Good. I guess that means he could play Friday..?
Adrian Wojnarowski @WojYahooNBA After missing a month with quad tendinitis, the Spurs sent Kawhi Leonard to Austin of the D-League for a rehab assignment.
Good. I guess that means he could play Friday..?
Finally some good news. Hope he's ready for Friday.
The Toros don't play again until Friday so he's not making it back to us by Friday unless he's just practicing there. Which doesn't really make sense if he could just practice with the Spurs to begin with.
Edit - on second thought, the Spurs probably aren't running a practice between Friday and today due to their fatigue level?
I don't know. I'm just excited to see him on the road to coming back into the lineup.
Hmmm ... interesting. I wonder if he'll just practice with the Toros today and tomorrow and then return to the Spurs on Friday. That would make sense if Pop is going to give his players two full days off. I guess even if he's given them one day off (today), that Kawhi can practice with the Toros today, practice with the Spurs tomorrow and then play against New Orleans on Friday.
The other option is to keep him on the Toros and let him play in Austin on Friday and Saturday. At that point, the Spurs and Kawhi can judge whether his knee is healthy enough for the NBA.
It's a bit worrisome that Kawhi has been out for twice as long as the Spurs originally announced, especially since his condition has a wide range of possible outcomes. This news is definitely good, though, because it means concrete progress is being made.
The Spurs have the day off while the Toros are practicing at the Spurs practice facility today. Leonard couldn't participate in the practice unless he was officially assigned to the Toros.
There are a lot of scary things going on right now with the Spurs - the losing, the extended minutes, the lack of consistency with rotations, injuries...getting Kawhi back (if he's fully healthy) will go a long way to hopefully getting answers to many of these questions/issues.
lol so u have to assign players even for practice with the dleague team?
Good news! Thanks for the update.
I hope he'll be back Friday too, imma go to the game.
he'll be playing on Friday, Go Kawhi Go!
This.
A lot of us didn't really appreciate Kawhi's impact until now. Great to see he's coming back soon.
glad to have him back
I'm surprised at people who didn't appreciate Kawhi...how could you not appreciate someone like him.
DPG with the stirring up already emotionally compromised greys goods.
Toros were in SA today to practice, video link:
http://www.nba.com/spurs/news/121219_leonard_rehab
i agree, but i see it as more of a domino effect. Pop was already mixing and matching things, which I think is good. But two constants of the equation that were established were Kawhi and Jax, and with them both being out, it caused all kinds of changes that have been exposed. The worst part about these losses is the extra strain it put on the parts that were working (Timmy). To see him beast and it go to waste is what sucks the most.
as for Kawhi, he's been my favorite Spur outside of Duncan and Gino. I don't take him for granted. Even if his shot is off, you can depend on him to get some crucial rebounds or steals. I probably overrate or expect too much from him, but even with his game still growing, he's shown how much we really need him. All i can say is I really hope he gets healthy and stays that way.
Last edited by HI-FI; 12-19-2012 at 07:01 PM.
Good stuff
Kawhi didn't practice with any type of wrap on his knee ... which is encouraging since when Sean Elliott struggled with the same condition, he had two wear a giant rubber sleeve.
It looked like Kawhi was moving pretty well from the couple clips. I expect that the Spurs will "recall" Kawhi from the Toros tomorrow morning so that he can practice with the Spurs (assuming Pop is planning to practice).
Kawhi practices with the Toros. If he looks ok he comes to the Spurs on Friday night. If not, he gets minutes in the Toros game with CJ. If he looks ok in game mode, then maybe comes to the Spurs on Sunday against Dallas. If not, he can get another game mode workout with CJ on Saturday night. He can still practice with the Toros until Monday after the Dallas game, then be recalled to practice with the Spurs. The reason for pointing out CJ is they have practiced and played to gather at the big level. I think bringing Kawhi back for the Toronto game is the best move.
I think I saw Duncan in the background watching Kawhi practice.
The Knicks did the same with Amar'e a couple of days ago. Teams have been using their D-League affiliates more (and if you ask me, sending CoJo down to Austin has been good for him since he could play rather than rot on the bench as the sixth guard).
Good news.
I'm curious to see how the Parker/Green/Leonard/Splitter/Duncan starting lineup will do. Defensively, it should be a very strong lineup but I don't know how well they will do offensively. Lack of spacing could be a big issue.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)