The Lakers Injury Merry-Go-Round
On December 1, 2013, the Lakers backup point guard, Jordan Farmar, tore his hamstring. It happened in a home game against Portland, after a road trip in which the Lakers won in Brooklyn and Detroit. Jordan sat out four weeks as he recovered and when he returned on January 2, 2014, in a game against Milwaukee, he did it again. Jordan injured his hamstring once more. Another tear in a different place.
Feb 7, 2014; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Ryan Kelly (4) looks to pass during the second quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at the Wells Fargo Center. The Lakers defeated the Sixers 112-98. Mandatory Credit: Howard Smith-USA TODAY Sports
The seven rings of injury hell defines the Lakers current melodrama. This fertile breeding ground continually sets the stage for injury setbacks. This time it is second year forward Ryan Kelly. On October 1, in practice, the former Duke Blue Devil, strained his left hamstring.
All signs pointed to him playing against the Jazz tonight and providing size, perimeter shooting, rebounding and ball movement. But in a moment of déjà vu, he has a sore right hamstring that will keep him out of the lineup. On the surface, it has the some sort of feeling of doom and gloom, of history repeating itself whereas the Lakers staff are unable to keep their players healthy. Coincidences are not meant to be eternal, they eventually run a course. So if it is not a coincidence then what exactly is this? Not an external wound but a self-inflicted one? Are the Lakers destroying the Lakers?
Organizationally, the Lakers have never been known to mine the fields of Europe for quality role playing talent. They operate within a very narrow window. When their dependable players go down so does everything else. Last year, everyone accused the pace of Mike D’antoni’s offense for creating stress on the body, all of that running at thoroughbred speed. This year it is the intensity of Byron Scott’s practices, the grueling longevity, that seems to ratchet up the ire. The human body can only take so much before it begins to rebel and beg for mercy.
Perhaps some of it is true, what many think about the Lakers capacity to field a healthy team, or maybe it is not; random things do occur. Your past does catch up with you. For nearly two decades the Lakers never had to deal with anything other than the routine. Derek Fisher broke his leg once. Shaquille O’Neal suffered through a lingering abdominal muscle and toe injury. Kobe Bryant had an array of shoulder, ankle, finger and knee issues. But the Lakers depth made it possible to lose players. Even when they did lose players it wasn’t multiple injuries, back to back to back. The Lakers were never depleted the way other teams were. In a world of karma, there is an argument to be made that it is the Lakers turn.
And yet the Lakers are not the only team facing injuries this pre-season. The Thunder are without Kevin Durant, and Reggie Jackson has a wrist injury. Serge Ibaka has missed much of the preseason. The Clippers just lost Glen Robinson. The Spurs don’t have Paddy Mills, Kawhi Leonard or Tiago Splitter. The Brooklyn Nets have lost Brook Lopez with another injury to his foot. Noah Vonleh, one of the lottery picks who the Lakers worked out, is doubtful to start the season because of a hernia. Rajon Rondo had surgery on his wrist after a fall in the shower. Javale McGhee still is not back yet because of his leg. Jodie Meeks has a stress fracture in his back. Shaun Livingston may not be able to back up Steph Curry just yet. Victor Oladipo and Channing Frye suffered similar knee injuries in practice.. Bradley Beal is out for six weeks after surgery. In fact, there is only one team in the NBA that has had no injuries this preseason: the Portland Trailblazers.
Andrew Bynum was the healthiest when he was a Laker. Jodie Meeks was never injured last year. Darius Morris played for the Lakers, the 76ers, the Clippers, the D-league and now is with the Blazers. He’s been healthy the entire time. The human body is a mystery, a repository of 40 million cells that collide with one another. Certain bodies are glass like and break while others just bend and bend. You can get lung cancer if you smoke a hundred cigarettes a day and you can get lung cancer if you never smoke. The body is a conundrum, an unsolved puzzle that man has not fully mastered.
The current Lakers injuries are of the basketball nature. Jeremy Lin had his foot stepped on by Robert Sacre which created a sprain. Xavier Henry’s first knee issue began when he was a rookie in Memphis and missed 34 games. Then he had an ankle injury in New Orleans. He had arthroscopic surgery on a lateral meniscus tear. This year more surgery.
Steve Nash, at 38 years old, collided with Damian Lillard, at 21 years old, and thus began the up and down, feast and famine, look over here no look over there, Steve Nash soap opera. At almost 41, it seems inconceivable that he will be healed anytime soon, the nature of the game being what it is, the pace and explosion and athleticism wearing upon an already fragile body. When you cannot pick up luggage, the basketball gods are trying to get a message across. It’s not accidental that after guarding Steph Curry, Nash didn’t feel right and didn’t return to the game. The cynics have a right to yawn right about now. How much of it is the Lakers fault or is this just one more example of a man in his forties being too stubborn to quit?
Nick Young was swiping at the ball trying to steal it and tore his ligament. Jordan Clarkson was in the gym hours before game time putting up shots and then felt a strain in his calf near the end of the second quarter.
Oct 6, 2014; San Diego, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) gestures during the second half against the Denver Nuggets at Valley View Casino Center. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports
The Lakers would be putting their head in the sand if they didn’t acknowledge the heavy minutes of practice creates muscle fatigue. When the body is tired, death by a thousand cuts begins its havoc. Something here is small. Something there is small. And then it expands. If you believe Kobe’s Achilles injury was, in part, due to the unholy minutes he logged the week it happened, then there is some logic to a body being pushed too hard, for too long, too far. It is a litany that coaches are familiar with but one they ignore. If you play fast, you hurt the body. If you play slow, you hurt the body. If you are a physical team, you create strain. If you are a finesse team, you put yourself in way of harm.
The Ryan Kelly loss, this close to the season opener, is a critical one. He is a good three point shooter, a player with a skill who can put the ball on the floor and get to the rim. He rebounds and moves the ball and is unselfish, not to mention being 6-10 helps. Without him, the Lakers will continue on, like a man with a pack on his back walking uphill in snow. Only one player has any kind of offensive talent which leaves the rest of the Lakers to go out there and try to survive the elements.