The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the unluckiest teams in the league in terms of having to deal with an endless number of critical injuries, particularly to their list of point guards.
It’s one thing to miss your starting point guard. It’s another to then lose your backup point guard and your third string point guard. That’s precisely what happened to these Lakers, with Steve Nash, Steve Blake and Jordan Farmar all going down with significant injuries. They became desperate and picked up Kendall Marshall from the D-League, which actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise for both parties. Fortunately for their list of injured guards (not so fortunate for Marshall), they are all looking to make a comeback as soon as Tuesday night, from Dave McMenamin of ESPN Los Angeles:
Steve Nash, Steve Blake and Jordan Farmar all practiced Monday and will be available to play against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday, barring any setbacks.
“They’re good,” coach Mike D’Antoni said. “I think they’re all ready to go.”
D’Antoni made sure to hedge a bit on the status update, however, and with as snake-bitten as his team has been, one could hardly blame him.
“It’s possible,” D’Antoni said. “We’ll see how everybody wakes up, but there is a possibility all three could play.”
The coach said he wondered if Nash, out since Nov. 10 with nerve root irritation in his back and hamstrings, would ever make it back to the court.
“With the age and how his back is, yeah, I definitely [wondered],” D’Antoni said. “Again, it just shows his perseverance to overcome whatever just to play. He wants to play, obviously. And he’s done an unbelievable job to get himself ready up to this point and we’ll see how it goes.”
Of course, the return of all the point guards doesn’t change the fact that Gasol will miss some time due to a strained right groin, and Kobe Bryant is still nowhere near ready to go. The Lakers aren’t turning things around any time soon, but this is certainly a step in the right direction.
SHOULD PLAYERS BE FORCED TO STAY LONGER IN COLLEGE?
This has been an age-old discussion since David Stern disallowed players to come into the NBA straight from high school. Some have vehemently disagreed with the policy, expressing the desire to let men of legal age to do what they choose to do with their lives. Others, especially the older generation, believe that players need to develop in college before coming into the NBA. Shawn Marion of the Dallas Mavericks explained why he believes players need to stay in college longer to better assist teams around the league, from Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News:
“I think the age requirement for coming into the league should be higher,” he said.
Since the 2006 draft, the minimum requirements have been that players must have turned 19 during the calendar year of the draft and have been out of high school for one year.
Silver’s predecessor, David Stern, has long been a proponent of adding a year to those requirements.
“It should be at least two years (out of high school),” Marion said. “Two to three years, minimum.”
Marion played two seasons at a junior college and one season at UNLV before declaring for the draft.
“I think that college experience helps develop them, so when they come here we don’t have to try to develop them,” said Marion, again, speaking of young players in general.
“You’ve got to be ready to come in, step in and contribute versus trying to teach them the game still. (In college) they get their A’s and B’s of basketball, so by the time they get here, they’ve got the game plan, know how to run a pick and roll, learn the defensive sets. That should be instructed to them in college.”
PHOTO OF THE DAY:
Rajon Rondo got the best of rookie Victor Oladipo on this particular shot fake, via Tom Westerholm of Celtics Hub:
OTHER NEWS FROM AROUND THE LEAGUE: