Golden State “Injuries”

     Good evening my fellow after hour crew, we’re back this evening with more NBA news, stats, and highlights. Let’s start off by discussing the Golden State Warriors and their injury crisis. As we all may know Golden State have been low on luck this season when it comes to keeping their star players healthy and game ready. The good news is, franchise point guard and two time MVP Stephen Curry has made his return to the court over the weekend after an 11 game absence. Curry was out due to a groin injury he suffered in November. Even though Curry is back on the court, the defending champs are still dealing with their fair share of injury problems. Demarcus Cousins still hasn’t yet been cleared after suffering an achillies tear last season as a member of the New Orleans Pelicans. Demarcus is a franchise player and a top 5 big man in the league with stats to prove so. Through his 8 year career in the NBA Cousin averaged 21.5 points, 11 rebounds, and 3.2 assists. Now you don’t have to be a basketball expert to know that those are amazing stats for a big man. Center at that! With Cousins out the Warriors haven’t been at their best. Their current record is 16-9 after losing some very winnable games. After losing those games it’s apparent that the dubs are going to suffer this season if they don’t get their players back soon. Draymond Green is also on injury reserve with a toe injury. His absence also play a big part in the Warriors L’s. His role on that team is the reason I say that. He’s one of the leagues top defenders and top rebounders. He is also one of five main scorers on the loaded Gold State Warriors roster including Keving Durant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Demarcus cousins. The champs need to step it up if they are even thinking about defending their title this year in the championship.

      Since we’re discussing championships, it looks as though the Toronto Raptors are going to be one of the teams playing. They have a surprising record of 20-5! For the past 8 years the Raptors have always been a top tier playoff team. Their roster include NBA all star Kyle Lowry at the guard and all star and NBA finals champion Kawhi Leonard. The raptors have acquired Leonard this past off season in a trade with the Spurs for All star shooting guard DeMar DeRozan. Some questioned the trade, while others was filled with anger after the trade. DeRozan had brought a lot of marketablility to the Raptors organization and it seemed as though he would retire a Raptor. After hearing about the trade DeRozan said “ It’s politics man.. It’s politics.” He seemed very upset with the fact that he was traded but also was a man about the situation. Instead of going back and fourth on why he was traded he took time to get to know his new teammates and put in more hours in the gym. Trades like these shows a player true character, especially if your a big time player because the cameras and action will be on you. You would want to be positive in these situations because there are going to be cameras on you with thousands maybe million of of kids watching your reaction. You want to show children or just people you influence to not let situations you can’t control bring you out of your character.

     There are lessons in every situation we as humans face. As we wrap it up I want you to take a minute and think how would you have acted if you were in DeRozan shoes. Would you speak on how you felt about the trade publicly and risk your job playing the game you love addressing your feelings on national television? Or would you just let the league owners toss you around team to team like a puppet? How do you explain that to a kid who doesn’t quite understand the politics of the NBA? The kid who wants to be the next DeRozan. What advice would you give the kids coming up?  I’m going to leave that there for you to think about. Comment your responses below. I’m interested in what you would do because I hear a lot of debates on this topic. Have a nice weekend and try not to get into the politics of the game too much. You still want to be able to enjoy watching the game. Lol