MAVS NEWS:

[SleepingHero]

Cooper Flagg Muse (@CooperFMuse)
"I'm gonna say something that might be controversial: Victor Wembanyama got a lot of attention being the #1 pick. I could see Cooper Flagg impacting winning more than Victor did in his rookie year"

-Bob Myers on Cooper Flagg

[SleepingHero]

Mavs Film Room (@MavsFilmRoom)
Nico Harrison just said that Kyrie Irving is “ahead of schedule” on his rehab, but that the team isn’t trying to rush him back

[KillerLeft]

Mavs Film Room (@MavsFilmRoom)
Nico Harrison just said that Kyrie Irving is “ahead of schedule” on his rehab, but that the team isn’t trying to rush him back

That's the right answer from both sides of the conversation.

[F Gump]

Return from an ACL does not take an eternity.

Kyrie is smart to manage expectations regarding a timeline he really cannot control (because as much of it is about NOT overdoing how you work your body, as well as doing enough, making the process a highwire to navigate).

The over/under on his return FOR MY SATISFACTION is Jan 15.

I still expect that when they get to camp, we will hear how Kyrie is on the court getting shooting done - which will cause us all to get overly expectant as to a return any day now, which will be overly optimistic. Then a couple months after that, more or less, he'll start working his way into games on a regular basis.

[KillerLeft]

I still expect that when they get to camp, we will hear how Kyrie is on the court getting shooting done - which will cause us all to get overly expectant as to a return any day now, which will be overly optimistic. Then a couple months after that, more or less, he'll start working his way into games on a regular basis.

Funny you should say that, because I literally just heard on a podcast not 45 seconds ago that he’s. ALREADY on he court shooting.

[F Gump]

Funny you should say that, because I literally just heard on a podcast not 45 seconds ago that he’s. ALEADY on he court shooting.

Had not heard that -- if true, obviously way sooner than what I opined (which itself was way sooner than anyone was saying) --- but yeah, that's what I've been talking about, that the doom and gloom over how long until his return has been way oversold, and we will see that as it all unfolds.

[myconsumerclub]

If Irving returns close to his old self then AD stays healthy through the playoffs and we get gradual improvement from Flagg so that he slowly becomes the guy we all hope he turns into then I think we will all be very happy the way the team is going by the time Kyrie is back playing for a week or 2. You fit in the 2 headed center plus Klay, PJ and Max plus our 4 backup point guards to allow us to rest Kyrie, damn that is a hell of a team on paper and if we see the guys who can hit 40% from 3 hitting it from 3 that is the goal we must reach. All we have left to do is maximize our summers bounty by finding new homes for the bottom of our bench so we can take advantage of guys getting cut and or bought out or offered in trades and who knows what by the TDL. The weird offseason we just had to watch has me ready for some basketball and seeing what kind of team we have now. Are we going to still be more of a playoff team than a regular season dominator like OKC or are are the mavs going to evolve into something new and different? If they find new homes for Hardy OMax Powell and Martin who will they bring in? Which old veteran is going to retire first from our group of older guys? How do we plan ahead to replace that guy in the rotation?

[DallasMaverick]

Funny you should say that, because I literally just heard on a podcast not 45 seconds ago that he’s. ALREADY on he court shooting.

They drill holes in the two bones, insert the new ligament, and then wait for it to heal.

Right about now is when Kyrie feels great. PT is working on range of motion, strength, etc.

But vulnerability is very high. The new ligament attachments are at a fraction of full strength, so it’s easy to re-tear by doing too much.

Full strength in 8-10 months.

[Smitty]

@TheSteinLine
Dallas' Dereck Lively II recently underwent a procedure on his right foot,
@TheSteinLine has learned, followed by placement in a boot.

This means three key Mavericks are in injury recovery: Kyrie Irving (knee), Anthony Davis (eye) and Lively.

[Smitty]

@TheSteinLine
Dallas' Dereck Lively II recently underwent a procedure on his right foot,
@TheSteinLine has learned, followed by placement in a boot.

This means three key Mavericks are in injury recovery: Kyrie Irving (knee), Anthony Davis (eye) and Lively.

I've been one of the more vocal ones here about Lively and his long-term health. I'm officially at Red Alert levels...

[Smitty]

@ShamsCharania
Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II has undergone surgery to clean up bone spurs in his right foot, sources tell ESPN. He is expected to be healthy for training camp.

@TheSteinLine
Lively, I’m told, is now out of the boot after having bone spurs removed.

[Chicagojk]

@ShamsCharania
Dallas Mavericks center Dereck Lively II has undergone surgery to clean up bone spurs in his right foot, sources tell ESPN. He is expected to be healthy for training camp.

@TheSteinLine
Lively, I’m told, is now out of the boot after having bone spurs removed.

Makes sense why he was not in Vegas or at some of the public Flagg stuff in Dallas.  lively is typically pretty visible.  Been quiet this summer. Think we know why.

