Yet another injury (Tag breaks hand)... (merged)
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http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/10974173p-11891503c.html
Another injury for the Kings
Center Greg Ostertag will be out 4-6 weeks after breaking his right hand.
By Martin McNeal -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, October 4, 2004
Usually, a new player on an NBA team can fit in by making free throws at the end of practice. Misses result in team-wide running, while made free throws eliminate the suicide drills.
However, these are the Kings, and to really fit in, you get hurt. Of course, that's a tongue-in-cheek analysis, but veteran center Greg Ostertag had been a very durable player with the Utah Jazz.
After one day of practice with the Kings, Ostertag couldn't navigate his way around his new area digs Saturday night, tripped, put his right hand down for support and came up with a third broken metacarpal bone. He went to an area hospital emergency room Saturday night after talking to trainer Pete Youngman.
Sunday, Ostertag was examined by team physician Dr. Richard Marder, X-rayed at UC Davis and then had a cast placed on his hand.
Kings coach Rick Adelman received a call from Youngman on Sunday morning.
"I knew it wasn't good news because Pete never calls early in the morning unless there is something wrong," Adelman said. "(Ostertag) is supposed to be out anywhere from four to six weeks. It was just a freakish thing."
Actually, it would be freakish if it occurred to a player on pretty much every other team. However, these are the Kings, who, for the life of them, seemingly cannot find a way to stay healthy.
"I was walking into practice," Kings power forward Chris Webber said, "and (Ostertag) showed me his hand. He just looked at me and laughed. It doesn't surprise me.
"I just said, 'Welcome to the Kings Show!' "
During the past five seasons with the Jazz, Ostertag, 31, never missed more than eight games in one season, and sat out only one in three of those seasons.
Last season, Ostertag missed only two games because of injury. He missed one more because of a league suspension and another as a result of a coach's decision.
Adelman said he hopes Ostertag will be ready to start the season with the team but acknowledged the center's absence will afford more playing time in scrimmages as well as the exhibition season for free-agent 7-foot centers Anwar Ferguson of Houston and Adam Parada of UC Irvine. Parada played with Sacramento's summer league team in Long Beach.
"We'll have to look around," the coach said, "but I was hoping to try and get the second unit time playing together, and now we're looking at playing a lot of young guys with Darius (Songaila). I like Adam.
"He really plays hard. He competes. He does a lot of the little things that you need. He'll run the floor, sets screens and is very physical trying to play people, and he's a little bit more familiar with the stuff we're doing. He rebounds, and I really like the way he competes."
Ferguson also has displayed nice athleticism and a soft mid-range during the first two days of practice. Listed at 200 pounds, Ferguson had better be athletic if he is to have success banging inside with the big boys.
Notes - Guard Courtney Alexander suffered a strained left thigh and is listed as day-to-day.
* Kings small forward Peja Stojakovic will host the inaugural "GettaCue - A Billiards Experience" tournament tonight at the Tsakopoulous Library Galleria (9th and I streets) from 6 to 11 p.m. The tournament will benefit the UC Davis Cancer Center for breast and ovarian cancer research and the Peja Stojakovic Children's Foundation for the new Telemedicine program through UC Davis Med Center and the Belgrade Children's Hospital.
For more information, call Andiamo Sports at (916) 438-2929 or go to www.gettacue.com.
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Another injury for the Kings
Center Greg Ostertag will be out 4-6 weeks after breaking his right hand.
By Martin McNeal -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, October 4, 2004
Usually, a new player on an NBA team can fit in by making free throws at the end of practice. Misses result in team-wide running, while made free throws eliminate the suicide drills.
However, these are the Kings, and to really fit in, you get hurt. Of course, that's a tongue-in-cheek analysis, but veteran center Greg Ostertag had been a very durable player with the Utah Jazz.
After one day of practice with the Kings, Ostertag couldn't navigate his way around his new area digs Saturday night, tripped, put his right hand down for support and came up with a third broken metacarpal bone. He went to an area hospital emergency room Saturday night after talking to trainer Pete Youngman.
Sunday, Ostertag was examined by team physician Dr. Richard Marder, X-rayed at UC Davis and then had a cast placed on his hand.
Kings coach Rick Adelman received a call from Youngman on Sunday morning.
"I knew it wasn't good news because Pete never calls early in the morning unless there is something wrong," Adelman said. "(Ostertag) is supposed to be out anywhere from four to six weeks. It was just a freakish thing."
Actually, it would be freakish if it occurred to a player on pretty much every other team. However, these are the Kings, who, for the life of them, seemingly cannot find a way to stay healthy.
"I was walking into practice," Kings power forward Chris Webber said, "and (Ostertag) showed me his hand. He just looked at me and laughed. It doesn't surprise me.
"I just said, 'Welcome to the Kings Show!' "
During the past five seasons with the Jazz, Ostertag, 31, never missed more than eight games in one season, and sat out only one in three of those seasons.
Last season, Ostertag missed only two games because of injury. He missed one more because of a league suspension and another as a result of a coach's decision.
