Howard-Cooper: Injury report key more than ever to Spurs' le dreams

[Spurs Brazil]

Injury report key more than ever to Spurs' le dreams
By Scott Howard-Cooper, for NBA.com
Posted Sep 28 2009 3:45PM

There is no news from San Antonio yet, not until sometime after camp opens, but even the quiet is newsworthy. These are the mending Spurs, their continued status as le contenders teeters on a stack of medical charts, and so the non-event of recoveries going according to plan matters to the entire league.



There are no startling developments regarding Manu Ginobili. He is playing with restrictions -- the number of games per week, the time per game -- and will likewise be held back when training camp opens Tuesday. That is exactly what the Spurs anticipated when a stress fracture of the right ankle prematurely ended Ginobili's 2008-09 in April, taking with it any realistic chance of a sustained playoff run.

There are no startling developments regarding Tony Parker. He sprained his right ankle in July playing for the French national team, travelled from his home country to San Antonio so the Spurs could see for themselves that it was a mild injury, then returned to his summer job and played eight of nine games in the European championships in Poland. There is the issue of lack of offseason rest, but, again, no urgent injury concerns.

There are no startling developments regarding Richard Jefferson... yet. This is a hold-your-breath moment, though. Jefferson dislocated his right thumb two weeks ago and has been wearing it in a splint. He is scheduled to see a hand specialist today for an exam that will update the timeline on how soon the new starting small forward can jump into contact drills. The timeline may turn out to be no timeline -- the doctor could pronounce Jefferson healed and clear him for Spurs duty. Being ready for Day 1 of camp has been realistic all along.

While Jefferson is the biggest unknown, pending the doctor's visit, Ginobili will be a concern all along because he suddenly has a history of ankle problems off 2008-09 alone. Surgery on the left ankle cost him camp, the exhibition slate and the first 12 games of last season. Then the stress fracture sidelined him for good in early April, ushering in the crossroads campaign. If the past year is proven to be a fluke-ish series of events and he has the mobility to reclaim the trademark reckless abandon, no problem. If it's the start of a very aggressive player breaking down, that whole le-contender thing gets re-evaluated.

"Our intent is to have him in playing shape for the regular season and the Playoffs, not training camp," general manager R.C. Buford said. "We've had no setbacks."

Besides, these are the Spurs. Coach Gregg Popovich rations minutes for his veterans early in the season anyway, and in San Antonio, "early in the season" is, like, February. Not a lot of panic going on there over what happens before Halloween.

On a roster loaded with championship experience and maturity, it's been years since Popovich has needed a reason to slow play October, November, December and January. Now, he can choose from health (Ginobili, Jefferson), full summers (Parker) and age (Tim Duncan at 33), but the reality is that the factors probably change nothing. Pop kept his guys corralled before and would have done the same this season even with perfect health, aiming for the Playoffs and only the Playoffs, so the only real impact is if an injury returns.

Ginobili is on schedule, Parker is on schedule and, barring unexpected bad news from the hand specialist, Jefferson is (at worst) pretty much on schedule. The meaningful news from San Antonio is that there is no news. The Spurs are healing.

http://www.nba.com/2009/news/feature...amp/index.html

[Dex]

Looks like we'll be dealing with this "Can the Spurs stay healthy?" headline all season long. After the last two seasons efforts, I guess you can't particularly blame the distinction, but I still find it funny that everybody is pointing at this as the glaring question mark. Isn't health a priority for any team any season?

Sure, if Tim or Tony or Manu crumble, the Spurs le hopes might crumble with them.

The same could be said if Bryant, Gasol, Billups, Anthony, James, Howard, Garnett, Pierce, Allen, Nowitzki, or any other number of superstars and semistars take a wrong step or have a bad landing over the course of 82 plus games.

We saw last season how much injuries can impact the horizon of the league. If our one problem going into this season it health, then I'm a happy camper, because that's question mark for every team in the league right now.

[BillMc]

Nice. Thanks for posting.

[TIMMYD!]

yes we went from "too old" to "Not healthy enough" (sarcasm)

[TD 21]

yes we went from "too old" to "Not healthy enough" (sarcasm)

This is way past ridiculous. I understand people bringing it up, but it's seemingly all people want to talk about with regards to the Spurs now. No mention of their many strengths, possible weaknesses, none of that. It's all about age and health. Yet NO ONE is pulling that with the Celtics, a team with an even older core and arguably their best player coming off of a major injury. And unlike any of the Spurs top six players, one of the Celtics' is coming off of a season horrific enough to make you believe he's potentially lost it.

[Danny.Zhu]

On the contrary, I don't have a problem with that. At least they recognized Spurs didn't get more championships just because of injury and age, not the lack of ability in playing basketball.