Thursday, October 3
Daily Trivia: A year after having surgery while at Marquette, Dwyane Wade was drafted fifth overall in the 2003 NBA draft. His teammate LeBron James went first overall, Knicks star Carmelo Anthony went third and Heat forward Chris Bosh went fourth. Who went second?
Derrick Rose eager to return
Posted at 08:44 PM ET
Going a year and a half without playing basketball isn’t easy for any player, especially if you’re the former MVP coming back to prove a lot of people wrong. After taking an abundance of criticism for taking 18 months to rest an ACL injury, Derrick Rose is ready to return. “It is a fresh start,” Rose told Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago. The superstar was injured in April of 2012 while playing in the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. After sitting out an entire season, his intensity is at its highest. “If it’s my Mom on the court, she’s going to get killed,” he told K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. Rose will be back on the court with the rest of his Bulls teammates when they face the Indiana Pacers on Saturday. Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said the plan for Saturday’s preseason opener is to start Rose off in 6-8 minutes spurts with the rest of the starters. “We’ll see how much he can handle. But he’s handled everything thus far. Basically scrimmaging three quarters, three 12-minute quarters.” No doubt Saturday’s game is a must-see, if Rose is anything like he was the year he won MVP, the East just got that much tougher.
Aldridge strains hip flexor in practice
Posted at 07:04 PM ET
LaMarcus Aldridge suffered a left hip flexor strain while practicing with the Blazers Wednesday night in a non-contact drill and was held out of today’s practice, reports Chris Haynes of Comcast Sportsnet. Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts says although he doesn’t believe it to be serious, he admits it’s “disappointing,” nonetheless. “Anytime a player misses time because of an injury, it’s a concern. But hopefully it doesn’t keep him out for an extended period of time.” Only a few days into training camp and the Blazers have already had poor luck. Will Barton was elbowed in the face by Meyers Leonard and sustained a concussion during a four-on-four drill and Mo Williams sat out his third straight practice with a sprained right ankle.
UPDATE: Kobe Bryant leaves the country for medical procedure
Posted at 04:09 PM ET – Updated at 05:00 PM ET
Kobe Bryant is travelling to Germany to have platelet-rich plasma therapy on his right knee. The procedure is unrelated to his Achilles tendon injury, according to Los Angeles Lakers reporter Mike Trudell. He is scheduled to return with the Lakers next week. Bryant visited Germany to have the same procedure done on his arthritic right knee in the summer of 2011, and credited the innovative PRP procedure with rejuvenating his career.
Dwyane Wade regrets 2002 surgery
Posted at 01:03 PM ET
Dwyane Wade is one of the top shooting guards of our generations, he led the Heat to a championship in 2006 and was one-third of a dynamic duo that won back-to-back championships in 2012 and 2013. Looking at his career numbers one would assume he’s had perfect health, not really. Wade said he regrets having surgery more than 11 years ago to remove the meniscus from his left knee while he was at Marquette. He said the surgery has led to ongoing knee problems he’s had with the Heat. “My knee problems and the things I’ve dealt with started from that,” Wade told Brian Windhorst of ESPN. “That was [11] years ago and technology was different and the way you approach things was different.”