Hey, so, you’re stuck with me on the weekends, so I thought we’d put together something you can count on. Every weekend here at PBT we’ll have the Saturday Starting Five. Five elements, chosen thematically (so I’m not just basically vomiting words onto a screen for you) and brought for discussion about the NBA. Today’s topic? Injuries that shape this season.
The Big Guy On Ice. Again.
All the talk this week was about Greg Oden having microfracture surgery for the second time on the second knee. It’s the kind of development which makes the hill that much higher for the Blazers to climb. Most annoyingly, it lowers the ceiling on the club. The Blazers have been up and down this season, but the thought was that if they could just reach their potential in the other areas of the game, then add a young, productive center like Oden, all of a sudden a championship seems less like a fairy tale. But with Oden on the shelf, the team not only has to lower their expectations for this season, but to reconfigure their vision of the future. The Blazers will need a new plan because Marcus Camby won’t last forever and they still need a true big to compliment LaMarcus Aldridge.
The Other Terrible Blazer Injury Situation
Oden is at least a conundrum the team is used to. They’ve been playing mostly without him for years. Brandon Roy having to toe the line on avoiding microfracture surgery is a pretty significant development. There’s been some clarification that Roy does not have bone-on-bone arthritis, but the fact is that his knee is pretty jacked. It’s not going to get much better, and you can’t help but wonder if the Blazers are hoping instead of thinking that Roy will be able to avoid injury. And in that instance, the Blazers’ season is pretty much over. The Blazers are pretty much at their breaking point with injuries. They can’t sustain any more hits to their roster, and we’re in November. It’s a long season, and they’re still having to deal with a superstar who just simply may not be the best he can be this season, or ever.
The Dynasty Undone
Yao is already on the shelf for two weeks. Already. And that’s a shame. What’s even more of a shame is that the Rockets can’t get into a rhythm with him being in and out. It just disrupts things and they’re trying to almost be two different teams which simply isn’t going to work. They need a player like Yao to work around so they have consistency when he’s not in. But finding players like Yao is simply too difficult. They can’t not have Yao, he’s too good. But his minute limit complicates things and makes it very difficult for them to be a complete team. It’s hard to see this era in Rockets history ending happily ever after.
The Jazz Addition
Mehmet Okur is due back within the forseeable future. It’s true that he won’t be back to full strength for a good long time after his Achilles’ injury, but getting Okur back to bolster the core of Millsap and Jefferson which has already proven effective is huge. It’s like the Blazers’ situation, only if Oden wasn’t as good of a rebounder and could shoot threes. It’s another weapon for a Jazz team that is already deep and clicking together. He could wind up as the difference between being at home or on the road for most of the first round.
The Championship Bruiser
Hey, take a look, the Celtics are the top team in the East. Looks like they’re just back to business. Yep, this team is really great, even if can’t really improve due to age or... oh, wait. They get Kendrick Perkins back next year. Yeesh. Imagine how good this team is going to be with Perkins as the starting center versus the two constantly banged up old guys they have now? Even Perkins at less than 100% is going to make them meaner, tougher, and more productive on the glass. It’s scary how good this Celtics team could be.
