Eric Gordon is just one of the many players whose health could make a big difference for his team this season.
As is the case most years, injuries played their part in the regular season amongst many of the league’s lottery-bound teams last season.
The Portland Trail Blazers’ starting five, which played the highest percentage of minutes per game in the league, also had an unbelievably lucky year of avoiding injuries. LaMarcus Aldridge (back) missed 13 games, but Damian Lillard, Nic Batum, Wes Matthews, and Robin Lopez each played all 82. This enabled the Blazers to catapult themselves from being a lottery team in 2013 to a team that beat the highly hyped Houston Rockets during the 2014 NBA playoffs.
The Hawks were well on the way to earning the third seed in the East before slipping to eighth following the loss of All-Star big man Al Horford (torn pectoral), and his returning makes them a solid bet to make the playoffs (and potentially earn the home-court advantage in Round 1 of the 2015 postseason). It’s also worth noting that the Nets were on the outside of the playoff race when Brook Lopez suffered a broken bone in his foot back in January. With Paul Pierce joining Washington, Lopez will need to be better than ever—as Lopez said he expects to be— for the Nets to avoid falling out of the playoff picture.
The season is a mere month and a half away, and it’s time to look at which players will be making comebacks from injury in 2014-15—while examining what a clean bill of health for each respective player might mean for the team’s outlook this year. However, the focus of this will be devoted to the teams that did not make the playoffs last season.
Denver Nuggets
The Nuggets were as affected by injury as anyone in the league. Having already watched Andre Iguodala leave in free agency, Danilo Gallinari missed the entire season—this after tearing his ACL right before the playoffs began back in 2013. Gallinari’s recovery has taken a lot of time, but after lengthy rehabbing all summer he feels confident he’ll be ready to go for training camp.
Down low, J.J. Hickson is eyeing his return to the court for training camp after undergoing ACL surgery in May and Javale McGee (stress fracture) has reportedly been working out pain-free with coaches since July. Meanwhile, Nate Robinson (torn ACL) is not likely to return before the beginning of 2015.
Afflalo returns to Denver from Orlando a greatly improved player—but especially offensively, and Gallinari was the 2012-13 50-win Nuggets’ top scoring option. Meanwhile, Lawson is a very solid point guard, Faried has displayed the same motor in FIBA play thus far that’s made him worthy of his “Manimal” moniker.
A healthy rotation of Ty Lawson, Arron Afflalo, Kenneth Faried, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, Randy Foye, Darrell Arthur, Gary Harris, Gallinari, Hickson, and McGee could be a sleeper to upset the order in the West. If the Nuggets are able to stay relatively healthy, they should be an exceedingly interesting team to follow in 2014-15.
New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans, along with the Nuggets and Lakers, were the only teams that can make the claim that their season was derailed by ailments. Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday, Ryan Anderson, Tyreke Evans, and Eric Gordon only played 15 games together, and they lost Anderson (neck) and Holiday (shin) to season-ending injuries just when it seemed the team was beginning to gel.
After undergoing cervical spine surgery in April to repair his herniated disc, Anderson was reportedly cleared for full contact already—but is understandably being eased back and expects to be able to play with the guys next week. If he’s able to remain active, the 26-year-old stretch-four who made the second most 3-pointers per game in 2012-13 will have a plentiful role off the Pelicans bench. Presumably Davis will start at the four with Omer Asik manning the middle, but if healthy each member of the trio figures to see more than 30 minutes per night.
Holiday looks to make his return from a stress fracture in his tibia, which he suffered immediately after Anderson was injured. Holiday started working out in mid-July, on court in mid-August, and played his first 5-on-5 on Thursday, but is not 100% yet. Apart from the stress fracture Holiday has been consistently healthy in his career, and he played through a chipped bone in his shooting elbow for New Orleans last year as well. Given the circumstances, Holiday got off to a pretty solid start in his first year with his new squad, and right before he went down he gave us all a taste of the potential he and Davis have as the leaders going forward. It’s often forgotten that Holiday is still young at 24, and provided he’s able to return to full health, he’s in an enviable position with Davis blossoming into an MVP-caliber player.
