Rip's ankle injury

[Kstat]

Surprise, Rip said the ankle is still painful after practice. I'm shocked.

[Kstat]

This hardly sounds like a player that doesn't care...

http://www.mlive.com/pistons/index.s...lton_just.html

Hamilton's mood Sunday was a carryover from the night before.

"I was just happy to be out there on the floor," Hamilton said after the game Saturday. "I didn't care what anything felt like. I just felt joy being able to play something that you love to do -- and that's the game of basketball."

Hamilton used the word "joy" several times while describing his feelings about being back on the court. That was a feeling he hadn't felt in a while.

"Everyone around me thought I was depressed," he said. "Everybody was like, 'Hey Rip, you ain't talking, you ain't doing nothing,' and things like that. It was one of those things where you go home and you just sit in your room, you don't turn the TV on and you don't do nothing because it's like, 'When is this thing going to get better?' "

It became harder and harder as time wore on, he said.

"Once you get past five games, it's like, 'Aw man. What's going on?' " Hamilton said. "Then I'm at 10 games, then I'm at 15 games. It was hard."

[Glenn]

Has anyone heard a good explanation of why he never sat on the bench while he was out, even for the home games?

Only thing that was released by the organizational mouthpiece was something like "some players are just so competitive that they just can't stand to be that close to the game when they are injured".

Not sure how I feel about that explanation.

[Kstat]

A lot of players can't deal with being at the games and not being able to play. That's very common. How you feel about it is irrelevant.

There are hall of famers that did this.

[yargs]

If that's what's up then FUCK DUMARS.

This team has been scrapping together starting lineups all season. If its because Dumars is cool with players taking a vacation in the middle of the season then Dumars needs to go.

I don't think it's a mere coincidence that all of a sudden rip is ready to play big minutes right when bynum starts missing time with an injury (in addition to gordon) creating a void in the guard rotation.

Could Rip have played hurt much sooner? Maybe. Is it that big of a deal? No. It gave the team some time to figure out what they have in stuckey and bynum.

Same thing with prince and the kids at the small forward position.

Don't be surprised to see prince make a miraculous recovery when the all-star break rolls around and it's time to focus on a playoff run.

And who cares? Does it make sense to burn out the vets and therefore not develop the kids in order to battle for a #4 seed or is it better to give players rest and make a run for it with the 6, 7, 8 seed while also creating a stronger, deeper bench in the process?

I know you disagree with me but the spurs have been doing shit like this for years, giving their big 3 breaks and time off during the regular season in hopes of keeping them fresh for the 2nd half. It's about time the pistons started doing this.

Remember all that talk in previous years of the starter's playing too many minutes during the regular season only to burn out in the playoffs?

[Fool]

Wait, so first Rip's conditioning spontaneously heals him and now he's in such poor condition that he needs 15 games AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEASON for a vacation.

Popovich does't have guys fake injury to give them time off, he plays them less minutes or develops game plans where Tony or Manu is the primary focus that game to relieve Timmy. You know, like a coach is supposed to do.

How you feel about it is irrelevant.

Classic Kstat.

[Kstat]

You don't know that Rip faked his injury, which everybody saw on TV, and you also don't know that the Spurs players DONT fake injuries. I'll take Rip at his word, given that he almost never misses significant time.

I'm not a doctor. i don't pretend to be one, either. I'd be an idiot to judge the severity of the sprained ankle of someone I saw on TV.

[GrantBell]

Rip damaged 3 tendons in his ankle. It was a pretty bad sprain. He did practice and work with Kander. What he didn't do is have one final practice afterd deciding he was "ready." It was kind of spontaneous. I fail to see hwo you can accuse Rip of sitting out and Dumars condoning it or allowing it.

You're reaching big time.

[Hermy]

Yeah, despite the fact I'm sure we're being fed a line of BS somewhere on the deal, we all saw him get hurt. He said that Arnie called it the worst he's ever seen. I doesn't hurt us to give him rest. I just don't care, let alone want someone fired over it.

[Glenn]

Classic Kstat.

Lol, even better that he went back in and edited that part in afterwords.

I think K might be some kind of Pistons SuperFan robot, "How. You. Feel. Is. Irrelevant."