Chapter 782: Chapter 18 Far Ahead
Because of Ah Gan and the Trail Blazers, the arms race among league frontcourts continues.
The Phoenix Suns parted with Eddie Johnson, trading him for Sam Bowie, which can be considered a painful sacrifice.
Eddie Johnson’s performance with the Suns has always been exceptional; he is an excellent shooter with strong scoring explosiveness.
In a 1988 game against the Clippers, he insanely scored 43 points in one half, helping his team win in overtime.
Johnson was very popular with Phoenix fans; he was one of the league’s earliest players to shoot three-pointers in large quantities, and with considerable accuracy.
However, after Charles Barkley’s arrival, he encroached upon Johnson’s ball-handling and shooting space, leading to a further decline in Johnson’s scoring this season.
In 1989 he averaged 21 points per game, but by 1990 this had dropped to 17 points, and following the start of the current season, it was just an average contribution of 13 points per game, his three-point shooting percentage plunging from 41% to 28%.
On the bench, with the rapid growth of Dan Majerle, Eddie Johnson’s room for performance became increasingly limited.
Now that the team lacks a tall interior presence to defend the three-second zone, trading him for Sam Bowie became the best choice.
Bowie entered the NBA alongside Ah Gan and spent six seasons with the Dallas Mavericks, where his college injuries were better controlled in Dallas.
Moving to the dry climate and warm sunshine of Phoenix is more beneficial in keeping his knees and ankles stable.
For athletes engaged in high-load sports, regional climate significantly impacts their health.
The worst part about Portland is that for a significant part of the time, it’s not only cold but also humid.
Damp and cold environments adversely affect an athlete’s joints, muscles, ligaments, and cardiovascular system.
Not just athletes, but even ordinary people who have aged often choose to live in the sunny states of Arizona and Florida for retirement; otherwise, come winter, many suffer from cardiovascular diseases, pneumonia, colds, or torment from rheumatoid arthritis.
For Sabonis, going to Portland has its upsides; he quickly established himself as a core member of the team’s tactics and followed Ah Gan to clinch many a player’s dream of a Championship Ring.
On the downside, Portland’s climate is unfriendly to his fragile body.
Since the start of the new season, Sabonis’s performance has been on the rise, and after the Trail Blazers lost to the Bulls and the coaching staff made tactical rotation adjustments, Beelman has increasingly valued Sabonis.
In the victory over the Phoenix Suns, Sabonis scored 17 points, grabbed 9 rebounds, delivered 4 assists, made 3 blocks, and had 1 steal, as well as countless pick-and-rolls, screens, mid-court supports, hand-offs, and beautiful passes for his teammates.
With Mitchell Thompson’s severe aging this season, Sabonis’s importance is increasingly highlighted, and his playing time is gradually increasing.
However, after defeating the Suns, Sabonis started feeling discomfort in his knee, and after examination by the team doctor, fluid buildup was found in the knee.
At the age of 26, Sabonis is already a "veteran" who has suffered multiple major injuries; repeated Achilles tendon tears, chronic knee pain, bone spurs in his ankles, and more have been tormenting this Lithuanian giant.
One of the reasons Sabonis was reluctant to come to the NBA was his concern about his body’s ability to endure a full NBA season and adapt to the NBA’s intensity.
There is reason to Sabonis’s concerns; last season, he played a relatively full season, missing only 12 regular-season games and 2 playoff games.
This figures out to 80 games, while in European clubs, a season only calls for a little over 30 games, less than half.
Sabonis also had significant national team commitments, had he not participated in the Olympics while still recovering from injury in 1988, his Achilles tendon and knees wouldn’t have worsened, his explosiveness wouldn’t have dropped so visibly, nor would he have moved so haltingly on the court.
This summer, still injured, Sabonis represented the Soviet Union in the World Men’s Basketball Championship, further aggravating his knee and ankle injuries, causing him to miss the rookie training camp.
As his role within the team increased this season, Sabonis’s playing time significantly increased, followed by the onset of some troubling signs in his body.
Since Gan Guoyang arrived in Portland, the Trail Blazers have always taken player health very seriously, with a complete and efficient medical response system.
As soon as Sabonis mentioned discomfort in his knee, the coaching staff and management immediately arranged for an examination.
After the fluid buildup was discovered, the team doctor recommended rest, and the coaching team decided to follow the doctor’s advice, letting Sabonis rest for at least two weeks to monitor the condition.
With the Trail Blazers currently strong, and Sabonis’s performance improving, of course, he does not want to rest and said to Beelman: "I think it’s not a big deal, just some fluid accumulation. Just drain it, and I can keep playing."
With Sabonis’s experience in the Soviet national team, something like knee effusion is a "minor issue," hardly worth mentioning. One could just drain it, bind it up, and continue playing without any problem.
Beelman shook his head and said, "No, Arvydas, with the Trail Blazers, conditions like yours must require rest until there’s an improvement in the knee inflammation. Rest may not eradicate your leg injuries, but it can significantly slow their onset and reduce the chances of them worsening."
"But I want to help the team; we have good momentum now."
