[NYFLAVA2K9Participant]

 Sad news today for Minnesota fans, the league and most importantly Zach. He’s a player I’ve been rooting for as I think he has all-star potential and is the X-Factor to his teams future hopes.

As noted on this site before… how much do you think his minutes played into this? Hindsight is 20/20 but a lot of us noted concern going back a while now. Is this on Thibs? What do you see for the T-Wolves and Zach’s future?

IMO, while this is the definition of a set back, I feel Zach will be fine. If anyone has athleticism to spare it’s him. His improved  shooting touch and work ethic also gives me confidence in his ability to bounce back.  This will also free up a bunch of minutes for Dunn and solidify a high draft pick. Look out next year as I see Zach coming back with a vengeance!

 

 

[BleedGreen808Participant]

 Terrible news for Minny and NBA fans.  Really hope he bounces back from the injury like Jabari did.  

[ZouldiersParticipant]

 A lot. He’s playing the 3rd most minutes among guards in the league. Thibodeau must really calm down when it comes to pushing his player’s playing time. Luckily, I don’t see him ending up like D-Rose.

[HitsterParticipant]

 As soon as I saw this his workload came to mind. Lots of players do play heavy minutes, Kyle Lowry who is 9 years older than Lavine and has a lot more miles on the clock has played most MPG this season. But the T-Wolves have 3 guys in the top 7 MPG in the NBA and they aren’t even in the play off picture. If it was say the top 3 players at GSW, Cleveland etc then we could understand it.

Even looking down the list James Harden is the only Houston player in the top 20 MPG and Mike D’Antoni used to be notorious for using a limited often 8 man  rotation.

With LaVine out until next season, it will be interesting to see how this could effect T-Wolves draft plans and if Thibs maybe decides to "tank" and give his full roster more minutes. Also could Rubio ironically be in play with deadline day coming up.

The only good thing apart from hoping that Zach makes a full recovery is that Dunn will hopefully get 30 odd starts until end of the season and have a chance to see some good court time,

 

 

 

[r377Participant]

Thibs is to blame. Look at Noah, Rose and Deng, now LaVine.

Doesn’t help playing 82 games in a season. Most leagues around the world only play 20-26 games per season

[Andv1 WaitingParticipant]

The only thing you can possibly blame Thibs for is Rose and that was because he shouldn’t have been in as they had a lead.

Noah was injury prone before Thibs turned up-See Shoulder issues/surgery before Thibs even got there.

Deng had about 5-6 seasons on his body before Thibs even Turned up..

and Lavine was a freak fall(how does he get blame for that) during regular minutes of the 3rd quarter which even their medical staff thought it wasn’t much at the time as Lavine proceeded to walk around and play more minutes by his own choice, but left when it got to much(He even didn’t realize it was that bad at the time apparently)..

If you look at how much he plays his stars vs other teams stars they are playing pretty similar minutes which is not that much if you think about it..It will help them understand what it takes to play big minutes and have to still play at a high level vs you have them playing low minutes then if they do some how make it to the playoffs soon they won’t know how to handle the load..Plus its not like their stars are in their first year out of College..

 

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

Smh tore it in his dominant jumping leg too. 

He’ll be fine though. Biggest obstacle is mental. With the physical therapy, rehab, etc he’ll put in, he’ll come back even more athletic to be honest. Think of Jabari Parker. Lavine is strong mentally & has that stubborn/arrogant/cocky sort of mindset. Plus youth is on his side. He’ll be just fine.

My prediction is there’ll be a lot of talk he could be ready to start next season, but I think he’ll return late Nov.

[SmooveKRYPTParticipant]

It’s not even just the minutes in this case (3rd most in the league) He leads the NBA in miles ran per game. That’s a lot of stress to put on a 21 year old body, especially considering how explosive he is vertically.

I got to watch 2 full games of theirs recently – against Denver on the 22nd and against Cleveland earlier this week. It could’ve just been bad nights for him, but he looked worn down both games. It was sad to see the news earlier today.

