Injuries continue to pile up for the Hornets. Could it be a ‘blessing in disguise?’
The routine began about the same time it typically does.
Nearly everyone else had concluded their pregame activities and worked up a lather when the person people are most inquisitive about appeared. LaMelo Ball spent the better part of the next 15 minutes on the court hoisting up shots from a variety of places, getting it in with Charlotte Hornets assistant coach Marlon Garnett like always.
Since going down in the penultimate game of the preseason with a sprained left ankle – other than seeing him in snazzy street outfits on the Hornets’ bench during the past month – that scene is the lone glimpse patrons have caught of the 21-year-old.
Ball hasn’t played yet. He sat out again during the Hornets’ 98-94 loss to Brooklyn on Saturday, meaning he’s already up to double figures in games missed.
There’s a good chance he’ll return sooner than later – although it won’t be Monday since he’s listed as out against Washington – and just the thought of it has his teammates salivating.
“Super excited, super anxious,” Kelly Oubre said. “I tell him every day I miss him on the court. You know, he’s another element to our team that is through the roof. You can’t put a matchup on him. You know we have a lot of guys that are hard to contain on any given night, one of us is bound to go off.
“Just Godspeed on his recovery, man, because I want him to be healthy and he has a long career in front of him. And that’s most important. But obviously we miss him on the court, so hopefully soon he’ll be back.”
Having lost four straight and six of their past seven games, the Hornets (3-7) are free-falling and could definitely use another boost. They got one with Terry Rozier’s 25-point performance against the Nets in his return from a seven-game absence.
Still, in less than three full weeks of the season, Hornets players have already accumulated 28 games missed due to injury. That number is almost certain to rise after Dennis Smith Jr. exited in the first quarter against the Nets with a sprained left ankle sustained when he tried to get through a Kevin Durant screen.
Add Smith Jr.’s name to a lengthy injury report that includes Ball, Cody Martin and Gordon Hayward, and it’s hard not to wonder how much more a banged up bunch can take.
“I think it’s a blessing in disguise,” Rozier said. “I feel like we can get our injuries out of the way now. We can get a lot of guys feeling good to get their minutes of them playing, and then when we get all our team back we’ll have everybody on one page and we’ll be feeling better about ourselves.
“I feel like it’s better to get it out the way now than later in the season. Obviously, we don’t want to be injured at all. But this is basketball. It’s going to happen.”
The seemingly unrelenting rate that injuries are biting the Hornets is a problem, one that’s magnified with each loss mounting during their losing skid. They can only sustain the setbacks so much and the task is becoming more difficult with each nagging ailment.
Subtracting Rozier from the Hornets’ walking wounded provided a small step in the right direction toward them getting healthy. His scoring and ability to set up others is much-needed and it was hard for the Hornets to fill that void while he was sidelined.
Smith Jr. fared admirably at point guard with Rozier and Ball sidelined, but is listed as questionable for Monday’s game and now faces an uncertain timetable on his return. It’s also unclear exactly when Martin, who’s listed as doubtful, and Hayward (out) will be back and there’s no doubt the Hornets could use the services of both.
Hayward provides them with extra playmaking and does many things that go unnoticed. Sure, he has to be better in the fourth quarter and admitted as such after the loss in New York. But his scoring, defensive communication and veteran presence is needed.
Martin has been their best defender during the past two seasons, and he brings a different mindset on that side of the ball compared to anyone else on the team. Injuries have nagged him since the preseason, first beginning with left knee tendinopathy that kept him out of all but one of five preseason games. Then in the season opener in San Antonio, he logged less than a minute before leaving with left quad soreness.
A frustrating experience can get worse if he tries to push it too much and that’s why he isn’t rushing it. Intelligence has to outweigh any true desires.
“I’ve just got to listen to my body, really,” Martin told The Charlotte Observer. “Just continue to have communication with the staff. That’s the best thing I can do right now. They are doing a really good job of making sure I get what I need and right now we are just playing it by ear. So, until I feel like I can go where I’m in a good head space with it, I’ll be all right. But right now it’s just continuing to take care of business.”
Not playing is eating him alive, though. The prideful Mocksville native is a basketball junkie and being reduced to mostly spectator status doesn’t fly well with him.
“It sucks, man,” Martin said. “It sucks sitting out. I never like to sit there and watch, but at the same time I’ve got to take care of my body. And at the end of the day anybody that knows me knows I don’t sit out for nothing. It’s me just making sure I’m right where I need to be.”
This story was originally published November 6, 2022 at 11:15 AM.