[Winter]

"clean up bone spurs"
"ready for training camp"

Two good things on a day with no news.

[Smitty]

@TheSteinLine
The Mavericks were hopeful that Lively would not require offseason surgery after being limited to 36 games by the injury last season but the expectation is that the 21-year-old will be available for the start of Dallas’ training camp in late September.

[KillerLeft]

I've been one of the more vocal ones here about Lively and his long-term health. I'm officially at Red Alert levels...

A few minor injuries right away don't bother me to red alert levels...but, this latest one being a foot injury that took them multiple attempts to get under control is concerning. Big men and foot injuries are traditionally not a great combination. Hopefully it's a one time thing.

[F Gump]

Bone spurs are a progressive thing, but once cleaned out the recovery is relatively fast, and they are incredibly benign as far as ongoing effects afterward. They typically come from having other issues (such as sprained ankles) and take lots of time to develop, so his broken foot was too recent to be related.

But yes, even though this won't cost him any loss of games, Lively seems to be very brittle, and it's been an ongoing issue so far.

[SleepingHero]

I've been one of the more vocal ones here about Lively and his long-term health. I'm officially at Red Alert levels...

Bone spurs, in terms of medical "red alert" levels, is about as benign as it gets. They're a painful annoyance sure, but the treatment for it is very simple. Lively should be totally back and ready to go by October.

[Smitty]

Bone spurs, in terms of medical "red alert" levels, is about as benign as it gets. They're a painful annoyance sure, but the treatment for it is very simple. Lively should be totally back and ready to go by October.

My comment was made before the 'bone spurs' part was reported. Even so, it's very concerning.

This morning, I posted this on discord before any Lively news: "Arguably the biggest season of Lively's young career. If he can show that he can stay on the floor, it'll lead to a big extension. Another year of less than 50% games played, it's going to be difficult to give him bigger money."

There are several that try to minimize and explain every reason he's missed games. I get the same push back every time I mention my concern. The fact remains, he's only played in 55% of games through two years and now has a major foot injury that are known to be troublesome for NBA Bigs.

[RoyTarpleysGhost]

@TheSteinLine
Dallas' Dereck Lively II recently underwent a procedure on his right foot,
@TheSteinLine has learned, followed by placement in a boot.

This means three key Mavericks are in injury recovery: Kyrie Irving (knee), Anthony Davis (eye) and Lively.

I am consistent in being OUT on often injured players, whether it's the Mavericks, Rangers or Cowboys. The biggest predictor of future injuries is past injuries.

Therefore, even before this surgery news, I am not a Lively guy at all.  If someone values him as a franchise center, I would look into moving him.   You have Gafford and AD to cover that position.  I really like the kid but he's missing 50% of games at 20 and 21 years old, with various different injuries.

[SleepingHero]

My comment was made before the 'bone spurs' part was reported. Even so, it's very concerning.

This morning, I posted this on discord before any Lively news: "Arguably the biggest season of Lively's young career. If he can show that he can stay on the floor, it'll lead to a big extension. Another year of less than 50% games played, it's going to be difficult to give him bigger money."

There are several that try to minimize and explain every reason he's missed games. I get the same push back every time I mention my concern. The fact remains, he's only played in 55% of games through two years and now has a major foot injury that are known to be troublesome for NBA Bigs.

I get that the end goal -being Lively has to be more available- is a correct and reasonable thing to pursue.

But context matters. And almost every single one of his injuries has been complete flukes. 

Rookie season in order starting from October:

Illness- missed 1 game
Bruised back- missed 1 game
Ankle sprain- missed 4 games
Ankle sprain- missed 4 games 
Broken nose- missed 7 games
Personal reasons (later discovered his mother's illness was terminal and her condition rapidly worsened)- missed 1 game
"Knee"- again later discovered the team let him go to be with his dying mother- missed the last 8 games of the season. Lively's mom passed April 12th

From his rookie year, of the 26 games that he missed, only 8 of them came from actual real injuries that were due to his "fragility". The broken nose was a freak accident. The bruised back came off a putback dunk where he landed hard. And the last 9 games were due to his mothers' rapidly worsening cancer diagnosis and eventual death.

I think that's reasonable.

His 2nd year you can definitely critique being fragile, although I think more of that is due to the Mavs training staff was quite literally a bunch of amateurs employed by Nico.

Going through those injuries and time missed:

Shoulder- missed 4 games
Illness- missed 1 game
Bruised hip- missed 4 games 
Stress fracture on the ankle- missed the rest of the season.

SO yeah, definitely more concerning type of injuries this year. But the Mavs were about to go let Lively play on a sprain before discovering how serious his injury actually was. I blame the medical/training staff than I do put the fragility on Lively. Context matters. Of all his injuries realistically only the ankle stuff has been concerning.