I have this idea that's been kicking around in my head ever since I used to wrestle and play football, and it's that the more you treat a guy with kid gloves and micromanage a recovery from an injury (as well as jumping out of your skin every time something "bad" happens) the more that treatment starts to get into somebody's head, simultaneously making them more injury prone due to hesitation. I don't have any concrete numbers to back this up, but I know that I've seen more than one guy come back from an injury treating his formerly wounded appendage gingerly and visibly worried about about reinjuring it and more often than not they would get injured, and it would mostly be a compensatory injury -- sacrificing your back to protect a knee, etc. Whatever we learn in a few minutes from KP regarding Greg I really hope they stop the china doll treatment with Greg as I think it's gotten into his head.
The Blazers can't win either way. They were crucified for years for encouraging Bill Walton to come back too soon.
True. Walton blamed the Blazers for letting him play on his foot to early saying that cause the stress fractures.
I think "the extra caution, kid glove thinking" may be in his head already. He seems to be a kid that wants to please everyone and not disappoint anyone. Let me give you some examples: His whole demeanor since coming here is to be very polite and accommodating. When he had the knee surgery, he came to, telling KP that he was sorry. He was quoted the other day just prior to the game that he was just glad he got through pre-season without injury. He may need to see Martel's shrink friend. And the team probably needs to stop with the over protection. g
It is natural to be tentative after an injury... but overall I didn't see too much of that with Oden (from him). Now... from the Blazers...yeah... I think they are a bit overprotective and it can cause harm. People mentioned here that you can set yourself up for nagging injuries by keeping him away from playing normally... though an ankle twist like that is pretty unpreventable. I think our trainer needs to work on his taping too... you'd think it would be a bit harder to hurt you ankle with taping and high dollar shoes. Personally... at his age... I was about impossible to keep off the court. My foot would be purple and I'd still be out there the next day. I think Oden is probably that way too... hell... he kept playing on it... but it's the Blazers saying woahhh..... now. I even think some of the surgeries may not be necessary... there was one recently about all the scopes that said that it doesn't seem to make any difference in recovery time. Webster gets a screw for a stress fracture... which normally just requires rest. What is sad is the my wife told me Oden would get hurt in the first game. "You know he is just going to get hurt his first game back" she said. I was mad that she jinxed him.... but it was in the back of all our minds. It seemed to be in the players minds too... the way they slept walked through the first half of the LA game.
