Dwight Howard leaves game injured against the Suns

I think it's overblown. He has 10+ seasons of above the rim play on those knees. They are not going to be in great shape at this point. He's not going to fit into optimal healing patterns. His form was corrected and became funky again because he got injured. Players bump knees all the time, in games and in practice and we don't always have a video clip to prove it.

The paranoia in the Rockets org is real cause cyberx reported it, but that doesn't mean they know anything more than us. If anything, the fact that they "fear" he needs micro surgery just proves that they don't know anything concrete - just like us.

RV6 has done a tremendous job chronicling Dwight's physical history but at the end of the day RV6 is the guy we know and love for being an expert on physical fitness. Everyone sees things through their own expert lens - I'm sure our psychologists on here are thinking this is mostly mental and our financiers are thinking he must be worried about getting sued by his ex.

We know Dwight's body is not what it used to be, and we knew that when we signed him. That doesn't necessarily mean his knee needs microfracture or that there's some conspiracy to hide a major flaw. He needs a significant amount of time to rest his knee, and it's unlikely he can play 82 games a season plus playoffs anymore. So we manage it carefully now - as they are doing - in order to make sure he's ready for postseason. They gave him rest when the schedule was easier and brought him back when schedule was tougher. Seems completely logical. He played through some pain, but that caused a twisted ankle and then he tweaked it again in practice. My knee is 2 times reconstructed and both times on my recovery I twisted my ankle doing the softest, silliest stuff despite extensive rehab. And I only play soccer recreationally. Dwight is a mamoth NBA player.

Let the guy sit out and heal. He will walk better and run better and smile more, though he won't be able to do it for an entire season and playoffs. So we have to manage it. He's been unlucky this season, but we can expect 60 regular season games and 20ish playoff games of elite C play for his salary and that's worth it.

Ideally we'd let him rehab till post all star break, but unfortunately we are in possibly the toughest conference ever and a losing streak could see us competing with the thunder for 8th spot. The team has done a tremendous job at managing this (LOOK AT OUR RECORD) and I don't see why we should think there's something dubious going on here.

 

Similar thoughts, though I expected D-Mo to be the sacrificial lamb for us to get a really good pg like Lawson or Dragic. With D12 being more of a question mark for now and in the future (will he need surgery? ), I say screw trading either of our two young bigs. They are still so young, and they are already good players in their own right.

Instead, Morey should make a smaller trade for a competent, but lesser pg.

 

What career he will have left?

His next 2 years contract are fully guaranteed, and if he can not perform in the next 2 years, he will not get any contract offer (baring from a one year gamble deal like Bynum) elsewhere also.

If the injuries will be long term threatening his walking ability, he mas as well as retired.

 

I think most guys try to get that final contract around 31 because they know they may not get another. That's got to be on his mind. We've all seen what he can do lately, even favoring that knee, so if he can get to a point where it's manageable post surgery, then I think someone would gamble on him. Definitely not max money, but even a guaranteed deal for 5-8 mill is better than nothing. He'd still be good for 10/10/1.

 

Was there any blunt trauma to the knee reported? Any seen on tape?

And this has been going on since November, possibly pre season. If it's just from blunt trauma it very likely would have healed by now, as it would have been more of a bruise...but over 2 months now, with fluid accumulating? Certainly sounds to me like it's progressive and getting worse over time.

 

Even he is going to be not healthy the next couple seasons, he is not Bynum and the chance of him taking a 5-8 mils guaranteed contract with his broken body for another extra year is very questionable.

He is arguably still have a chance to go to the HOF even he will retire tomorrow.

No matter you like his game or not, he is not that type of player whose selfish and only look for his interest in his career.

So assuming he will just want to get another small paycheck and refuse to play at his best efforts just doesn't make sense.

 

And on a side note, assuming his knee is really bad in the second half and even have a chance to miss the playoff.

Anyone thought about this trade?

Lakers : Hill.

What about the Rockets give up Kpap + Shved + a second round pick for Hill?

From the Lakers standpoint, they have spots to try out Kpap for couple month and he could be just an expiry contract after the season if it doesn't work out, and a second round pick for Hill sounds reasonable. Shved is just a filler and they will not take any amount beyond this year.

For the Rockets, if Dwight will go down, Hill at worse is an upgrade over Dorsey.

 

He had a knee to knee when it first originated. No chance they are separate instance? Also, I would think it is hard to heal if he had been playing on it?

 

Isn't that how we got him?

And i never said anything about him not playing at his best effort. I think you misunderstood my post.

He bumped knees in preseason and it was reported to be the usual bone bruise most guys get. It swelled up and went away, basically what you were referring to in your previous post.

then a month or so later he had pain after playing Memphis and into the next day. Rockets diagnosed it as a knee strain. From what I understand, they were treated as separate incidents. I speculated in another thread that maybe they weren't and that prior bone bruise was actually the start of what we're dealing now, but it was just a thought I had. Only Howard and the team know the real answer to that.

Playing shouldn't really affect how a knee to knee "bone bruise" heals, assuming that's all it really was, since there would be no structural damage to the knee. Not the greatest example, but it's like getting in a fender bender, but your car still functions perfectly fine.

 

You "wondered if Dwight will save his career under this situation so that he can look for his last big contract after reaching 30".

He was criticized in Orlando for not playing when he had a back issue, turned out that's a real and bigger problem than many people expected. He was the best contributor in that Laker disaster season while he was playing hurt the full year, turned out the injuries was serious than many people thought it was.

Nuff said.

 

You're assuming that i think his injury isn't serious and he's going to shut it down prematurely to save this career....not what I was saying at all.

I think that if he's given a choice, to risk further injury and keep playing to make a playoff push or shut it down to save what's left of his knee, then he'll probably try to save his knee. I wouldn't blame him for it either..he shouldn't play on it, unless they have told him he can't injure it any worse.