Injury Thread: Tony Parker's Anke (Update: Out 4 weeks)

[spurraider21]

The injury will force Manu to get back into full Manu form. It will force Kawhi to be more directly involved on offense, and it will give us a much sharper understanding of our backup pg situation which has been impossible to decipher so far. It should also give Tony a couple of weeks to whip into shape

[superbigtime]

A grade II sprain is a big deal. 4 weeks is optimistic, even if Tony is a fast healer. Tony relies on speed and quickness with abrupt pivots, spins, and quick stops and starts. That is not just going to be there in only 28 days. Plain and simple. I have to agree with others here that HCA is overrated. If it were so great, Spurs would have made something of their recent regular season best records. Tony should heal up, but he's going to have to find his touch with only a few regular season games to go. Best record is in jeopardy, but that don't mean compared to Team's health especially the Big 3, Kawhi, and Splitter. Tony should heal up, but it will probably be longer than 4 weeks. As long as he's healthy, I don't care what their record is. Hopefully there is some silver lining with other players finding where their balls are.

[superbigtime]

Also blows that Parker didn't get POTM but the le was handed to Bryant for a 9-4 record.

That's an extended middle finger to the Spurs there.

[ace3g]

[timtonymanu]

That sucks. Duncan already looks affected by his injury. If Parker can't come back and play at an MVP level, Spurs = ed.

But of course, it will force other players to step up. Time for Duncan, Manu, Kawhi to take over.

[spurraider21]

[Embedded]

ACE3G - ROFLMFAO The Punisher ANkle Brace. Need to copyright that name right now!

[cd021]

Looks like a regular ankle sprain. More time for DeColo, Mills and Joseph.
Time for someone else to step up, hopefully someone will take advantage

According to Spurs Nation, they said that the ankle may actually take several months to fully heal so when he returns he will be playing through the injury, from what i understood.

[EVAY]

According to Spurs Nation, they said that the ankle may actually take several months to fully heal so when he returns he will be playing through the injury, from what i understood.

The way some posters on here react to Parker being anything less than superstar-level-playing, he'll probably be dissed for slacking or not caring enough or something. I thought it was clear from the last two games that his shot was still impacted by his arm bruise, but he still got blasted for
'not being MVP level', presumably because the soreness in his arm impacted his ability to shoot above 50 or 60% in the most recent games and had more turnovers. None of that was attributed to him trying to play through pain...all of it was attributed to some character flaw in the man.

Well, lots of folks here have said that Tony is not so important and that we are better off without him. Now is the time to put that theory to the test.

[EVAY]

Tony carried Tim and Manu virtually all of last season and for a large part of this season. Time to see if they can return the favor.

[BackHome]

Manu will get worn down playing more time because we don't have a backup PG and Tony well can't do to much cardio when you can't walk. The bright side we will be able to get a better draft pick..lol

[DieHardSpursFan1537]

Kawhi Leonard really has to step up now. Knowing the Spurs though, this shouldn't be a huge loss for them.

[Arcadian]

4 weeks? Psh, we're fine. We just need everyone to hit their peak in the playoffs.

[blkroadrunners]

Wow, that sucks. I forgot what year it was (I think it was the 2009-10 season), but I remember Parker had a similar injury and was expected to miss serious time however miraculous ended up coming back w/i a week or so. I hope that would be the case this year somehow despite being older.

[ElNono]

that's pretty good... he gets about 3 weeks to get back in shape for the playoffs... good news all around

[jestersmash]

Wow, that sucks. I forgot what year it was (I think it was the 2009-10 season), but I remember Parker had a similar injury and was expected to miss serious time however miraculous ended up coming back w/i a week or so. I hope that would be the case this year somehow despite being older.

You "hope[d] that would be the case" or you hope that will be the case this year?

I mean it's still a possibility that he'll come back 3 weeks from now, for example. His sprain looked really minor. The fact that it's grade 2 confirms that, and 4 weeks is on the mid to high end for recovery time for a grade 2 sprain.

There's really no telling how long it'll take Tony to get back into playoff shape once he comes back. Maybe he'll take the full 4 weeks to come back, and maybe this will be his downfall in the playoffs because he's unable to get back to form quickly enough.

Maybe he'll come back somewhat prematurely (3 weeks), but he'll re-aggravate his ankle as a direct result of coming back too soon. Maybe he comes back early and we end up winning a championship because he has sufficient time to get back into "playoff shape" by coming back a week early.

The permutations are endless and it's impossible to predict, which is why Pop simply errs on conservative side for resting/recovery time for any kind of injury. At the very least you know you're decreasing the probability of re-aggravation with more rest.