The wildcard for New Orleans is Eric Gordon. He had arthroscopic knee surgery back in April—and actually called this his first “normal” offseason in some time. He has been working out with teammates all summer, and even made an appearance in Las Vegas to support the summer league squad. If he’s able to stay healthy, devote more focus to his defense, and accept a role as a more off-the-ball type of role offensively, he could really thrive. Given the fact that the Pelicans already have Holiday and Evans to create off the dribble—combined with the fact that Gordon is already a proficient catch-and-shoot player lacking the explosiveness he boasted pre-knee injuries—both he and the team would be better off if he embraces such a role.
For NBA fantatics, a healthy New Orleans team alone may make the NBA League Pass a worthy investment. If Tyreke Evans can build off of his strong play once inserted into the starting lineup late last year and the team can make a return to full health, there’s no reason to count the Pelicans out of the race for the playoffs in the West.
New York Knicks
Jason Smith suffered cartilage damage in his right knee and only managed to play 31 games last year for the Pelicans. Still, the Knicks signed him to a one-year, $3.3 million deal, and with Sammy Dalembert, Andrea Bargnani, Amare Stoudemire, and Quincy Acy the only big men currently on the roster, he’ll have the chance to carve out sufficient time for the Knicks as they look to get back to being a playoff team.
Sacramento Kings
Carl Landry suffered a torn meniscus in his right knee—this after he tore his hip flexor. It’s been a long road of unlucky moments for Landry, who not long ago was one of the best reserve power forwards in the league. He hopes to be ready for training camp, and though he admitted he still feels pain occasional pain, he’s making progress, and a healthy Landry would do a lot to help solidify the Kings’ frontcourt. However, unless there’s a blockbuster trade in the works, the odds are heavily against the Kings escaping the lottery for the first time since 2005-06.
Los Angeles Lakers
After tearing his Achilles in 2012-13, Kobe Bryant fractured his tibial plateau, and per newly hired head coach Byron Scott—will have a minutes limit in this his 19th season. The 36-year-old Bryant still probably has the best footwork in the league, but his body is clearly starting to wear down. All the mileage has finally caught up to him, and at this point I just hope he’s able to retire on his own terms. Bryant and the 40-year-old Steve Nash (ankle, stomach) are two of the most fundamentally fantastic players the NBA has ever seen, and it’s certainly sad watching them age in this way. Before Nash came to Los Angeles, he was still pumping out sensational stats with the Suns and aging like a fine wine. Hopefully for all of our sakes these two legends are able to stay relatively this year so that we can all enjoy their greatness for just a little while longer.
The Lakers also re-signed Xavier Henry to a one-year, $1 million deal despite his having knee and wrist surgery this offseason. He should also be ready to go for training camp, and he’s been a guy who has continued to bounce back from injuries—making it impossible not to root for him. He’ll have to fight for minutes with Bryant, Wesley Johnson, and Nick Young. Barring Bryant and Nash making returns to their prime-levels in 2014-15, this Lakers team won’t be able to defend or compete in the stacked-out Western Conference, but another injury-riddled season might result in another laughing stock of a season for L.A.
Boston Celtics
Rajon Rondo was eased back last year following his return from a partially torn ACL—and though he and his agent adamantly denied that he has asked to be traded, it seems likely the rebuilding C’s—who just drafted point guard Marcus Smart—would be better off dealing Rondo before he becomes a free agent next summer. However, in order for Boston to feel like they’re getting a fair deal—which they won’t be—they’ll probably want to make them take on the contract of Gerald Wallace (owed $10.1 million this and next year) or Jeff Green ($9.2 million player option for 2015-16).
It’s expected that Rondo will come out playing like the type of point guard a team without an All-Star level point guard would drool over (Houston, Dallas, etc.); but if Wallace, who suffered ankle and knee injuries last year, can stay healthy and show that he can still be a rotation player—Rondo becomes even more likely to be dealt.
