Yup. They were OK when they were at full strength, but they are the walking wounded right now. Ariza- knee sprain Hill- left pinky in Jan. knee sprain in Feb. Battie- broken thumb Dooling- thumb, sore achilles Nelson- lingering groin issues Turkoglu- chronic flu-like symptoms, recently resulted in dehydration, sprained ankle in Dec. Arroyo- broken jumpshot. Sprained passing muscle. It is reminiscent of the days when teams had to make up injuries for the inactive list. Hopefully they decide that they aren't good enough this year and spend the rest of the season developing their youth.
Aren't "flu-like symptoms" usually a team's euphemism for a hangover? Has Hedo picked up some bad habits from the Big Man of the Future?
Actually, I think that he has a pretty frustrating condition. Sometimes, you can get a virus that your immune system never fully destroys. So it comes in waves. When it acts up, your immune system kicks in and suppresses it, but never fully snuffs it out. Kind of like a chronic fatigue situation. It's different than the one Sheed has.
I'm surprised that so many seem to be surprised that Orlando is in a free fall. They are a "one-pony" team when it comes down to it. Always were. I predict a future serious debate on the Magic board about who is better; "their" Piston pick or Darko? Orlando will be in the lottery year after this one as well. Unless they pull a blockbuster and land say...a Vince Carter. For our part, looks to be 12-13 "big" men comin out next year. We could stand pat, not re-sign FlipM and DD, and make room for two #1 draft picks, while keeping the CHAMPIONSHIP team intact. Orlando should take notes!
Mad, Orlando tonight just whooped a fully healthy SanAntonio team. I would not cry too many tears for them.
Orlando was down 18 points. I am referring to the whooping from that point. In ther first half, Hill put in a very effective comination of players, Arroyo running the point, Nelson at shooting guard, Redick at small forward, Darko at power forward, and Howard at center. In the 2nd half, this unit came back on the floor mid-3rd quarter, and proceeded to win the game from quite a ways down. Feel free to ask more questions.
So, as it stands right now, we are due to get the 16th, 25th, and 55th picks in the 2007 draft. The 2003 was about the best draft on record, so let's see what these picks would have got us that year. 16th- Troy Bell (is he playing in the NBA right now? looked it up, no) 25th- Carlos Delfino (bench player) 55th- Rick Rickert (don't think he's in the league) The 17th pick that year was Zarko Cabarkapa... I guess my point is, we shouldn't necessarily rely on improving the team through this channel.
Well said Tashawn.... perfect example of the crap shoot we call the draft... and how rediculously hyped it is... trade it for a proven anyday.... or you can draft the kid and he might pay off (after suffering through growing pains) in his third year and could bolt in his 4th... whuppidy damn doo.... that graph from draftexprees (Roscoe source?) said a lot about the chances of us getting quality after the 15th pick.... for every keeper there was 3 or 4 losers. Now if you're talking about the lotto that's a different game.
It falls somewhere between 2006 ~ 2008. If it is Minny's preference, I reckon they will elect to keep it in this draft. You never know who will fall into the second round, and maybe they have targeted someone in particular.
Ben Wallace was undrafted. I know it is possible to grab a great player, but par for the course in the late-teens to late-twenties doesn't seem as great as I imagined. Maybe it would be good to look at 10 or so 16th picks and see what kind of player we should be expecting. Orlando could always do worse the 2nd half, but given the amount of injuries they have had, it is probably more likely that they improve when they get guys like Ariza back.
