Rookie Ladder: Cavs’ Mobley slowly pulling away in yearlong race

Are Injuries A Cause For Concern?

A couple of members of this year’s rookie class have not had the best of luck when it comes to injuries. Jalen Green missed a lot of time early on in the season because of a hamstring injury. He missed 14 of the Rockets games to deal with the injury.

He’s also not the only one, as Cade Cunningham and Chris Duarte have also been injury-plagued this season. With that being said, I think the Pacers and Pistons are taking very cautious approaches to these injuries, which is absolutely the right thing to do. However, one has to ask, especially in the wake of the Zion Williamson saga, are some of these injuries a cause for concern?

Throughout the course of an NBA career players deal with a multitude of injuries. Anything from ankle soreness to minor back injuries, and injuries of that manner, I usually am pretty optimistic. For example, Darius Garland missed a handful of games with a sore back after the All-Star break. The Cavs decided to rest him and get him healthy for this stretch, and right now it’s paid off.

However, there are certain injuries that always worry me in young players. Whenever a player has a consistent hamstring injury, I get nervous. When you injure your hamstring, you never really know when you are good to go 100% again. On top of that, hamstring strains and pulls happen every day. When a young player like Jalen Green gets a hamstring injury early on, I take note. It has looked like Green has come back stronger from the injury, but time will tell.

As for Cade Cunningham, his hip has bothered him the most this season, but I’m not really concerned about that. It seems like the NBA has gotten smarter about injuries, and instead of rushing a rookie back to health, most teams decide to play it safe and be cautious. Overall, I don’t see any glaring injury problems right now, and hopefully, that remains the case.

Just because I think Evan Mobley has already locked up the Rookie of the Year Award doesn’t mean he actually does have it locked up. He will get stiff competition from Cunningham and Barnes. Barnes and Mobley will be needed heavily down the stretch as their teams try and qualify for the playoffs. I’m sure the Pistons would like to see Cunningham’s season end on a good note, so we should get a lot of great games down the stretch. While I do think Evan Mobley is a lock for Rookie of the Year, stranger things have happened.