[spurtech09]

Just hope TP's ankle is better by play-off time....sucks that he's gonna be out for about 4 weeks......I can care less about HCA......My concern now is can the spurs stay healthy enough come play off time....will Tony be better by than.....

[Bruno]

It's really impossible to say what kind of impact this injury will have on Spurs season.

You can have a optimistic approach:
- Parker will be back at 100% for the playoffs and will even be fresher.
- Ginobili will play a bigger role which will allow him to be ready for the playoffs.
- One of Neal, Mills, De Colo or Joseph will size this opportunity and emerges as a legit backup PG.
- Spurs March schedule is light.
- Getting some chemistry for the playoffs isn't an issue because players know each other very well.

But you can as well be pessimistic:
- Parker won't be back at 100% for the playoffs.
- The wear and tear on Ginobili and Duncan will raise the risk of an injury.
- Spurs will lose some games which will which complicate their playoffs bracket with stronger opponents and no HCA.
- Pop won't be able to find his rotation before the playoffs.

We can speculate a lot on this items but only time will tell how bad this injury will impact Spurs season.

[blkroadrunners]

You "hope[d] that would be the case" or you hope that will be the case this year?

I mean it's still a possibility that he'll come back 3 weeks from now, for example. His sprain looked really minor. The fact that it's grade 2 confirms that, and 4 weeks is on the mid to high end for recovery time for a grade 2 sprain.

There's really no telling how long it'll take Tony to get back into playoff shape once he comes back. Maybe he'll take the full 4 weeks to come back, and maybe this will be his downfall in the playoffs because he's unable to get back to form quickly enough.

Maybe he'll come back somewhat prematurely (3 weeks), but he'll re-aggravate his ankle as a direct result of coming back too soon. Maybe he comes back early and we end up winning a championship because he has sufficient time to get back into "playoff shape" by coming back a week early.

The permutations are endless and it's impossible to predict, which is why Pop simply errs on conservative side for resting/recovery time for any kind of injury. At the very least you know you're decreasing the probability of re-aggravation with more rest.

I'm hoping that will be the case this year and Parker comes back earlier than the given time (permitted his ankle is 100%) similar to the prior year, but I honestly feel De Colo/Mills can hold it down at the PG spot during Parker's time out. However, the usage between Ginobili and Duncan draw a big concern especially with their history of injuries this season.

Assuming Parker does take the full 4 weeks, there are about 9 games left in April for him to regain some of his rhythm and strength back.

[Bruno]

And Parker should give some updates about his injury on his radio show that is Monday at 1pm CST. His opinion on his injury should be enlightening because he knows damn well how his body will recover from it after all the ankle sprains he had over years.

[Brazil]

What the ??? Really this team cannot catch a break

[TD 21]

This team just can't catch a break (and the Thunder can't stop catching them). I don't want to jump to conclusions and be too fatalistic, but my initial reaction upon hearing this was that the Heat just clinched the championship. I don't see how they can hold off the Thunder for the one seed now and failing to do so changes everything for this team.

There's some minor silver lining type things that have already been touched on, but the only long term positive that I can glean from this is that it assures they won't peak too early this season. In fact, you could easily argue that we've yet to see the best of this team this season. Hopefully we will come the playoffs this time.

[wildbill2u]

For the worst case scenario-ers out there, playoffs start in seven weeks. Obviously the Spurs are in big trouble if the prognosis is in the 6+ week range.

Plus the added pressure on Manu and Tim to take up the slack may turn into a problem. If they have to increase their minutes substantially then they also become more subject to injuries, large and small. More minutes before the playoffs means they are using up whatever is left in the tank and won't go into the playoffs as fresh as we would like.

This is going to be a long grind and unless we get a miracle 'step up' by someone on the bench, we'll be doing good to split the rest of the games 50-50. Parker meant that much to this team.

[DesignatedT]

If Parker only misses around 10 games (that's 23 days) then this really isn't going to be that big of a deal as long as he comes back healthy and ready to go. Manu could definitely use the ball in his hands and some extended minutes. He hasn't played all damn year. If a 10 game run in March when he's been resting all year burns him out then he just needs to retire. I think he can handle it and that he needs it.

As for Tim, giving him some more touches to get his groove back will be nice as well. I doubt Pop overplays him just because Tony is out.

[Obstructed_View]

Can't they invent some kind if brace that prevents those ing things?

Not sure if serious, but I think the force of the twist would be transferred to the next joint up if the ankle were prevented from turning so far. Something has to give.