Agreed that this is a really good interview and insight into who he is. I like a lot of what he said about injury, identity and mindset.
This part is upsetting:
>What are some examples of the minor things you play through?
>I’ve had a banged-up hip, for example. When I walk, I feel it on every step. But it’s not going to stop me from playing. After I warm up, I can get it going.
>Unseld also said that the Wizards’ medical staff tries to take preventative measures with managing you. How have you seen that?
>I want to play every game. Even when my back has been stiff as hell [recently], I wanted to get it going. But they said, ‘We have to take it easy a little bit. Let the back come back to normal.’
I get that he wants to shed his image as injury prone and him playing like 75 out of 82 games or something would look fantastic in season wrapups I’m sure. But it just understates how much this team should be tanking. Yes, “everybody’s going through something”. But right now we need to think strategically. And realistically he has the injury-prone label for a reason. Beal had a significant injury in his left hamstring issue that kept him out for weeks on end. THEN he hurt the OTHER hammy. That’s serious. Gaff has now twisted his ankle. Rui missed 21 games or something and a month of playing time because of an ankle. Corey missed a month because of an ankle.
I wish the Wizards staff and front office would just take what they’re being given (a free ticket to ‘legally’ tank) and dammit, tank already
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Great read. Thanks for sharing.
Agreed that this is a really good interview and insight into who he is. I like a lot of what he said about injury, identity and mindset.
This part is upsetting:
>What are some examples of the minor things you play through?
>I’ve had a banged-up hip, for example. When I walk, I feel it on every step. But it’s not going to stop me from playing. After I warm up, I can get it going.
>Unseld also said that the Wizards’ medical staff tries to take preventative measures with managing you. How have you seen that?
>I want to play every game. Even when my back has been stiff as hell [recently], I wanted to get it going. But they said, ‘We have to take it easy a little bit. Let the back come back to normal.’
I get that he wants to shed his image as injury prone and him playing like 75 out of 82 games or something would look fantastic in season wrapups I’m sure. But it just understates how much this team should be tanking. Yes, “everybody’s going through something”. But right now we need to think strategically. And realistically he has the injury-prone label for a reason. Beal had a significant injury in his left hamstring issue that kept him out for weeks on end. THEN he hurt the OTHER hammy. That’s serious. Gaff has now twisted his ankle. Rui missed 21 games or something and a month of playing time because of an ankle. Corey missed a month because of an ankle.
I wish the Wizards staff and front office would just take what they’re being given (a free ticket to ‘legally’ tank) and dammit, tank already