Rockets guard Bonzi Wells was excused from attending Friday's practice "for personal reasons," Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said. Van Gundy did not describe the reasons and said he did not know when Wells would be back.
Wells' agent Bill Duffy also would not elaborate, saying, "We're going to have to leave it as 'personal.' "
Guard Luther Head also missed Friday's practice because of a death in the family. The Rockets did not know when he would return.
Wells, 30, has not played in the preseason, and has been able to practice in only four workouts because of soreness in the groin muscle he tore last season and then a series of root canal procedures this week. He did attend Wednesday's home game and was expected to be past his health issues enough to begin practicing Friday.
"I don't want to put a timetable on him or make him feel he has to rush back," Van Gundy said. "I know everybody has a first-game mentality with every player. I'm not in that mentality. He has to deal with his personal stuff first. When he gets back, we'll get him ready to go then."
Even before he spoke with Van Gundy about needing to take time off, he was not considered close to playing, and Van Gundy said Wells would not be ready to play "for a while."
"He has to be able to get on the practice floor for a considerable amount of time to get himself in shape enough even," Van Gundy said this week. "Right now, it's been a wasted (18) days, other than picking up some learning parts of it because his time has been so intermittent. It's been unfortunate for him, unfortunate for us."
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/4276960.html
Ah, quite interesting, indeed. Very little clarity there. Hopefully things can get going for Bonzi.