I don’t worry about him losing much athletically, he’s young enough that he should heal fine. I just hope it doesn’t shake his confidence because he was really playing well offensively.

 

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

Everyone is blaming Thibs, but I don’t know how anyone can. There’s no direct correlation between minutes played and ACL tears. 

Most are freak injuries, but I think it just comes down to weak muscles around the knee. 

 

[EndlessknightParticipant]

Can you cite the study that showed there was no correlation?

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2012/04/30/doc-acl-tears-arent-overuse-injuries/

“There is no evidence that wear and tear, or that kind of issue, playing too much, really has any correlation with ACL injuries in any sport that we’ve ever studied”

– Dr. David Altchek from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York

That’s not a “study”, but Dr. David Altchek is a well respected doctor who has performed reconstructive surgery on plenty of athletes.

There’s just not enough evidence to suggest that simply playing a lot of minutes causes ACL tears. I’ve torn my ACL twice and it was NEVER because I was playing too much. My issues were I had weak muscles and wasn’t in proper condition. I also think I spent my whole life focusing on performance based training instead of injury prevention training (which is what majority of athletes do).

There’s just so much that goes into this. The good news is that doctors and those who specialize in bio mechanics are working to figure it out.

[OhCanada-Participant]

 Please do not blame Thibs! please!

Wiggins and Towns always had a heavy load under Flip Saunders and Sam Mitchell who are also grinding coaches. I’m sure Lavine is fine with playing heavy minutes.

[no skillsParticipant]

 man i feel bad for him and for the fans. so this is what three guys from the lotto of that draft class so far (hopefully the last of them too) that have torn their acl?

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

 Tough break for the Wolves given he was one of  3 guys that could produce points for them this year. 

The injury/minutes thing fits a nice narrative but it makes no sense whatsoever. He banged his knee on Drummond which was what I think caused the injury. As Indiana mentioned there is no correlation between minutes and acl tears. Those things just happen to tear sometimes with the right (or wrong I guess) kind of contact. Just so happens that he was also playing a ton. 

Thibs has made thsi year entirely about loading the young 3 core guys with minutes so they know exactly what they have. Not sure they entirely know what they have with Lavine so this injury is a bummer. Media here say he’s a grinder though and there’s little doubt he’ll grind his way back from this just like anything. 

It will be interesting to see if this changes how they approach the rest of this season. People keep thinking Thibs is going to make some sort of panic trade for vets to "win now" but he’s yet to even show a hint of that. It’s been all about the youngsters which I like. Locals don’t because they carry the emotional baggage of 13 years of no playoffs but Thibs doesn’t. This is year one for him. 

 

 

 

[Andv1 WaitingParticipant]

My guess is once the statiscal chance of them making the Playoffs is out of the Window Thibs will do the following:

Give Dunn minutes.

Unintentionally tank the season to try get a higher pick/better asset

See if Bjelicia is the answer at Pf(starting wise)

Lower Kat and Wiggins minutes down a little

and most likely stand pat barring a small trade like the P.J tucker for Shabbaz rumor that is out there.

Then try go into next season with the following:

 A healthy roster. I would however bring Lavine off the bench intially though until he is fully  healthy

Most likely one last Rookie-Hopefully either Futlz or Taytum who would be nice fits in Thibs system. Futlz also gives Lavine a bit more time to recover as he can legitimately play PG or SG due to nice shot/range.

Then fill all other needs in Free Agency if possible.

 

 

 

 

 

[holefillers1Participant]

I always feel bad for guys who get hurt but the Wolves will be better without him. Probably most over hyped player in the league.  

[BiggysmallsParticipant]

 Might be overhyped…doesn’t mean he’s not better than the next guy

[CynthiaParticipant]

Karma for denying us a LaVine/Gordon rematch in the dunk contest.

Yeah I know that was a little dark, sorry. It does make you wonder if that’s why he rejected the dunk contest, like he could feel his body breaking down a bit and didn’t want to risk injury. Either way it sucks, he’s one of the most fun players to watch. He’s young I think he can bounce back.

[Author]

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