Started watching last night's game; in the first few minutes Matt Bullard pointed out how Ja - who had a bad ankle sprain a few weeks ago - was wearing the Kobe ultra-high-tops for prevention... Got me thinking: it's been 24 years since KJ became the head Athletic Trainer: two owners, three GMs, multiple Head Coaches, yet one position doesn't ever change. I remember 1997/8 everybody started breaking down: Barkley, Hakeem, Drex. I was visiting Russ Payne's Healthsouth clinic at Methodist and basically half the roster was there, even iron-man Kevin Willis was rehabbing something. I brought it up with Dave Macha, "Hey Dave, how come everyone is getting injured ever since Keith got the job?" Dave took an issue, I remember him saying very empathically, "KJ is top, top notch, all the players love him, unlike Falsone, it's just an old team, man, what do you expect?" I nodded with agreement, completely disregarding the fact that just behind me there were a couple of twenty-something laying on trainer's tables with torn ACLs (Brent Price and E-mail Davis). An so it has been now 24 years of maladies: Stevie's shoulder (at least it got us Yao)... Mo Taylor... Yao and Tracy...D-Mo... Dwight... Hamstring away... "Bad luck" after "bad luck".... Daryl Morey basically became a celebrity peddling junk science. It was not just statistics, physical therapy, too. He thought he'd gain an edge by buying the newest and fanciest gear: cryo-chambers and what nots. Did it make much difference? Other than as a self-promotion tool? ("I am so cutting-edge!") There is no questions that injuries happen to every team, and that luck plays a big role. However, some things are troublesome. Chris Paul. Plays two seasons for us missing 24 games each year and breaking down in the 2018 playoffs. He looked washed-up. Untradeable. People can talk about skills, shooting, fit to Harden, etc. until they are blue in the face, but in 2019 I would do the Westbrook trade 10 times out of 10, for one simple reason: to get a younger and a healthier player. Guess what, though? Since then the old, washed-up CP3 has missed exactly two games! How do things like that happen? And then last night... I mean, why wouldn't our best player, a shoe-in All-Star not wear high-tops? Why would the Grizzlies take precautions with their star player, but not us? We are not talking cryo-chambers with lasers, freaking magnets and what not... We are talking high-tops... I don't know man, I don't understand. Coaches, GMs, star players always take the blame when things go bad, even if it's not clearly their fault... 24 years of "bad luck" and nothing changes...
do you give him credit for Harden, PJ, and a few others who NEVER missed games? Or you only count the negative because you are building your made up narrative and other facts don't fit?
So you think high tops prevents sprained ankles. Interesting. 2010 called and they want their KJ takes back.
I feel you man, the Rockets are pretty unlucky when it comes to this stuff, and maybe you're right about Keith Jones, but with a new owner change, a new GM, and a new coaching staff, the guy is still there. So I think your wish of getting rid of him ain't gonna happen. Let's hope he retires soon tho.
First, Keith Jones is Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations. He is someone that has always done very well being a middle man between the players and the GM and ownership. He is excellent at "reading the room" and gets issues addressed that emerge early. Second, Chris Paul was old (still is) and has admitted to not being in great shape entering his second year with the Rockets. If we are going to rip Jones for Paul........ do we give him credit for Harden always playing? What about Eric Gordon being less injury prone since joining the Rockets? Honestly it seems like a lot of complaining over nothing.
L lol yes that’s why when you get an ankle sprain the orthopedic surgeon tells you to wear high tops the rest of your life lmao
when i post about rockets basketball and i go back through our history and realize how many times i say "but we had a lot of injuries, otherwise..." i do sometimes think like the OP. we've had one guy for years and years and we've seemingly had as many injuries as anyone and more high level things ruined by injuries than most. would tmac and yao always have been injured and out of the league by 30? was cp3 always going to be injured like earlier in his career or could a mid-2000's phoenix training staff have saved him. was westbrook always going to tear his quad? the short answer is those probably would have all happened. are we more injured than other teams? certainly feels like it, but maybe the answer is no. but in a league where teams are always looking for advantages, being a team that has been injured for decades would certainly make you think we could do things differently.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3943374/ The onset time of TA and PB muscles was significantly later wearing HS compared to LS for the 15° inversion condition. Meanwhile, the mean amplitude of the integrated EMG from the 50 ms prior to contact (aEMGpre) of TA was significantly lower with HS compared to LS for the 15° inversion condition and the combined 25° inversion + 20° plantarflexion condition. Similarly, the aEMGpre when wearing HS compared to LS also showed a 37.2% decrease in PL and a 31.0% decrease in PB for the combined 25° inversion + 20° plantarflexion condition and the 15° inversion condition, respectively.
Freak injuries are hard to predict. Considering how insanely durable Harden was once you factor in his usage and playing style, it really hinders significant criticism on someone like Keith Jones. If Wall, Cousins and Nwaba end up playing the remainder of the year without significant injuries or setbacks, then wouldn't they be credit to Jones? We will see. Weird thread.
WHAT. Everything you know is wrong, and everything you believe is invalid. Your world is a terrible alternate reality and you should leave and come join us as soon as possible.
I always had the vibe that he's like the team doctor from Any Given Sunday who patches/drugs people up for the next game without caring about the long term. Walk it off and take some Tussin before sleeping. Keith has had that "bad luck" rep for a long time, but that hunch came around Pbev where they just let the dude play even when the stakes weren't that high.
Poster whines about how we've supposedly been more jinxed by injuries than other NBA teams. Same poster also whines about Morey trying everything he could to minimize said injuries.
