Saw this posted on Basketball Monster, make of it what you will: There is conjecture out there that Lillard is suffering through a decently significant injury, that worsened in Tokyo and probably should've had surgery on in his abdomen. He is struggling to get lift on his threes or to finish at the rim, in large part due to this injury is what I have heard. If things go south, I (not sourced) fear that he may end up getting that surgery
if this is true, he straight up lied in his media day interviews. he said he took like a month off after Tokyo and all the work he did was to strengthen it, while admitting he is healthier this year than many in the past. i wouldn't put it past him to play through it and dismissing it, but if he's really that hurt, he needs to fix it first.
It would explain the lackluster start to his season. He's hasn't looked himself at all. And not necessarily the shooting %'s, just the lack of his normal bounce or tenacity.
understatement of the year. Dsjr looks as good currently. I trust in Dame though. He will figure it out. What ever he needs to do.
It's obviously very anecdotal and the severity/location of Dame's potential injury is unknown. But I did a very quick google search on guys who had abdominal surgery (which is an all-encompassing term) and found five players in recent history: Wendell Carter Jr, Avery Bradley, Steve Blake, Kevon Looney, and David Lee. All were projected to be out 6-8 weeks. Color me optimistic, but I think we can sustain that if he gets it done and attacks his rehab now.
Btw, I don't put much credibility into this story. His attempt at a dunk in the game last night was no different than any of the attempts he's had in his career.
I'd be surprised... Maybe there's still some lingering after effects, but I thought he had great burst the first two games, and damn near had one of his best dunks of his career last night. Mini shooting slump is all I'm seeing.
If he is hurt that could be a blessing in disguise. We would be a lotto team. Getting a lottery pick to use in trade or acquiring talent and hitting on the pick would be nice. Would be a waste of a year though.
The way he is playing right now we'd be better with him sitting at home. If its bothering him 3 games into the season he needs to take whatever time off or surgery to get this fixed. If the team can't stay within striking distance of the playin without him, they aint winning playoff series with him. If he tries to play through it like his shit Olympics performance then the team has zero chance. The only chance to do anything is for him to get physically right. I'm skeptical he will rest or sit out, he's so damn stubborn with this stuff. He even talked about it at media day, how he never took time off training his whole life and felt way better getting a break. Go get healthy Dame!
There's always conjecture that an underperforming player is hiding an injury. As others have noted, he's displayed vertical explosiveness that seems at odds with a serious abdominal injury. While anything's possible, IMO the simplest and likeliest explanation is just that Lillard is in one of his occasional shooting slumps. It's not like that's unprecedented--people always privilege as particularly important things that happen at the beginning of the season. If this happened in the middle of the season, everyone would be comfortable with "slump." Not happy about it, but comfortable with the explanation!
This rumor obviously stems from the fact that no great shooters have ever had a shooting slump after playing for team USA and a first round playoff series....a wedding and the birth of twins ..plus there was that wine fest at Melo's house with Lebron, Snoop Dog and Kevin Hart the day before the last game....word is Chauncey got shitfaced and passed out on Melo's couch......someone will take this seriously if I just open a twitter account I could cause a media storm and get millions of hits! Hell I could get a job at espn!
It's pretty clear to me that the entire team and the coaching staff and Olshey all have abdominal injuries. barfo
It's clearly the Madden curse. It was unexpected and gratifying to see Lillard on the cover of the new Madden, but we knew this would be the result.
Yeah...three games is a pretty long time to slump. At this point, we should be wondering if perhaps he's just past his prime.
I've had a slow-developing abdominal injury for the last 20 years. The symptom is a steady increase in swelling I've also had a slow-developing scalp injury. The symptom is a steady decrease in hair