MAVS NEWS:

[HoosierDaddyKid]

Luka is gonna cook AD if he comes back for that game. I don’t see him playing.

Luka is going to cook the Mavs period. This is a get back game.

[Smitty]

@TheSteinLine
More from Dallas: It is feared that the Mavs face an extended injury absence for Dereck Lively II, @TheSteinLine has learned.

Held out Monday in Miami for right foot injury management, Lively has played in seven of 19 games after offseason foot surgery and a recent knee issue.

[F Gump]

@TheSteinLine
More from Dallas: It is feared that the Mavs face an extended injury absence for Dereck Lively II, @TheSteinLine has learned.

Held out Monday in Miami for right foot injury management, Lively has played in seven of 19 games after offseason foot surgery and a recent knee issue.

Where are the naysayers who have been saying Lively is NOT injury prone? Come out, come out, wherever you are!

[cow]

Where are the naysayers who have been saying Lively is NOT injury prone? Come out, come out, wherever you are!

I think it's just hopium on their part.  He's a great player, but I'm not sure how you plan around or invest in someone that will most likely only be available for half of your games.

[Hooper21]

Where are the naysayers who have been saying Lively is NOT injury prone? Come out, come out, wherever you are!

I've been more in the camp of 'hoping' he's not injury prone, which is waning as time goes by.  There were some that were not necessarily his fault that would indicate he's fragile.  Now, I'm afraid injury mismanagement might be an issue.  Any way you slice it, we can't trade Gafford.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

I think it's just hopium on their part.  He's a great player, but I'm not sure how you plan around or invest in someone that will most likely only be available for half of your games.

I don't consider Lively a great player. What has he shown when he can't stay healthy?

[BigDirk41]

I don't consider Lively a great player. What has he shown when he can't stay healthy?

I agree. I don't view Lively as a great player. He's a difference maker WHEN he plays, but he's not a great player. Personally, I wouldn't pass up a great trade offer for him, but I also wouldn't ship him just to unload him. I don't think he can stay healthy and as we've seen with AD, your best players need to play for the team to succeed. I think Lively has a lot of potential and he's already a starting caliber center, but great player starts at All Star at a minimum for me and really more like all NBA.

[KillerLeft]

@TheSteinLine
More from Dallas: It is feared that the Mavs face an extended injury absence for Dereck Lively II, @TheSteinLine has learned.

Held out Monday in Miami for right foot injury management, Lively has played in seven of 19 games after offseason foot surgery and a recent knee issue.

Rough news, but at this point, whatever it takes to get him right.

[Mavs2021]

Let´s not forget that we have a shitty medical stuff. Let´s also not forget his mother died, too. Facts are he has by far the best On/Off this year. Team is 3-4 with him, 2-10 without him. He´s a difference maker the same way Tyson Chandler was. I actually view it as a positive that his injury struggles might help us get a bargain deal on his extension, like when Steph had all the ankle problems at the start of his career.

Maybe the GM search takes longer, cause they first need to hire a new medical staff.

[Chicagojk]

That sucks. He is a winning player and a culture setter. Just needs to play and expand his offense a bit.

I just hope it is a determination that he is not right and we can’t do this 15 minute a game thing and then Sit out a few. Get him right and start from ground zero with a training camp process. I am hoping for that much more than another setback. At least not a bad one.

[JAYJAYBEE5]

Let´s not forget that we have a shitty medical stuff. Let´s also not forget his mother died, too. Facts are he has by far the best On/Off this year. Team is 3-4 with him, 2-10 without him. He´s a difference maker the same way Tyson Chandler was. I actually view it as a positive that his injury struggles might help us get a bargain deal on his extension, like when Steph had all the ankle problems at the start of his career.

Maybe the GM search takes longer, cause they first need to hire a new medical staff.

I hope the NBA investigates.

[cow]

I don't consider Lively a great player. What has he shown when he can't stay healthy?

I think he's shown the potential to be a defensive anchor a la TC not to mention a potent rim runner.  I have given up hope on him pulling the trigger from distance, but he still has a valuable skillset.  His forward progress has certainly been stunted by being oft inured and I was  of the mind that the injuries weren't a fluke prior to this latest setback.  That's why I mentioned not having any idea how to invest in him in my previous post.

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

The Lively situation and the fans heel turn on him has been kind of insane to watch and doesn't make sense to me. If we were competing for a championship and were worried about our 21 year old centers future, then ya, shop him for a win now piece. Now it's a catch 22, you are a rebuilding team and if you trade your 21 year old center at his lowest value when he's shown top 10 center in this league potential already then you're messing up, if you get him healthy and he plays his value up and you trade him then you're messing up.

His extension just came down quite a bit if he missing a ton of time this season and if you move off AD's money then giving him an extension doesn't hurt all that bad anyway. Also, I feel like everyone is acting like foot injuries for big men immediately mean you got to dig their grave. Is it worrisome? Of course. Does it mean his career is over before it began? Absolutely not. The dude playing center who won a championship here also had a ton of bumps and bruises along the way, none of this means his best basketball is behind him.

[michaeltex]

TC had a lot of lower leg injuries back when he was with NO. Even cancelled a trade with OKC when he couldn't pass their physical.

Bill Walton also had foot/leg problems off and on.

Seems like Lively missed time at Duke for an injury early in the season then played the rest of the way.

Final thought...could this be part of the stealth tank plan? Keep his minutes controlled, be ultra-conservative with any aches and pains and get him past the foot issues and robustly healthy for the next season. When there may be Flagg + a shiny new lottery pick to build around.

