"Very likely" Hassan Whiteside will need surgery

[bajaden]

I found out his status using Google. As best I know he is going to have surgery. That means he will be out at least a year. Considering the problem he has, patellar tendenitis which to get to this severity has to have been present a long time, I can see why the Kings aren't announcing their screw-up in drafting him.

I followed him in his college career, and to the best of my knowledge, he never had a problem. One of the things he was know for was his athleticism. I know that sometimes athlete's tend to play through little nagging things not realizing that by doing so, they're doing more damage. I did that once with tennis. It started with just a little nagging discomfort in my right elbow, and I paid it no never mind thinking it was just one of those things that occur from playing. Four or five weeks later in the middle of a match, the pain suddenly increased to the point I had to quit and forfeit the match. Of course I had completely torn the tendon away from the bone. It took over a year to heal and I couldn't even hold a coffee cup in my right hand.

Don't know if thats a legit comparison or not. But he could be one of those guys with a high pain threshold. My question would be, if it was the beginning of a problem, but Whiteside didn't think it was something to be concerned about, so he didn't mention it, would a normal physical find it.

 

[Glenn]

I followed him in his college career, and to the best of my knowledge, he never had a problem. One of the things he was know for was his athleticism. I know that sometimes athlete's tend to play through little nagging things not realizing that by doing so, they're doing more damage. I did that once with tennis. It started with just a little nagging discomfort in my right elbow, and I paid it no never mind thinking it was just one of those things that occur from playing. Four or five weeks later in the middle of a match, the pain suddenly increased to the point I had to quit and forfeit the match. Of course I had completely torn the tendon away from the bone. It took over a year to heal and I couldn't even hold a coffee cup in my right hand.

Don't know if thats a legit comparison or not. But he could be one of those guys with a high pain threshold. My question would be, if it was the beginning of a problem, but Whiteside didn't think it was something to be concerned about, so he didn't mention it, would a normal physical find it.

He also wanted a contract and might have kept the pain to himself so as not to screw up the chance to get drafted. In any case, he's ours.

 

[Superman]

He also wanted a contract and might have kept the pain to himself so as not to screw up the chance to get drafted. In any case, he's ours.

I don't get your angle. He's a second round draft pick, with loads of upside. I don't think the Kings made a mistake in drafting him, and that goes even if he never plays again. He was a second rounder. He was highly touted. In some circles, he was considered a first rounder. Had we taken him at #5, we'd have something to talk about. We took him at #33. The draft is a crapshoot as it is (look at Thabeet and Favors, two guys who went in front of Reke and Cousins, respectively). Your second rounder rarely becomes a difference maker in the NBA. And there's only one guy who was drafted after him who is doing anything worth mentioning, Landry Fields, and he plays a position that was/is logjammed for us. So the idea that we messed up in picking him is, JMO, wrong.

As for his injury, stuff happens. I don't remember there being a history with the knee. In fact, when he got hurt in the preseason, I remember him saying that he'd never been hurt before. I hope he gets his knee right, and I hope he can come back next year sometime and play a role for us. If not, I wish him the best, and it's on to the next one. We weren't tying the hopes of the franchise to a second rounder.

 

[Spike]

This type of injury would have shown up in a physical. You can't hide not being able to jump, or flex your knee. I definitely think it was post-draft.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

And not to beat a dead horse but one of the earlier articles posted said that normally they try to rehab the injury for a year before moving to surgery, so if anything it would appear they are making the decision too early rather than too late.

 

[Glenn]

And not to beat a dead horse but one of the earlier articles posted said that normally they try to rehab the injury for a year before moving to surgery, so if anything it would appear they are making the decision too early rather than too late.

That was an article by the Mayo Clinic which is respected around the world. The article ends up being confusing because it doesn't fit with what anybody else has noticed about Hassan. The part that got me worked up (upset) is the part that said that this type of surgery is very rare, there is no set way of doing it, and rehab can take 6 to 18 months. Don't attack me for what the orthopedic surgeon from the Mayo Clinic wrote.

I don't know why it wasn't picked up on the physical, I don't know when it happened yet it is supposed to be from chronic jumping and not a sudden injury like what would happen with the Achille's tenden, and yes, long rehab is the customary approach before surgery. Can anyone make sense of this? I can't.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Nobody's attacking you Glenn. We're just saying this is nothing to get worked up over and if it is, then it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.