12/21/24
March 01, 2004
"There's no structural damage.": says Ernie Grunfeld, GM of the Wizards. 2 days ago Stack declared that he was shutting himself down for the rest of the season, citing residual pain from the knee surgery that kept him out for the first 45 games of the season. The Wizards had him examined today and found that his knee is sound, and that, at worst, he suffers from ankle tendinitis.
More inside...
posted by lilnemo to basketball at 07:18 PM - 6 comments
Washington is a mess. Even after MJ was kicked out, the place is full of egos. And there's no way those egos are going to be satisfied with Gilbert Arenas as their point guard. Arenas has been shooting more than any shooting guard in the league, let alone point guard. Here are his shot attempts the last six games: 21, 21, 3 (refused to shoot when criticized by Kwame Brown) 15, 23, 27. To put those numbers in perspective, here are the shot attempts for a few shooting guards in the league: Allen Iverson: 24, Tracy McGrady: 23, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce: 19. In other words, Arenas redefines the meaning of a "shoot-first" point guard. It doesn't justify just giving up and sitting out the season, but it's got to be incredibly frustrating. Kwame Brown called Arenas out for it, I guess Stackhouse just gave up.
posted by dusted at 02:22 PM on March 02, 2004
yeah, but he's putting up sweet fantasy numbers... :)
posted by smithers at 08:28 PM on March 02, 2004
Yes he is. Would you like to trade him for Vince Carter? /inside joke
posted by dusted at 08:34 PM on March 02, 2004
I should probably throw Yao and/or Brand into the deal to make it fair.
posted by smithers at 07:40 AM on March 03, 2004
Definitely.
posted by dusted at 09:29 AM on March 03, 2004
This is interesting when compared to Vin Baker's current situation. Vin was effectively released because the Celts had a provision in his contract specifically used to ensure that he would abide by his after-care program. Which he did not. The cba itself states that if a player is rendered "physically unable to perform" they can be released, this measure generally refers to career ending injuries, deaths and drug abuse but the Celts are going to use it in order to nullify Vin's contract. Vin can play. Vin wants to play. Vin's alcoholism renders him a lesser player, and as such the Celts want to cut ties. Stack missed a majority of the season only to come back and find his squad out of the playoff chase and built around an offensive system that doesn't isolate him. He puts up okay numbers for a few games, throws a tantrum, and then decides to sit out the rest of the year. Huh? I'm a bit surprised by the Wizards decision to have Stack examined. Usually when a player has an injury (no matter how niggling) the team will let them sit out as many games as they please. Generally this is done before the All-Star break. It's obvious that the Wizards are a year or two away from really competing for a playoff spot. And seeing how the season is already 2/3 of the way through with no beacon out on the horizon, you'd think they'd green light him for vacation (and supposedly rehab). It appears however that Grunfeld intends to coax Stack into playing out the rest of the year. I hope Ernie gets his way. It would start a dangerous precedent for players collecting MAX contracts and then sitting out the majority of the season when things don't go their way. I mean, do you really want Iverson, or McGrady sitting out the season because they have no hope of getting into the playoffs or nabbing the scoring record? Do you want Shaq taking the whole year off because "Only the post-season matters."? I'm going to keep an eye on this because it seems to be slipping under the radar so far.