Tag: NBA injuries

      T-Mac is done for the season

      February 18, 2009 /

      Well, it’s been another one of those years for Tracy McGrady — the guy just can’t stay healthy. Now he says he needs microfracture surgery on the same knee he had scoped in May of 2008.

      McGrady had arthroscopic surgery on the knee last May and has been slow to recover. The seven-time All-Star missed much of January trying to get the knee back in shape and had an MRI last week to try to discover why it was still bothering him.

      “The last couple of games, I’ve regressed,” McGrady said during halftime of last Wednesday’s game. “I’ve felt pain.”

      McGrady’s numbers are down across the board this season. He is the Rockets’ third-leading scorer at 15.6 points per game and is averaging 4.4 rebounds and 5.0 assists per contest. He is shooting a career-worst 39 percent from the field.

      Recovery from microfracture surgery can be as short as four months for some patients to eight months or longer depending on the severity of the injury and damage to the surrounding cartilage. If McGrady has the surgery now, he’d have eight months to recover before the start of the 2009-10 season.

      The Rockets are currently 5th in the Western Conference playoff race, but are just three games ahead of the Suns, who are sitting in the 9th spot.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Al Jefferson out with torn ACL

      February 9, 2009 /

      The Minnesota Timberwolves’ franchise player is out indefinitely with a torn ACL.

      The team made the announcement Monday after a somber practice. Coach Kevin McHale said Jefferson will likely have surgery to repair the injury in the next week to 10 days.

      “Al’s played at such a high level for this team and been such a big part of our team,” McHale said. “Everybody around here today is a little bit down in the dumps.”

      It was devastating news for a young Timberwolves team that has been playing better in 2009 after getting off to a 4-23 start to the season. With Jefferson the focal point, the Wolves went 10-4 in January, and the 24-year-old center was playing even better early in this month.

      “I feel terrible for Al. Al’s really, right now, devastated by it,” McHale said. “It all happens for a reason. It’s hard for me to figure out what this reason is. Somehow he’s just going to have to make the best of it and rehab and get better and move on from here.”

      The T-Wolves made news back in early December when they fired Randy Wittman and replaced him with then-GM Kevin McHale. At that point, the team was 4-15, and they went on to lose their next eight games to fall to 4-23. Then something strange happened: they started winning. They actually went 12-4 over the next 30 days, a run that included wins at Phoenix and at home against the Hornets. During that span, Jefferson averaged 23.0 points and 11.4 rebounds (numbers that are about the same as his season aveages), and was even getting some love as a possible All-Star (albeit as a long shot).

      So Jefferson has to undergo surgery and start rehab, but what do the T-Wolves do now? The team finally started to show some life under McHale — does he get another full season at the helm?

      NBA

      Brand out a month, Sixers’ season goes from bad to worse

      December 18, 2008 /

      The 76ers got the win last night, but their star forward suffered a dislocated shoulder that is going to keep him out a month.

      Team officials say the Sixers’ leading scorer has a fracture and tear in his right shoulder but will not need surgery.

      Brand is averaging 15.9 points and 9.8 rebounds per game this season.

      A playoff team last season, the 76ers struggled to a 9-14 start before firing coach Maurice Cheeks last week. They are 2-0 under interim coach Tony DiLeo.

      All right, so the team is currently 11-14. Let’s assume that Brand misses exactly a month and returns Jan. 18. That means he would miss 15 games. The Sixers’ winning percentage was .440 with him, so let’s say they win 34% of their games without him (5-10). That would put them at 16-24 when he gets back. Is there still time to get back into the playoff hunt?

      Sure. Considering .500 will probably earn a playoff spot in the East, it shouldn’t be too difficult. But assuming our assumptions are correct, that would mean that the Sixers would have to go 25-17 (.595) over the last half of the season to make the playoffs. And this team hasn’t proved that they can play at that level thus far.

      Every win they can get with Brand out will make things easier. It would be a major disappointment if this team misses the playoffs, especially in the East.

      It’s time for Andre Iguodala to step up and earn that big contract he signed this offseason.

      Fantasy Football, NBA

      Ginobili to have surgery on injured heel

      August 29, 2008 /

      Manu Ginobili is planning to have arthroscopic surgery on his left heel.

      “They’re going to operate on me,” he told Argentina’s La Nacion newspaper Friday. The 31-year-old doesn’t know when he’ll have the surgery or who will do it.

      Ginobili, who helped lead Argentina to a bronze medal in the Beijing Olympics, said an MRI exam of the injury showed no improvement.

      “It’s the same as it was two months ago, when they did the first exam,” he said. “Now, the thing is, it’s not better either, and it seems like the only way to repair it completely is arthroscopic surgery.”

      I had arthroscopic surgery on both of my knees while in college, and recovery from those procedures took about a month. But this is Ginobili’s heel, so it might be a different story. He has two months until the season starts, so there is time to recover.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

      Monta Ellis out 3-4 months after ankle surgery

      August 27, 2008 /

      On the heels of signing a monster contract, Warriors’ guard Monta Ellis will miss the next 3-4 months after undergoing surgery to repair a torn deltoid ligament in his left ankle.

      In an afternoon conference call with local reporters, Warriors executive vice president of basketball operations Chris Mullin said that Ellis informed the club that he injured himself last Thursday playing pick-up ball in his native Mississippi.

      It was about a month ago that Ellis received a six-year, $66 million contract extension from the Warriors. Ellis’ ankle will now be immobilized for six weeks, followed by at least six weeks of off-court rehab before the 6-foot-3 guard can return to basketball workouts, ruling Ellis out for all of training camp and the preseason and at least the first month of the regular season.

      This is clearly a major blow to the Golden State franchise, which isn’t having the best of offseasons. Ellis is moving from off guard to point guard, and needed training camp and the first part of the season to become acclimated with his new role. Even if he’s ready to go by January, it’s not like they just plug him in and expect everything to work. Given how difficult it is to make the playoffs in the Western Conference, I just don’t see how Golden State stays in the hunt, but stranger things have happened.

      The newly-acquired Marcus Williams will have a shot to run things in Ellis’ absence. He’s been something of a disappointment thus far in his career, but he now has a second life in the Bay Area.

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

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