Apr 2, 2013
In light of Kevin Ware’s gruesome injury in his Elite Eight game against the Duke Blue Devils that will definitely have a negative impact on Louisville, I’ve compiled a little list of NBA players who have gotten injured and impacted their team tremendously by their absence.
In last years Game One against the Philadelphia 76’ers, Derrick Rose had come back from a plethora of injuries from back, groin, ankle, foot to toe. When he finally started playing again in the Play-offs you saw that he was as healthy as ever scoring steadily within the last half. The game was in its last few minutes with the Bulls on a pretty heavy lead. When the lead started vanishing, Rose went in and started going on a rampage. It didn’t last long as Rose did a power hop, landed wrongly and tearing his ACL. Rose did not get up from that for a while and we knew that he was out for the rest of the post-season.
Chicago went on to take Philly to six games but couldn’t outlast them as their main player was out, watching emotionless from a box suite. The Bulls went on to the next season without Rose and started off shaky, slowly rising to a .500% win percentage for most of the first half. They have continued to do that and made it to .556% since then. They’re now clinched the play-offs and are the 5th seed. So, how would’ve Rose lifted this team? Well for one thing, they’d be near the top once again, probably a solid top three, and would have an easier time beating the Miami Heat last Wednesday. Derrick would’ve taken the Bulls to ECF most likely and gave Miami a series unlike the rest of the teams in East (depleted and not as hard as the West.)
Let’s just hope Derrick comes back next season (he should,) and takes his spot as an MVP candidate and best PG in the league.
Three months ago, Rajon had the same fate as Derrick, an ACL tear. Although, Rondo didn’t even consider it a serious injury and continued to play, shrug it off for a day, did shoot around for the matchup against Miami. After warm-ups he finally told the doctors he thought he pulled something. Rondo is now out for the season and should be back for the 2013-14 regular season.
Boston right now is the 7th seed in the Eastern Conference. Boston does not look like they’re going to get pass the first round against the likes of New York (Who had just lost by 20 to them, though Garnett was gone) Indiana (maybe) or Miami (four game win). Before Rondo’s injury, Boston had gone on a six game losing streak. After the injury, Boston went on a seven game winning streak. Is there a correlation? Probably from teams surprised from the Celtics as a whole working harder. However, that hard work has faded off and Boston looks like they’re in need of a savior. Well, it’s not coming till next season so I guess the first round loss is very probable.
Andrew Bogut – Milwaukee Bucks (Now Golden State)
Andrew Bogut is an injury plagued big man, not like Greg Oden, Bogut still tries to get back into it but unfortunately whenever he gets to playing an injury risk is at a high.
Andrew first broke his hand and dislocated his elbow on April, 3rd,2010. The Bucks weren’t going anywhere in the playoffs, anyways. The NBA Lockout came quickly after the 2010 postseason, and after it was resolved and Bogut was playing again. He then fractured his ankle (Example #2.) These injuries sparked the Milwaukee staff to go ahead and trade Bogut because he wasn’t worth it. One team that had faith in Andrew were the Golden State Warriors (Oh, were they wrong) trading Monta Ellis, Kwame Brown and Ekpe Udoh for Stephen Jackson and Andrew Bogut. This was a great trade for Milwaukee who are now in playoff contention with a super duo gaining chemistry with Ellis and Brandon Jennings. There’s not a real chance that they can beat Miami but they will give them a good round with developing players like Ilyasova, Reddick and Larry Sanders. While Golden State has a better record and team as of right now, Milwaukee should surpass them in the coming years.
Andrew really did negatively affect Milwaukee and kept them back ever since he has worn their jersey, but now that he’s gone Milwaukee is set to be a top 10 team in the league within a few years. They have young players who can have a huge impact on their record.
Now that we’ve seen how a player can negatively affect the team and keep them down ever since in Rose. We have also seen a player affect the team to work harder but we have witnessed a slumped these days in Rondo. And finally we have a team that’s been put down through the players’ whole career with them, but has now become a great team by trading him. I’m guessing Kevin Wares injury will spark greatness in the young Louisville team stating they have to win for Kevin. I’m rooting for them and hope they can do the same.
-LefttoWrite
