Dallas Mavericks Should Be Cautious With Injured Dirk Nowitzki
By Miotch
@_Report
Getty Images
It was just a couple of years ago that shooting big guy Dirk Nowitzki suffered a knee injury during the NBA preseason and the Dallas Mavericks expected him to not miss significant time.
Then came knee surgery and, even then, the Mavericks were optimistic that Nowitzki would get back on the court in as little as three weeks. Well, as Nowitzki and Dallas learned, the body just doesn’t heal up as quickly when you’re in your 30s, and the German did not get back on the court until around Christmas.
Now here we are again in the preseason — Nowitzki with that same low pain threshold and even older at 36. Sure, a bruised hip will undoubtedly not require surgery, but of all the nagging injuries out there, a hip injury is one of the worst ones to have. Nowitzki would be pretty psychotic to go out there and play through the pain, because that can lead to a nagging groin injury, or some other type of injury.
The last thing the Mavericks want is the face of the franchise to be hit with all types of injuries. Pushing it now during all these meaningless games, before the team has a pain-free Nowitzki, would mean that Mark Cuban and friends haven’t learned from their prior mistakes.
But the Mavericks organization doesn’t have a short memory. If Cuban and Mavericks GM Donnie Nelson did, they wouldn’t have brought back Tyson Chandler. They should just let the wounds heal.
Miotch is a Mavericks writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on Twitter @Miotch_Report, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your Google Network.
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