The return of the full 82-game schedule is less than a week away in the NBA, a reminder that teams have months recover from poor starts. There is time. There is breathing room, even if some teams and fanbases haven’t let out a breath of air since their star got hurt during training camp. Not all injuries should be worried about evenly, thouh. Dime breaks down which injuries should be cause for concern, and the others should be monitored closely but not induce hand-wringing.
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“TROUBLESOME BUT MANAGEABLE”
Dirk Nowitzki, knee: Discussed at length here, but as crazy as it sounds, I think the Mavericks can get by. This injury certainly straddles the “be very concerned” and “manageable” categories, but it might work if Chris Kaman can stay healthy and Brandan Wright finds the confidence to play aggressively on offense, instead of a reactionary player who scores only when the opportunity if obvious. I’m encouraged by Nowitzki’s comments today, too, about the relative surprise the knee was after an offseason where nothing appeared wrong.
“There was a question of, ‘Why didn’t you do it in the summer?’ I think there was no indication that it needed to be done. I had no problem all summer. I had some trouble last year when the season started, but then I made it through the season great. I didn’t have any swelling again for the rest of the season, didn’t have any swelling over the summer. Even when I started working out, running, lifting, shooting in Germany, I didn’t have any swelling at all. I was actually thinking I’m getting through the season fine. So I had a little setback, and that’s why it had to be done.”
Daniel Gibson, concussion: Head injuries are so hard to gauge, even with baseline testing, that missing one preseason game could extend longer. If that’s vague, well, so is our understanding of a standard of knowing when to bring players back from concussion symptoms. He’s a valuable voice in that locker room and behind point guard Kyrie Irving.
Kevin Love, hand: Knuckle pushups may have trimmed the Timberwolves’ margin of error for making the playoffs to thinner than prosciutto, but Love will be OK upon returning in about six weeks. The good news is that he won’t require surgery on his shooting hand, but the bad news is that if you know anything about Love’s game, it’s that he spends a lot of time reaching for rebounds. How will his healed hand hold up when it’s being hit? So yes, kiss goodbye a playoff spot for Minnesota, but Love himself will be fine. He may even develop a left-handed shot out of it.
“DON’T SWEAT IT”
Grant Hill, right knee: A bone bruise will keep him out two weeks but it should be a small setback. He missed about three weeks last March and April to repair a torn meniscus in the same knee and was back in time to play the final three games of the regular season and would have been ready for playoffs. If he returned healthy after that at age 40, he’ll be fine now.
Austin Rivers, right ankle: According to the Times-Picayune, no structural damage was found after an MRI. “Day to day” is one of the most overused and ambiguous terms in all of sports, but Rivers’ comments about the injury (swelling has receded quickly) are reassuring he’ll be OK soon. Hornets fans and staff had every reason to sweat this injury at first blush when Rivers looked as if he’d been clipped by a bullet against Dallas. As with any guard, injuring an ankle raises the question when he will feel comfortable to make the kind of quick lateral cuts he was drafted for, but given the rest of the preseason off, he’ll be fine to start the season opener Oct. 31.
Kobe Bryant, right foot: Bryant himself has called his right foot “pretty sore,” “painful” and the injury itself a “freak accident,” the result of a trip over Thomas Robinson‘s foot Sunday night. What it shouldn’t be called is serious, a feeling that owes both to Bryant’s history of playing through injuries and his ruthless competitive nature. Not playing when he has the ability to even trudge up and down the floor is anathema to Bryant. Once he sits out preseason games tonight and Thursday, he will start the season opener at Staples Center Oct. 30 whether his foot has responded to swelling or not.
“YOU SHOULD BE DEEPLY CONCERNED”
Andrew Bynum, right knee: His right knee has been undergoing two treatments in the offseason: platelet-enrichment and injections of lubricant that ease the pain of osteoarthritis. The injections are supposed to work for six months, and he got one shot today, which coincides with his first day practicing with the team. What makes it doubly worrisome is Bynum’s history of aversion to rehab (last season waiting until very late to get surgery) and, frankly, his work ethic bothers me. Philadelphia is a good team that has experience both in surviving a stretch run to make the playoffs, and then winning a series once there. That experience can’t survive the paper-thin depth the 76ers have outside of Bynum at center, though, with Spencer Hawes, Kwame Brown and a pair of unseasoned rookies behind him. Center was already a weak spot for Philly last season as the team’s lowest-scoring position and the only one with a negative net PER, per 82games.com.
Kirk Hinrich, groin: Drastic to put him here? Not if you scroll down the Bulls’ options behind Hinrich with Derrick Rose out for months and possibly the season. The injury is expected to only cost him a few games and he should be expected to start the season opener. This injury itself isn’t the doomsday note for Chicago, but it’s a reminder how close the team is to a steep dropoff. A roster already laden with flaws after an offseason doing … what exactly? … could be guided by either Nate Robinson or Marquis Teague, a rookie. Hinrich won’t win many games for Chicago; he’s a steady hand at the position. Not having him there will lose Chicago games, however.
Amar’e Stoudemire, left knee: Anytime a cyst explodes on a knee, it’s not good news. He’s out at least two more weeks as it stands now. Anytime it happens on a knee that had been already bruised this preseason, and sliced open for major surgery in 2005, too, it’s time to seek more than just a short-term solution. Unlike Hinrich I don’t see major worries associated with this injury because the roster behind him can adapt. Carmelo Anthony can play power forward, Tyson Chandler won’t move from center, and Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas are good, if Paleozoic Era options. (Rasheed Wallace‘s contract isn’t guaranteed until January and given he has barely participated in Knicks practices, I’m not sold he’ll stick on the team) What gives me the most concern isn’t that STAT will miss a massive block of time at once, but that he’ll play so sporadically, missing a few games here and there often, he’ll never regain a rhythm.
Stephen Curry, right ankle: The Warriors’ dynamic guard will miss the final two games of the preseason after reinjuring it last Friday. Curry couldn’t catch a break, getting his surgically repaired right ankle stepped on against Portland’s Wesley Matthews, an injury that scales back his lengthy rehabilitation dating back to April. Curry is a spot-up shooter, a style of play that lends itself to an easier recovery from this tweak, but with Klay Thompson also a spot-up player by nature, someone has to slash. He needs to have the confidence to play on it; can you blame him for not? Thompson can take over many of the responsibilities Curry has in the interim, but Curry has singular talent that’s hard to replace.
What injury will hurt a team’s chances the most?
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