And, it’s already panic time. The Los Angeles Lakers opened the new NBA season last night against the Houston Rockets and got thoroughly demolished by the better team. That wasn’t the problem, as we pretty much figured that the Lakers wouldn’t come close to contending. The worrisome part was that Julius Randle broke his leg.
Clearly, the Lakers are a cursed team. No other team in the league was as injured as the Lakers were last year and it carried over to this season. Steve Nash is already ruled out for the whole season with back/nerve problems. Now, Julius Randle is likely going to miss the whole year with a broken tibia in his right leg.
Injuries are never a good thing, especially lower body injuries in a sport like basketball. You never want to see anybody go down with injury, but it’s especially tough to see such a young and promising player with an injury as serious as this one. It’s tough on Randle because it stunts his physical development, as well as his ability to develop his skills. The only way for most players to improve is via practice and game time. Obviously, Randle won’t have the opportunity to do that this season.
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As I’m sure most of you are aware of, lower body injuries are no joke for big men. There are a lot of examples of big men getting leg injuries and never quite reaching their potential. In recent years, we’ve seen the likes of Andrew Bynum suffer from multiple lower body injuries. Bynum was very good for a two-year period, but has basically disappeared since being traded by the Lakers in 2012. We’ve seen similar things happen to Andrew Bogut, who was the first overall pick in 2006. He suffered from a lot of injuries early on and is now a role player for the Golden State Warriors.
The most notable example of this would be Greg Oden. Oden is practically known for being injured, having played only 105 games out of a possible 476 total games over the course of six seasons.
These are just a few recent examples. All throughout NBA history, lower body injures for big men have not been good news.
Of course, it’s not all bad. Randle is a very young player, as he is only 19 years old. He still has plenty of time to heal and learn the NBA style of play, even if he misses this whole season. And he does differ quite a bit from the aforementioned examples. Randle is not a hulking 7 foot tall center and he carries less bulk and general mass than Oden, Bynum and Bogut. Instead, Randle is a smaller, much more agile player than those three players.
This isn’t the first time Julius Randle has been injured pretty seriously. He fractured his foot in high school and had to get a screw implanted. He bounced back incredibly strong and had a nice high school and college career. Randle knows what it’s like to suffer an injury and knows what it takes to bounce back strong.
It is scary that the Lakers first lottery pick in a long time has gone down with such a serious injury. But, there’s nothing else we can do but hope for the best. In the mean time, Randle can take the time to study the game via game tapes and coaching. It’s not ideal, but the Randle and the Lakers have to make the best of a bad situation. Get well soon, Julius.