I hate looking at (another) losing season, but it may be the best way to go.

[KillerLeft]

TC had a lot of lower leg injuries back when he was with NO. Even cancelled a trade with OKC when he couldn't pass their physical.

Bill Walton also had foot/leg problems off and on.

Seems like Lively missed time at Duke for an injury early in the season then played the rest of the way.

Final thought...could this be part of the stealth tank plan? Keep his minutes controlled, be ultra-conservative with any aches and pains and get him past the foot issues and robustly healthy for the next season. When there may be Flagg + a shiny new lottery pick to build around.

I hate looking at (another) losing season, but it may be the best way to go.

I don't think it's part of a stealth tank plan, but I do think this bad run of injuries he has been on, going back to last year, might be the result of some misguided effort by a bad medical staff to help make the on court product as competitive as possible. There's not much point to pushing that agenda anymore, so if there's anything to that speculation, I suppose you could call it a stealth tank in a sense. Either way, what I hope, personally, is that they're taking a step back in order to actually fix whatever problems he's experiencing chronically (hopefully, this is possible). Sit him as long as it takes to give him a chance to prove he can stay healthy. No more risks of any kind (this year, at least). 

All I know is that without Lively, any hope for the next few seasons flies right out the window, so I hope they can get his health under control.

[cow]

I hate looking at (another) losing season, but it may be the best way to go.

I'm a pessimist by nature so take this with a grain of salt, but the season feels like it is already lost.

TC was an inch shorter than Lively and came into the league 5 pounds heavier than DLive's current weight.  I'm just using that data to reaffirm my belief that TC had a little more of a heftier frame and, like was mentioned, had his own injury concerns.  In the end, all we can really go off is the availability that Lively has shown us and right now he's only played in 45% of our regular season games.

[mvossman]

I don't think it's part of a stealth tank plan, but I do think this bad run of injuries he has been on, going back to last year, might be the result of some misguided effort by a bad medical staff to help make the on court product as competitive as possible. There's not much point to pushing that agenda anymore, so if there's anything to that speculation, I suppose you could call it a stealth tank in a sense. Either way, what I hope, personally, is that they're taking a step back in order to actually fix whatever problems he's experiencing chronically (hopefully, this is possible). Sit him as long as it takes to give him a chance to prove he can stay healthy. No more risks of any kind (this year, at least). 

All I know is that without Lively, any hope for the next few seasons flies right out the window, so I hope they can get his health under control.

Hard to know how much was the medical staff and how much was Nico.  Apparently he was going to push AD onto the court right before he got fired against the recommendation of his medical staff.  I wonder how much that was going on late last season.

[KillerLeft]

Hard to know how much was the medical staff and how much was Nico.  Apparently he was going to push AD onto the court right before he got fired against the recommendation of his medical staff.  I wonder how much that was going on late last season.

Same thing, to my mind. He fired Casey Smith and hired a team he thought was "better." There was a reference to them being more like "cheer leaders" in one article I read. I think he hired medical people he thought would be loyal to him and his agenda. 

Total speculation (and the worst kind, I admit) but I can't shake the feeling that the medical staff is just awful. I think you can explain last year's injury situation (that seems to be carrying over into this year) in a lot of ways, and injury-prone players is part of the conversation, sure, but...Idk, I just don't trust that the health of the players is in good hands right now. I hope they make some (public) moves when they hire the new GM that restores fan faith in that part of the organization.

[HoosierDaddyKid]

I don't think it's part of a stealth tank plan, but I do think this bad run of injuries he has been on, going back to last year, might be the result of some misguided effort by a bad medical staff to help make the on court product as competitive as possible. There's not much point to pushing that agenda anymore, so if there's anything to that speculation, I suppose you could call it a stealth tank in a sense. Either way, what I hope, personally, is that they're taking a step back in order to actually fix whatever problems he's experiencing chronically (hopefully, this is possible). Sit him as long as it takes to give him a chance to prove he can stay healthy. No more risks of any kind (this year, at least). 

All I know is that without Lively, any hope for the next few seasons flies right out the window, so I hope they can get his health under control.

I concur with this. We wouldn't have this problem if Nico (the dumbass) hadn't fired Casey Smith. Now he has an even better job and title with the Knicks, VP of Sports Medicine.

[ballsrchr]

Same thing, to my mind. He fired Casey Smith and hired a team he thought was "better." There was a reference to them being more like "cheer leaders" in one article I read. I think he hired medical people he thought would be loyal to him and his agenda. 

Total speculation (and the worst kind, I admit) but I can't shake the feeling that the medical staff is just awful. I think you can explain last year's injury situation (that seems to be carrying over into this year) in a lot of ways, and injury-prone players is part of the conversation, sure, but...Idk, I just don't trust that the health of the players is in good hands right now. I hope they make some (public) moves when they hire the new GM that restores fan faith in that part of the organization.

I think the new GM should be a big part of choosing a new medical staff.  Just one more reason why I think we need "that" new GM--soon.

I'm also afraid we won't be getting a new GM any time soon.  So...we're stuck between a (hard place) groin pull, nagging hamstring injuries, achilles tendinitis,  and what I call "the rock"--a lisfranc injury.  All such injuries I'm well acquainted with.  Not a good analogy, perhaps, but all injuries--except the lisfranc injury--were because of inadequate training.  The lisfranc injury was because of poor foot placement in a jump, and was by far the most painful.

A new GM may not need to clean house--but he/she needs to take a good, hard look at--the whole house.