Philadelphia 76ers
After sitting out the entire season last year recovering from and rehabbing a torn ACL, Nerlens Noel was impressive in the summer league—no ifs and ands or buts about it. He showed agility away from the basket defensively, an improved shooting motion, and the ability to send away shots at the rim. Noel has bulked up considerably between the time he was drafted and today, but it will still be interesting to see which position the Sixers elect to play him at primarily during his rookie season—as he’s still not.
Everyone knows it’s a legitimate possibility that rookie Joel Embiid (foot, back) sits out the entire season. Given that it appears Noel projects to be the power forward with the bigger and bulkier (but still agile) Embiid at center, it makes sense for Philly to start Henry Sims at the five this year to reduce the burden on Noel’s body.
Meanwhile, reigning Rookie of the Year Michael Carter-Williams still has not been cleared for 5-on-5 contact after having shoulder surgery, but he should be in time for training camp. Statistically he had a sensational rookie season in all aspects besides his shooting percentages and turnovers. He has been shooting and strengthening for a while now, so it will be interesting to see how well he begins the season after taking the league by storm during his debut week in the NBA last year.
Milwaukee Bucks
Larry Sanders had a distressingly dismal showing last season, and injuries—along with attitude—were responsible for this. During the first weeks of the 2013-14 season, Sanders suffered a torn ligament in his right thumb after getting into a bar-fight, and later in the season he fractured his orbital bone.
Still, the Bucks have remained committed to Sanders, who in 2012-13 was second in the league in blocks per game (2.8). A return to form would make the Bucks a legitimately exciting team—especially if Ersan Ilyasova and O.J. Mayo (who were both awful in 2013-14, and dealt with ankle injuries that ended their seasons) can have comeback seasons. All three of those guys are getting paid, and with plenty of young talent in Jabari Parker, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nate Wolters, Brandon Knight and others, the Bucks need to have more veteran voices on the floor and in the locker room than Zaza Pachulia and the newly-added Jared Dudley—that is if they hope to be playing in more meaningful basketball games than they did last year.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Nikola Pekovic, though he had a relatively healthy season, dealt with ankle injuries that kept him out towards the end of the year. While this did allow for Gorgui Dieng, who played sparingly all year, to showcase his skills, it continued the trend of Pek being injury-prone. The plan going forward is to play Dieng more minutes in order to facilitate Pek’s chances of staying healthy. Since he’s under contract through 2017-18 for $47.9 million, it definitely seems like a smart decision, and Dieng was awesome in FIBA, building on his strong finish to 2013-14. If the Wolves are able to keep Pekovic healthy, they may have the depth to win more games than people are expecting.
Phoenix Suns
Alex Len is still recovering from a broken right pinky finger, and also played only 42 games last year, but the main concern is obviously Eric Bledsoe. Whether he takes the qualifying offer, re-signs with them, or winds up playing elsewhere, he’s had as much injury unluckiness as anyone (outside of Greg Oden) during his short career. Bledsoe turns 25 in December and still has undeniable potential to improve, but the risk in giving more than four years and $48 million to someone who has had as much knee trouble as he is too real for the Suns to succumb to his lofty demands—or so it appears.
All due respect to Ray Allen, Ramon Sessions, Andray Blatche, Gustavoy Ayon, Jordan Crawford, Emeka Okafor, and Michael Beasley, Bledsoe is far and away the premier free agent remaining on the market. Without Bledsoe, the Suns will have a tough time living up to last season—during which they nearly made the playoffs despite being projected to be among the worst teams in the NBA.
The Suns will still have an exciting show if they’re able to sign Zoran Dragic to join Isaiah Thomas and brother Goran in the backcourt on a Phoenix squad with the Morris bros, P.J. Tucker, Gerald Green, Miles Plumlee, Anthony Tolliver, and rookie T.J. Warren. However, if they’re going to be in the race for the playoffs in the scarily improving West this year after losing Channing Frye in free agency, they’ll absolutely need Bledsoe at full strength in order to keep pace with the best of the West.
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