Congratulations to Hakeem Olajuwon and Patrick Ewing, Pat Riley (how was he just elected now? age requirement?), Adrian Dantley, Dick Vitale and the others elected to the Hall of Fame.
Maybe they can impart some tips for longevity on the fragile Cavaliers. Seriously, I can accept a rash of freak injuries as a run of bad luck, but how many bad backs can we pile up on one team?
Wait, wait, let me make the obvious joke: Of course Lebron hurt his back. It was inevitable, the way he’s been carrying this team.
Today, the back injury kept him from practice.
There are degrees to a bad back as evidenced by the play of somebody like Ben Wallace. There is full healthy, as Big Ben was a few years back. There’s tricky but uninjured, as Big Ben likely was most of this season, where you don’t notice it until you tighten up after the game, but it never had an effect. There’s sore, but good enough to play. There’s really sore, but stable enough to risk it. And there’s out.
Judging from all the talk about Lebron sitting out today but definitely playing on Wednesday, it seems safe to say Lebron is square in the middle: sore, but good enough to play.
And that’s too bad.
Part of me agrees with the fellow to the right that says we need Lebron to see the offense gel, but then there are two other parts of me. I’m like the tricycle of human beings.
One of the rear wheels, trying to hold back Lebron, points out the success we have when somebody else tries to take over. With 5 games left, and I’m saying Lebron should miss them all, let’s go out and see who wants to be our secret leading scorer. It should probably be Z. Who is going to body him up on the Nets? (And who will do it on the Raptors, or for that matter, the Celtics?) Let’s run it through Z like we can’t go home until we get it right. Pound it like we’re Chris Henry and the Z in the post is some poor stranger in Cincinnati. Not so much to get Z off. I could care less about Z going for 30 points – though I’m sure he could. Z – get this – can also pass. And with height, and his perhaps commanding a double team, some patience and a few sharp cuts should lead to either layups or wide open 3s, all with Lebron courtside in a La-Z-Boy next to his Jay-Z boy. (I should be a rapper or a poet – whichever the white kids are doing these days.) Lebron has a high basketball IQ, right? He can watch and learn, and he’ll welcome the easy shots once he gets back, right? Hell, if you insist on playing Lebron, keep his minutes down and see how we run an offense without him.
The other rear wheel holding Lebron back says, “Oh god it hurts!” I’ve been there, son. I’ve had that bad back. I played some basketball on it. Just made it worse. And worse and worse, because I’m a stubborn macho jackass. Thanks to the good folks at the Cleveland Clinic, I can ball again, but I got a string of DNPs in the process. Now, an extra day or two off won’t get him back to 100%, but it will sure help. Not just help make him feel better, which is plenty good, but also lessen the chance of a flare up a few weeks down the road. Hell, without any way to measure the risk tangibly, this is theoretical, but I’d happily lose each game, give up home field and slide all the way down the 6th if it meant Lebron would be 100% come April 19th.
“One day helps,” he said. “But it’s something where you need a little more than one day.”
Oh how I hope that’s prophetic. For the good of Lebron and the Cavs.
As a quick aside:
I was posed the question today of whether I’d trade the potential for a playoff run this year in exchange for the top pick in the draft. I really struggle to see this team winning the championship this year, and assured of anything less, I would definitely make that swap, even if the pick were just the #2. That said, we do have LEBRON JAMES. Despite this horrendous season, we have a shot. I’ve always been short-sighted. I can’t pass that up.
Double aside:
What do you think Lebron got Jay-Z and Beyonce?
