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I remember how high the hopes were for this guy in San Antonio before he busted the crap out of his ankle. This is really a shame because I liked what I saw from him in his limited time with the spurs.
Wednesday, December 15, 2004
By Jimmy Smith
Staff writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- One-quarter of the way through the NBA schedule, injuries have cost 10 Hornets players the equivalent of nearly one full season.
On Tuesday, the injury list swelled even more.
Starting point guard Alex Garcia, who has been playing in place of injured point guard Baron Davis, discovered he has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee and will miss the remainder of the season.
Garcia, who has recently shared starting duties with Junior Harrington, sustained the injury in Sunday's 88-69 loss at Washington, leaving the game with 8:29 remaining in the third quarter. An MRI done Monday afternoon revealed the damage.
"If I was a doctor," Hornets general manager Allan Bristow said Tuesday, "I'd be making a lot of money right now. You just never know about injuries, but we seem to be getting a rash of them.
"I can't remember a time (in a playing and front-office career that spans three decades) when this has happened. . . . And it just seems to be something else every week."
Since Davis went down with an inflamed disc in his lower back Nov. 12 in the season's second week, the Hornets have lost a player to injury each of the succeeding weeks.
Garcia first went down Nov. 17 with a strained groin, followed by Jamaal Magloire on Nov. 26 with a fractured ring finger. On Dec. 4, David West sprained his knee. Last Wednesday, the Hornets lost Lee Nailon with a groin strain and Matt Freije with a cracked tailbone, though he hasn't missed a game.
"We're getting a little nervous around Thursday and Friday every week," Hornets coach Byron Scott said Tuesday, laughing. "I might give them Thursday off."
Heading into Tuesday night's game against the Bobcats, 10 Hornets players had missed a total of 80 games. The NBA plays 82 games in the regular season.
"I don't know what the record is for games lost in a season," Scott said, "but I'm sure we're going to break it."
New Orleans has a league-high five players on its injured list, though league rules allow a maximum of only three at one time.
The Hornets have twice appealed to the NBA for injury-list exemptions to allow Magloire and West to be placed on the list and have added front-court players Corsley Edwards and Lonny Baxter from the Continental Basketball Association to take their roster spots.
A league spokesman said Tuesday that no records are kept of the number of injury list exemptions teams have requested.
Bristow said it's unlikely he'd seek another exemption for Garcia because one of the five players on the current injured list might be ready to be activated by Saturday.
The Hornets could then place Garcia on the list after he misses the requisite three games.
If the Hornets sought an exemption for Garcia, those currently on the injured list would be required to sit out at least two more weeks.
"I said last week it couldn't get any worse," Bristow said, "but I guess it can. We've got time to formulate some strategy. I just feel bad for the players who are hurt, like Alex, who was getting a chance to start, and David West, who was getting an opportunity to play when he went down."
Garcia missed last season when he was with the San Antonio Spurs with a broken ankle he sustained in an exhibition game against the Hornets.
"I am very frustrated," Garcia said Tuesday. "I was playing good. . . . The last two seasons I am hurt. I don't know what to say
I remember how high the hopes were for this guy in San Antonio before he busted the crap out of his ankle. This is really a shame because I liked what I saw from him in his limited time with the spurs.
Damn, New Orleans is snake bit.....If I played there, I would not even drive a car...I would sit in a corner and not move.
New Orleans is having one of those years.
If healthy they wouldnt have gone to the playoffs, but they wouldve been more compe ive.
If they could get EVERYONE back healthy next year, along with a good lotttery draft pick, they could jump back into the playoff race.
How is that different from practicing dentistry?If I played there, I would not even drive a car...I would sit in a corner and not move.
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