Don’t try telling Gabe Watson that treadmills are a good, safe way to work out.
The Arizona Cardinals’ nose tackle will miss off-season practices after undergoing surgery to repair a broken kneecap, an injury he suffered last week when he fell off a treadmill.
The procedure was serious enough that it will keep Watson limited during training camp, but the Cards are hopefully he’ll be ready to begin the regular season on time.
If not, look for backup Alan Branch, the team’s 2007 second round pick, to get his chance.
Mike Brown uttered the words every Cav fan needed to hear: “LeBron is good to go.” (Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
The Cleveland Cavaliers can breathe a sigh of relief as LeBron James, out the past couple days of practice because of his wonky back, has been cleared to play Wednesday night.
This is great news for the Cavs, who are trying to wrap up home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs before a big game next week against Philadelphia, one of the teams still threatening Cleveland’s hold on fourth place.
A win tonight at home against the Nets will be just what the doctor ordered for the Cavs, losers of two straight and six of their past ten.
After Wednesday morning’s shootaround, Coach Brown declared King James fit for duty. James has been dealing with back issues for several weeks, and it’s obviously been bothered him more recently, especially Saturday against the Magic when he struggled through a 6-for-22, 17-point game.
The NBA’s leading scorer has enjoyed perhaps his best overall season, but he’s missed more time than usual despite the Cavs doing their best to lighten his load, reducing James’ PT for the second straight season.
Other than LBJ’s deteriorating perimeter game, there’s been little to quibble with from him this season.
Will it be enough for his first MVP Award?
Well, the major obstacle here is that while James has personally succeeded, constant injuries and major rotation changes have made for a rather disappointing season for Cleveland as a team.
The defending Eastern Conference Champions entered the season riding back-to-back 50-win seasons, but cannot exceed 47 this year even if they should run the table over their final five games.
Cleveland’s offense has been no worse than last year, but the club has struggled defensively as it tries to hold off a late-season rush by Washington for the fourth spot in the East.
Frantisek Kaberle, right, avoided injury all season — until now. (Reuter’s pictures)
Frantisek Kaberle, who stayed healthy enough to reach 80 games for the first time in his career this season, has finally succumbed to another injury.
He’ll undergo right shoulder surgery Wednesday, a procedure that will sideline the veteran defenseman for two-to-four weeks and force him out of next month’s World Hockey Championships.
Guess you can scratch the Czech’s name off your draft list for that event.
Kaberle had reconstructive surgery on this same shoulder prior to the 2006-07 season - an operation that caused him to miss most of the schedule. This procedure is minor in comparison, so he’ll be fine by training camp next fall.
Although he failed to bulge the twine for the first time in his career, Kaberle had been gaining a bit of steam down the stretch, picking up four assists in his final nine games, which included the season finale in which he was benched after playing just 3:44. All told, Kaberle had two of his three multi-point efforts in the season’s final month, making him a decent waiver wire pickup as the season waned.
Of course, that wasn’t enough to help Carolina avoid the dubious distinction of becoming the first team in NHL history to miss the playoffs two straight seasons after winning the Stanley Cup, as it did in 2006.
Injuries to key personnel (Matt Cullen,Justin Williams, Ray Whitney, Rod Brind’Amour, Patrick Eaves, Niclas Wallin) really hurt the Canes.
The team actually posted a four-point improvement over last year’s showing, but that might not be enough to save coach Peter Laviolette’s job.
Luis Rivas is actually hitting very well with Jack Wilson sidelined. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
Jack Wilson, coming off one of his most productive seasons, is hurt again.
A strained calf has landed the Buc’ shortstop on the 15-day DL, the third straight season he’ll miss action.
Despite missing about a month of action, he set personal bests in both homers and OBP last year, but was off to a slow start this season (1-for-12) before getting hurt Thursday. His DL stint was made retroactive to Friday, meaning he’ll be eligible to return on April 19.
In his stead, Luis Rivas, who hasn’t been valuable in quite a long time (okay, he’s never been valuable), could be worth a look. He’s been hitting up a storm, going 2-for-4 with two runs and an RBI through the seventh inning of Monday’s home opener for the Pirates to raise his BA to .350.
Unfortunately, the natural second baseman is scuffling defensively, with two errors through six games.
As a result, look for Brian Bixler to get his chance by Wednesday. Called up from Triple-A to replace Wilson, Bixler is known for his defensive prowess at short, although he didn’t hit poorly at Triple-A last season (.274, five homers, 51 RBI) while showing great speed.
“We’re not calling him up to sit here. He’ll play,” says Pirates’ manager John Russell.
Bixler said he’d be okay backing up Freddy Sanchez at second base as well, but Pittsburgh only plans to employ Bixler at short.
So for the next two weeks, I’d suggest taking a look at Rivas as a decent short-term pickup, especially in NL-only leagues, but do note that if he continues to butcher things defensively, the Pirates will likely give Bixler more action at short.
Delonte West should continue to man the point for the Cavs while Boobie Gibson tries to work his way back in shape.
Daniel “Boobie” Gibson was able to return to action Wednesday night after being forced out early Sunday with a left ankle sprain.
It’s great news for Gibson owners, who had to deal with the Cavs’ guard missing 18 games earlier this season with an injury to the same ankle.
Having said that, Gibson wasn’t exactly sharp tonight, sinking just 1-of-7 for two points in 19 minutes off the bench as Cleveland rallied from an early deficit to outgun the Bobcats 118-114 in Charlotte.
At this rate, starter Delonte West looks safe for the time being, and followed up his big game Sunday (18 points, 11 assists) with another solid all-around effort (10 points, seven assists, five rebounds, one steal, one block and one 3-pointer). Clearly, it’s going to take some time before Boobie is ready to take over the starting PG job, shifting West back to the two-guard spot.
The big winner here may be Devin Brown, who is not only starting and playing heavy minutes, but performing. Wednesday, he scored 20 points with eight assists, five rebounds and two steals. Hello? It may be time to give Brown some waiver wire love, people.
Ben Wallace (back spasms) has been cleared to play, but he missed his second straight game as coach Mike Brown decided to play it safe with his big man.
Of course, Big Ben hasn’t exactly been thriving since arriving in Cleveland, averaging just 4.9 PPG and 7.9 RPG, with numbers down almost across the board compared to what he was doing in Chicago.
In the meantime, Anderson Varejao continues to start, and judging by what he did tonight (17 points on 8-for-9 shooting with 12 rebounds), Sideshow Bob looks like a nice short-term pickup.
