Thought Starter...
Mentally moving on?
The Lakers have had long stretches this year where news on Jarred Vanderbilt has essentially been non-existent. And for the most part, it has been a matter of no news not equaling good news: There’s no update because he’s not making progress.
Well, sometimes getting news isn’t good, either. Such was the case Wednesday, when the Lakers did check in on Jarred Vanderbilt. And ... it’s not great! His feet aren’t healing as fast as the Lakers had hoped. Is it a “setback?” They say no, likely framing “setback” as something involving a recurrence of the injury. This isn’t that, but he’s also not recovering as fast as the Lakers clearly had hoped when training camp began. So they’ll slow things down, and reassess in a couple weeks.
Needless to say, if Vando’s rehab is ramping down more than up, it means it’s unlikely he’s on the floor for at least a month. Possibly more. And the length of his absence, combined with the recovery from injury, makes it fair to wonder how effective he’d be upon his return. How long would he need to round into form? Remember, last year Vanderbilt played poorly after he returned from injury the first time, and then he got hurt again. (A sequence of events surely on the team’s mind as they try to navigate this year’s problems.) It wasn’t until he came back the second time that Vando actually made positive contributions.
So given how slowly this has gone, should the Lakers, even 14 games in (with 15 tonight at home against Orlando) approach the rest of the year as if Vanderbilt won’t make a meaningful contribution? Would that be the wisest course of action? To prepare for the worst, and be surprised if happier events intervene?
Overheard In This Episode...
1. “I do think though that when it comes to just the handling of information and even setting of expectations and understanding with Vando, this has been a long process of confusion generated on their end or confusion allowed to be generated.”
2. “I would just assume he’s not going to play. I would assume that you have a Kendrick Nunn situation, that you have a Vincent situation from last year where, yeah, Vincent came back, but he was sort of fundamentally unplayable when he did.”
3. “I think specificity can at least on some level, double for competence. And when you aren’t getting your players back and you’re not communicating what’s going on well... Taken individually, these things may not matter a lot. Taken collectively, they get much, much worse.”
