When Chet Holmgren suffered a season ending foot damage earlier this summer season, followers started to fret that the 7-footer’s body wouldn’t be capable to get up in opposition to NBA competitors.
The second general choose’s stature was a serious speaking level throughout the pre-draft course of, with many echoing the identical sentiments about Holmgren’s weight. Fortunately, he doesn’t have a historical past of accidents, which is probably going signal for the Thunder large man.
Those who selected to be optimistic nevertheless, pointed on the success of Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid and Oklahoma City native Blake Griffin.
Griffin was the No. 1 general choose within the 2009 NBA Draft, however can be sidelined till 2010 after struggling a knee damage within the preseason. Like Holmgren, the Clippers high choose dominated the offseason, taking dwelling Summer League MVP honors.
Griffin, nevertheless, had already handled accidents, struggling an MCL tear as a freshman at Oklahoma.
Despite two knee surgical procedures, Griffin was unstoppable when he returned to the ground. In 2010-1t, the previous Clipper averaged 22.5 factors and 12.1 rebounds per recreation en path to successful rookie of the yr and incomes an all-star bid the identical season.
While Griffin has had many vivid years, his profession has additionally been riddled with accidents. The former dunk contest champion has solely performed one full season in his 13-year skilled profession.
Moreso, the veteran large man’s play model is totally completely different than what it as soon as was. Griffin’s exceptional power and leaping capacity as soon as made the 2009 Wooden Award winner a nightmare to match up in opposition to within the paint. After an assortment of knee accidents, the Net’s middle was compelled to adapt to a distinct position on the crew.
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For Holmgren, that is much less of a priority. The Gonzaga product makes use of size and talent to his benefit, whereas Griffin relied extra on his elite athleticism.
Another earlier success for Holmgren to look to is 76ers star middle Joel Embiid. Embiid, at one time the projected high choose, slid to 3rd general after a foot damage required the previous Kansas to large man to bear surgical procedure that will trigger him to overlook his rookie season.
Embiid’s damage state of affairs went from dangerous to worse; the Cameroonian large man was compelled to take a seat out your entire 2015-16 season on account of a setback from his earlier damage. The subsequent season, the dominant middle solely made it by way of 31 video games earlier than present process season ending knee surgical procedure.
Embiid was astonishing in his first 31 video games, averaging 20.2 factors and seven.8 rebounds per recreation to go together with a monster 2.5 blocks per recreation. The 2022 MVP runner-up hasn’t regarded again since, reaching totals of 30.6 factors and 11.7 rebounds per recreation final yr.
Thankfully, Embiid hasn’t handled main damage issues for the previous 5 years, however the five-time all-star has by no means performed greater than 68 video games in a season.
Griffin and Embiid each discovered success after recovering from their season-ending surgical procedures, every was an NBA First Team All-Rookie choice and has since garnered a number of all-star and playoff appearances. This must be a beacon of hope for Thunder followers, illustrating that there’s a path to redemption on the courtroom for gamers that suffer accidents early of their careers.
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story by The Texas Tribune Source link