NBA: Injuries Force Rookies To Stall Their Debuts

The 2013 NBA Draft had its unorthodox importance as a draft year. While no players were expected to turn their lottery team around into a contender, many have been projected with ceilings as solid starters or role players in the league.

Nonetheless, some rookies have already shined while others have already suffered setbacks. A couple early season injuries are noteworthy, but are overshadowed by one rookie who is expected to miss the entire 2013-14 season already.

C.J. McCollum:
The 6’4” combo guard from Lehigh University is having old injuries come back to haunt him. In early January while playing for the Mountain Hawks, McCollum broke a bone in his left foot that caused his NCAA career to come to an abrupt end and it appears it has made a comeback to stall his NBA debut.

McCollum is expected to miss six weeks, which can be crucial to the Portland Trail Blazers, who will need all the help they can get to make it into the postseason. He was drafted by the Blazers to light it up on the scoreboard and he showed flashes of his ability in the Las Vegas Summer League, where he averaged 21 points.

With the Western Conference more stacked than ever, can the Blazers afford to go at least a month without C.J. McCollum?

Now that the team will go through at least the first month of the regular season with McCollum, the Blazers will have to adjust by giving Wesley Matthews and Nicolas Batum more minutes at the shooting guard position. Perhaps smallball will also come into play with a Damian Lillard–Mo Williams backcourt.

The Blazers did a nice job of adding to their bench this summer and McCollum was one of the factors into that. While they’ll miss his shooting, the Blazers should be able to adjust.

Trey Burke:
The Utah Jazz will have to wait at least a month for the Trey Burke era to begin. After breaking his right index finger against the Los Angeles Clippers on Oct. 12, word broke out that he will need to undergo surgery. Since his surgery, there have been multiple reports on his expected return to the court. Burke, however, cleared up how much time he expects to miss on his Twitter account.

This may be a blessing in disguise for the Utah Jazz, who seem to be on a mission to tank this season for a better selection in the 2014 NBA Draft. While no team outright admits to tanking, no one trades for Richard Jefferson and Andris Biedrins in hopes of making a playoff run. With their expiring contracts and lack of expectations on the team, it’s clear that they’re making a summer 2014 run to recharge the team.

Nerlens Noel:
Operation Tank For Wiggins is in full effect for the Philadelphia 76ers. In a recent interview, Sixers head coach Brett Brown said many, including himself, on the Sixers staff are doubtful of Nerlens Noel seeing any playing time at all this season.

Noel is still recovering from the torn ACL he suffered in February with the Kentucky Wildcats. While he was expected to be back in time to play in a good amount of his first season, the Sixers appear to prefer sitting him and starting from square one in order to help him build an offensive game.

The current plan for the Sixers is for Nerlens Noel to make his regular season debut in the 2014-15 season, hopefully alongside Andrew Wiggins. (NBA.com photo)

The team has gone from having All-Star guard Jrue Holiday to raw center Noel to nothing to show for the upcoming season. However, Sixers fans are also getting used to their starting centers not playing for the team (cough * Andrew Bynum * cough).

And while the Bynum acquisition was expected to be a building block towards a real playoff run, the Sixers pushed the reset button this summer with this move and want to give the team a whole new look, which can be one interpretation of their slogan “Together We Build.” Though it came at the expense of Noel’s injury, the Sixers are in prime position now to get more ping pong balls than any other team in next summer’s lottery, which is what they were hoping for anyway.

By the way, can you imagine a team with Andrew Wiggins and Nerlens Noel as the building blocks? That’s just insane potential.

[slider_pro id=”23″]