin, can’t wait
October 27th, 2009 at 6:21 am
Maynard says:
Elton sort of went from one injury out West to another in the East. Michael Olowokandi went from a potential bust to a full-fledged bust, and Darius Miles did not regress. If you don’t see that the Clippers are a horrible team to end up on, you’re not looking. But I guess the real curse is that wretched bigot of an owner.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:29 am
sh!tfaced says:
Oh yeah… This is like New Year’s Eve for true hoopheads…
October 27th, 2009 at 6:31 am
vince says:
Sure but it’s far from a curse. It’s not like the Minnesota sophomore player curse.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:45 am
inspiredworlds says:
have to readjust my fantasy team now. why blake why?!
October 27th, 2009 at 6:54 am
Diggity Dave says:
Griffin’s chance of copping the ROY just went down some. By the time he recovers, gets comfortable, some other rookie will already be wow’ing people and earning votes. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Curry get it, since his numbers should be insane on that uber-offense/no-defense squad.
October 27th, 2009 at 7:33 am
Dagomar says:
Wow, already a stress fracture? That’s kind of a big deal for a big man. Depressing. A lot of surprising teams that may have been pretty good (Clips, Wizards) are really staggering out of the gate already . . . .
October 27th, 2009 at 7:49 am
Lucas says:
I never really beleived in curses but now it’s official. The Clips need to fire Donald Sterling, wait is that possible?
October 27th, 2009 at 8:20 am
Guitar Hero says:
Somewhere in LA there’s a team with worse luck than the NYK.
Thank God.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:31 am
smity far away says:
umh umh umh
October 27th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Kobeef says:
What the eff.
This is what I have to read on the eve of watching the #1 Pick battle the champs…are you effing kidding me?
If there was ever an argument for the clippers to move out of LA, this is it. This is messed up.
Move the clips, don’t let the curse ruin Blake’s career.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:46 am
Aron Phillips says:
@hahns
Haha. And the worse brother at that! What do you think all those guys talk about? “Hey man, how’s your brother doing?” “A lot better than me…”
October 27th, 2009 at 8:50 am
luckylester says:
blakes stress fracture happened when he came down from a dunk, you could see him kind of think twice before running down court after, i thought, oh shit – then nobody said anything about it, but look at the film it’s easy to see.
October 27th, 2009 at 8:58 am
control says:
Read my post here, #7:
http://dimemag.com/2009/10/whos-going-to-be-better-suns-or-clippers/#comments
I fucking called it. This sucks, but it was bound to happen, the curse IS fucking real.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Kobeef says:
@Control and Lester
Yeah – I also noticed that limp after he had the huge dunk…but nobody said anything so I thougt it was cool.
October 27th, 2009 at 9:14 am
jksonics says:
move the clips to seattle!!! please!!! we lost durant, griffin is a nice consolation no?
October 27th, 2009 at 10:08 am
jay says:
tough break “no pun” intended for blake and the clippers. not to be a hater but the clippers were not going to beat the lakers anyway but this is bad. knee injury this early…man i do not want to forecast but this is not good…do not want to go danny manning or the clippers curse but yeah this is not good. i have been saying forever the clippers should either play in aneheim or move back to sand diego!
October 27th, 2009 at 10:47 am
LakeShow84 says:
Not like it mattered but i guess we’ll take that easy one tonight..
ITS GO TIME BITCHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And maybe there is no curse just that people dont want to play for Sterling.. they dont want to put it on the line for him..
October 27th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Jacqueline Mitchell says:
How awful for Blake. I know he was looking forward to this day.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:54 am
chris says:
glenn davis, raja bell, josh howard, blake griffin, nic batum, cj miles, antawn jamison, brandan wright, kevin love…serious injuries, but only 9 of over 400 players – my guess is there are another 10 serious injuries we don’t even know about yet, and another 10 serious injuries will occur by xmas..the only ‘old man’ in that list of 9 is jamison, quite realistic that 5 more ‘old men’ will drop with serious (>2 month) injuries by xmas.
October 27th, 2009 at 11:55 am
JH says:
I even got tickets for the LAC – Jazz game this Friday to see Blake in action. Now I’m left with DeAndre Jordan?
Well maybe the GS Warrior version of Baron Davis will show up instead of last year’s.
–Disappointed in SLC
October 27th, 2009 at 11:58 am
That's whats up says:
50 bucks says Big Baby hurt his thumb while oil wrestling
October 27th, 2009 at 11:58 am
garbageman33 says:
If a Clippers draft pick ever got in a car with the guy on the cover of the latest Madden, what are the odds they’d reach their destination in one piece? 1 in a million?
October 27th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
garbageman33 says:
The only way Big Baby is oil wrestling is if he dives in the fryer after a chicken wing that got loose from that wire cage thing.
October 27th, 2009 at 12:18 pm
LakeShow84 says:
Lol @ 35
Interesting scenario..
October 27th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
sh!tfaced says:
LOL@garbageman
Might as well include a Minnesota Timberwolves’ sophomore in that same car…
And I’d take that bet and say that Big Baby got hurt playing around by trying to imitate some of those MMA/kickboxing moves. Seen him do it during player intros in a pre-season game.
October 27th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
AB_40 says:
too bad boston didn’t sign leon powe in this glen davis spot when he gets healthy now they’ve got shelde williams. but this opens the door for david walker and that other allen guy in boston with bonner moving to the four from the bench and danniels on the three with the ball in his hands most of the time. too bad, ah well cleveland and boston will both miss bench guys today I won’t I don’t like wathcing either glen davis nor delonte west
October 27th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
luckylester says:
who punches with their thumbs out? basketball players, that’s who.
October 27th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Da_Griff says:
AB_40, Leon Powe is out for 4 months anyway, so the “apartment manager” will have to do!
October 27th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
Mack Brownee says:
I agree that timmy hardaway is a better bball player than jrue everyday’s a holiday and lidnsey good will hunter