2012 looked poised to be, in my own words, “The Year of the Thunder”. They’d knocked off the Spurs to win the Western Conference Championship, and the Thunderstruck movie, starring Kevin Durant, was scheduled to hit theaters in time for Durant and Co. to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Sadly, LeBron James and the Miami Heat had other plans, and knocked the Thunder out in a mere 5 games.
Still, even though we, as Thunder fans, were a bit heartbroken, we remained optimistic. The Thunder had improved from a 23-59 record their first year to 50-32 the next year, when they took the eventual NBA Champion Lakers to 6 games in L.A.’s toughest series against a Western Conference opponent that year. The following year saw a 5-win improvement on the previous season and a trip to the Western Conference Finals, where they took that year’s eventual champions (Mavericks) to 6 games. Even though the Thunder only totaled 47 wins the following season, they punched their ticket to the NBA Finals with a 6-game win over the Spurs. Despite the loss in the Finals, everyone assumed the next logical step was the NBA Championship.
The playoffs rolled around the following year, and a Patrick Beverly late steal attempt on Russell Westbrook tore Westbrook’s meniscus, requiring nothing short of 3 surgeries to finally fix that took away over half of Westbrook’s following regular season. Despite holding down the fort in Westbrook’s absence last season, an calf injury to Serge Ibaka in the subsequent postseason was all the Spurs needed to take advantage, and cruise to an NBA Championship of their own.
This year’s regular season opening tip-off is still 8 days away, and the Thunder already find themselves down 5 players, including the reigning NBA MVP. Kevin Durant underwent surgery 4 days ago for a Jones Fracture in his foot.
Basically, according to SB Nation, a Jones Fracture is a break in the 5th metatarsal, right underneath the pinky toe. For anyone who isn’t flatfooted, that’s the bone that supports the most body weight in your foot. The reason it ended Yao Ming’s career was because he had to carry the bulk of his 311 lbs. on it, and it was apparently too much to ask of said bone. At 240 lbs. KD is significantly lighter. After the successful surgery 4 days ago, he will be re-evaluated 5 1/2 weeks from the time of this writing.
Apparently the quadriceps Kendrick Perkins strained that caused him to miss training camp will have him sidelined the entire preseason as well, as he is still listed out. It’s getting to the point where even Rotoworld sees no reason to start him over Adams when the regular season tips off:
“Even if he does return for Tuesday’s preseason finale, his conditioning may be an issue, and it’s hard to envision him overtaking Steven Adams for the starting C job on opening night.”
Let’s face facts, folks. Steven Adams is on his way up, while Kendrick Perkins is on his way out.
The good news regarding Nick Collison is that, according to Rotoworld, his ankle injury is nothing to worry about:
“His ankle isn’t serious, and the Thunder are just going to be cautious with him considering this is just preseason.”
The team issued an official press release regarding the 21st pick of the 2014 NBA Draft, Mitch McGary, back on October 9th, describing an evaluation that confirmed a fracture in the second metatarsal of his left foot during the preseason opener, and was expected to miss about 6 weeks. Honestly, the casual Thunder fans don’t realize just how much this one hurts the team, because he has tremendous cross-court speed for a man with a 260-lb. frame.
Grant Jerrett’s ankle injury kept him out of the Orlando Summer League, but let’s be honest here. Did he really have a shot at anything but the Injured Reserve roster if he and the rest of the team were fully healthy?
That bruise must have been very deep on Reggie Jackson’s wrist, because he’s the only one still listed as day-to-day on the injury report.
So, judging from everything I’ve gathered, the Thunder should be okay. The NBA season is very long, and not only is McGary expected back by mid-November, Durant will be evaluated somewhere around the first week or two of December. Therefore, there should be a maximum of 24 games played in the regular season before Durant is reevaluated. If he’s cleared upon reevaluation, I see no reason the Thunder won’t contend again this year, depending on who else falls between now and then.
Keep your fingers crossed, Thunder fans. Young guns heal far better than old vets, so I see no reason the Thunder can’t bounce back and shock the world by winning it all. Well, unless the injury bug comes back to bite them a few more times, in which case no team could be expected to withstand that monster and win an NBA Championship. The injury bug can destroy anyone, period.