At least he can move around. Wonder how much of it is structural, or does it come down to pain tolerance. He learned from Los Angeles, don't play hurt, just wait till you're 100%.
Don't like seeing the big guy o it so long. But maybe the time off will help as DMo is now getting PT and Howard has a bit less mileage on his body.
he should stay out as long as needed. as long as we make the playoffs with home court advantage in the first round, and he's healthy for the playoffs, we'll be fine.
This whole lack of a timetable and information brings me back to those T-Mac microfracture days. At least we're getting updates from the team this time and not whatever random journo T-Mac decides to tell about it. Lets all hope it's nothing too serious and he's back soon!
Big picture it's more important to have DH make sure he's 100% right before the playoffs. No point in getting a high season record only to flame out in the playoffs because your franchise center is injured (see: Tmac-Yao almost every year).
All those talking about vaginas, please don't get your panties in a knot. See San Antonio Spurs. Rest players in the regular season. Ensure top players are healthy and rested for the second season. This is the formula for championships. All these starter injuries are a huge blessing for the development of that bench who could use every single second of NBA experience to be ready for a long playoff run.
I'll be somewhat concerned, although I could see the Rockets using the following logic behind holding him out of that game. It's a probable loss to the Grizzlies even with Dwight(since Bev, T-Jones, and possibly Canaan will likely be out). The next two games after that are at Minny who are as injury-riddled as us and sucked to begin with and then back home against Phoenix who are no picnic but are beatable even with our current lineup. Maybe they keep him out of those as well. Then assuming he's healthy, you bring him back for the Golden State/Sactown B2B on the road. Which has bought him an extra week since the Warriors game ain't til next Wednesday. Now if he's still out for that road trip, I'll be worried. Cuz we'll be pushing nearly a month since he last played. Players don't miss that much time unless they're nursing a serious injury.
If I'm not mistaken, Howard said the same exact thing in an interview recently about being 100 percent for the playoffs instead of risking it in regular season. This kind of logic reminds me of older stars who rest with nagging injuries throughout the season (Wade, Duncan, Ginobili, etc.) At the age of 28, if Howard is already in the mode of needing to rest throughout the regular season, that's concerning to me. Harden can't be expected to shoulder this team most of the way in the tough west without help eventually. Dmo has been stepping up recently and Black and Dorsey have been decent in stretches but if Howard can't eventually play consistently this season that will be a concern because this team was built around Harden AND Howard.
I wouldn't say he has been out long enough to start worrying about his long term health. This is more a story of the team not really saying what he is out with and a fan base, still recovering from the brutal Yao/Tmac years being quicker to get on the "oh crap our star is never going to be able to play again" bandwagon. I hope that's not the case, but my point is it's too early to tell and it would be nice if the team gave us some kind of truthful explanation.
I don't feel like homecourt is actually that big of a deal. Chuck Daly used to ask the Pistons, "Do you guys think you can win one game on the road?" If so, you don't need home court advantage, you just need to be healthy.
Will he be available for the Memphis game? We really need him against this team. No paint protection otherwise.