Adelman said he hopes Ostertag will be ready to start the season with the team but acknowledged the center's absence will afford more playing time in scrimmages as well as the exhibition season for free-agent 7-foot centers Anwar Ferguson of Houston and Adam Parada of UC Irvine. Parada played with Sacramento's summer league team in Long Beach.
"We'll have to look around," the coach said, "but I was hoping to try and get the second unit time playing together, and now we're looking at playing a lot of young guys with Darius (Songaila). I like Adam.
"He really plays hard. He competes. He does a lot of the little things that you need. He'll run the floor, sets screens and is very physical trying to play people, and he's a little bit more familiar with the stuff we're doing. He rebounds, and I really like the way he competes."
Ferguson also has displayed nice athleticism and a soft mid-range during the first two days of practice. Listed at 200 pounds, Ferguson had better be athletic if he is to have success banging inside with the big boys.
Notes - Guard Courtney Alexander suffered a strained left thigh and is listed as day-to-day.
* Kings small forward Peja Stojakovic will host the inaugural "GettaCue - A Billiards Experience" tournament tonight at the Tsakopoulous Library Galleria (9th and I streets) from 6 to 11 p.m. The tournament will benefit the UC Davis Cancer Center for breast and ovarian cancer research and the Peja Stojakovic Children's Foundation for the new Telemedicine program through UC Davis Med Center and the Belgrade Children's Hospital.
For more information, call Andiamo Sports at (916) 438-2929 or go to www.gettacue.com.
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This is bad news. Because of y'alls aquisition of the Big Tag (absolutely one of my favorite players in the league), and because so many media sources are counting your Kings out this year (along with my Mavs), I find myself routing for y'alls team more now than I probably ever have in the past.
Hopefully Tag will return from this injury quickly, so we can see what the giant can do once unshackled from his Sloan-Chains. I have a feeling that Big Greg is going to look pretty darned good once he's unleashed in the Adelman system, and that's why it's highly regrettable to me that we'll have to wait until at least a month into the new season to see what this newly-freed monster can do...
Hopefully Tag will return from this injury quickly, so we can see what the giant can do once unshackled from his Sloan-Chains. I have a feeling that Big Greg is going to look pretty darned good once he's unleashed in the Adelman system, and that's why it's highly regrettable to me that we'll have to wait until at least a month into the new season to see what this newly-freed monster can do...
???? 4 weeks puts him at October 31st. (hey, that would be an appropriate day to 'unleash the monster'
) Potentially, he could play in the season opener on Nov. 2nd. Worst case scenario would have him return 5 or 6 games into the season on the 14th. Tag's pretty damn tough, I don't see him being out that long.
) Potentially, he could play in the season opener on Nov. 2nd. Worst case scenario would have him return 5 or 6 games into the season on the 14th. Tag's pretty damn tough, I don't see him being out that long.
Yep...fella by the name of Chucky Brown.
Been one long nightmare of injuries ever since we cut him loose, proving once again beyond the shadow of a doubt the Curse of Chucky is real. (actually to tell you the truth beyond the one big obvious hole in the lineup last year, we were the healthiest team in the league for the first half of last season and had the same Top 8 guys healthy for all but 1 or 2 games before the All-Star break. But the Chuckster has never been about just messin' with you during the regular season -- his curse is the complete destruction of your championship hopes in perpetuity.
Been one long nightmare of injuries ever since we cut him loose, proving once again beyond the shadow of a doubt the Curse of Chucky is real. (actually to tell you the truth beyond the one big obvious hole in the lineup last year, we were the healthiest team in the league for the first half of last season and had the same Top 8 guys healthy for all but 1 or 2 games before the All-Star break. But the Chuckster has never been about just messin' with you during the regular season -- his curse is the complete destruction of your championship hopes in perpetuity.
VF21 said:
Well, at least we know how it happened.
Of course, there will undoubtedly be the conspiracy theorists who say that's just a cover story and he was actually fighting in a bar or something.
Of course, there will undoubtedly be the conspiracy theorists who say that's just a cover story and he was actually fighting in a bar or something.
All of these injury problems make me wonder just how durable Bobby Jackson is going to be in 04-05...
I know Adelman said BJax is currently looking great and "fearless", but with this Big Tag injury, and with Christie missing training camp with an open-ended recovery, I can't help but imagine that a recurrence of Bobby's abdominal problems- possibly brought about by the stress of playing full-speed basketball for the first time in many, many months- could deal a disastrous blow to y'alls early season win-loss tally.
Considering Bobby's past injury proclivities, do y'all really want Bobby looking "fearless"?
I know Adelman said BJax is currently looking great and "fearless", but with this Big Tag injury, and with Christie missing training camp with an open-ended recovery, I can't help but imagine that a recurrence of Bobby's abdominal problems- possibly brought about by the stress of playing full-speed basketball for the first time in many, many months- could deal a disastrous blow to y'alls early season win-loss tally.
Considering Bobby's past injury proclivities, do y'all really want Bobby looking "fearless"?
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