Posted by TheGame:
Gallinari has alot to prove regarding his health. I have to believe this guy is soft. These 5 months seems like an extremely long time for someone to be out with a "mild" back injury when they allegedly had no previous back injuries and they are only 20 years old. DG is going to get hit like he did in SL every game. If this is the result, this guy may be a wasted pick. This would be a great time to see him play because we are still shorthanded.
Remember a guy named J.R. Richards, the Houston Astros pitcher? He was criticized big time for a condition (a dead arm) which some people claimed he did not have or was in his head. I can just imagine how some of you guys would have posted comments about how "soft" he was and that he should pitch through the pain, had you been fans of the Astros at that time. Then he has a stroke from a blood clot, almost dies, and his career is over.
You watch Gallinari play in the Italian clips, and you see a guy who goes all out and ends up on the floor on a frequent basis. Hardly a soft player, but if you try to play through the wrong type of injury, you will only make things worse, which is what happened when he came back too early the first time.
I will be very pissed off if his injury is career altering and keeps him from playing like he can when in perfect health, but it is too early to call him a bust.
I am still puzzled about how he got the injury. One of my former athletes (I am a HS wrestling coach) who competes in college, recently indicated that he had a bulging disc. I did not discuss it much with him, but I expect that he got it from working out too hard and putting stress on it while lifting weights and wrestling This kid is one of the best athletes I have ever worked with, and is also a personal trainer, so it stunned me when I discovered he had this kind of injury, but I know he works out a lot, wrestles, and does some MMA stuff on the side, Gallinari does not compete in the sports my kid does, but I had heard that he was a "workout warrior" prior to the Summer League. I wonder if this is the origin of DG's back, and not the Traylor fall. Perhaps he overworked his back.
You just have to make sure he is completely healthy when he starts playing hard, and hope that his injury is healed.
The type of stuff I hear on this site sometimes just shows the ignorance of some of the folks who post, nothing more. I assume that if he turns out to be a great player some day they guys who were critical will man up an admit they were wrong.
No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities- C.N. Bovee
12/22/2008 1:26 PM
you dj.