With the exception of baseball, this is the worse injury in the world to get if you are a pro athlete. Those knees and tendons. Damn, they are hard to break and even harder to fully repair. Notice how players in basketball, football and hockey get these injuries and never "fully" recover. NEVER. Age doesn't matter. Size doesn't matter. Strength doesn't matter. It doesn't matter in baseball because you can still use your arms and hands to make 15 mil per year and hit 50 homers. But in basketball? Damn, I can't remember off hand who has come back from this type of injury and is still the same athlete he or she was before. When Taylor comes back, he will definitely be less than the Mo Taylor that scored 18pts per game before coming to the Rockets. To me, this is a crippling injury that not only hurts the team this year, it hurts them in the future. The bright spot is that Eddie will definitely get the spotlight now. For all who wanted to see if Eddie is the next Antonio McDyess, here is the opportunity of a lifetime. As much as alot of us hate to agree with the Freak, his post about how many championships we get in our lifetime could be correct. That number was zero, by the way. Because when things like this happen, you just have to appreciate the amount of luck it also takes to win the damn thing. Ok, fire up the lottery. Here we go again!
TheFreak also said Francis is a superstar with an opportunity to be the best player in the league....and the best player in the league always wins the title. The statements: "Rockets will never win again" based on odds, and the odds that "The best player in the league wins the title," can't both make sense!
The guy is only 24 and with the way medicine/sports rehab is these days I think he'll have a good chance of coming out of this in real good shape if: 1) he isn't too anxious and doesn't try/isn't forced into returning too soon (reinjury); and/or 2) he puts in the hard work he'll need to in rehab (which by the press, he was doing without injury and his heart seemed to be in showing how much he improved)
Actually Mo should take his time slowly. To tell you the truth, I think Mo's chances are going to be bad for him when he returns. Griffin will most likely see alot of time at the 4, depending on what the rockets do before the season. If griffin has alot of time there then next year when the rockets get Mo back, Who will be taking most the time there? If griffin does well and Mo suddenly shows up next year , I think Houston is going to have a problem there.
Wrist injuries can be nasty too. They can take a loooooong, loooooooooong time to heal and can be easily re-injured.
Like I mentioned in another thread Dominique Wilkins had the same type of injury, and came back averaging around 30 ppg and finish behind Jordan in the scoring title several times. It's possible to come back at a high level.
If I'm not mistaken, 'Nique was never the same after his Achilles injury, and I'm almost positive he didn't average 30 ppg afterwards. Maybe I'm wrong, but the way I remember is was: Wilkins tore his Achilles and was out for an extended time. When he returned interest in him was low and he either played one season for another club, or went to Greece and played for a season or two. Then he came back and played for San Antonio, where he did fairly well, although he had put on some weight. He then went to another team... but I can't remember which.
For the record, Wilkins came back and had two strong years (averaging 29.9 and 26.0 ppg), then faded after that. He was 34 when his skills dropped off, so age probably was the main culprit ... though the injury may have sped up his decline some. In football, Lawrence Taylor and Dan Marino came back from Achilles injuries -- that ain't my sport, so someone else will have to dig up the details.
Almu, Dominique Wilkins..... late in his career at that! I have the utmost confidence Mo will be back in great shape.
After Dominique tore his tendon, he was never the same. After the injury he went overseas came back and on a injury riddled spurs team avg 18 pts a game. Comparing a scoring machine like Nique to Taylor is an insult. Nique could get 13pts in a quarter easy. After the injury, Nique was no where the player he was before. Fortunately it happened near the end of his career.
from what I ungerstood. nique tor his tendons twice one on each leg. He had this comercail where he said that after he had done it for the second time people were telling him to give up on basketball. then it showed him and that seasons point average wich was in the high twenteys. with nique saying he was glad that he did not listen to them. lets not forget that he was traded to the clippers and that may be why many cant remember much about the end of his first carrer
Two good things about hearing about the Nique case. 1) He depended on his athleticsm more so that Mo to be effective. Mo's game isn't based on quickness or air time, he could lose 1/4 or 1/8 step and it would not have the impact as it would for a guard or swing player. 2) Nique was much older. Still it is quite possible Mo will not recover well-enough to be the kind of starting 4 you want. He was a good young 4, but had some noted liabilities. Instead of him working on and reducing his liabilities to be an even more effective player, now a reasonable hope is for him to regain his pre-injury form by the 02-03 season. We should be hopefull, but there is no getting around it is a big blow and it is quite sad event for Mo and the team.
Nique is my favorite player of all time. Now just going off memory, I seem to recall him tearing it and people saying he was done. He came back and lit up the league again for several seasons before being sent to LALA land along with a first round pick for Danny Manning.(By the way this was the exact moment I swore hatred for my beloved Hawks and started rooting for the hometown Rox) He had a strong season there with Ron Harper then signed a deal with Boston. He played a year or two, went to Greece, came back played with S.A. the year DRob was hurt(and led the team in scoring mind you), went back overseas, finally ending his career as a never used backup with Orlando. The Achilles was never a problem, age just finally caught up with the greatest game dunker of all time.(Carter looks like he's about to take that title though) P.S. I know this is for another thread, but man it pisses me off that he wasn't on the top 50.
didnt he play in Boston a season, im too lazy to look it up but im fairly certain it was during our first championship run.
Almu has always been one of my favorites. Sure they can. Francis can have the potential to become the best player in the league--that doesn't mean the odds are in favor of him doing so.
