ESPN on injury risks

["hironaka@xxxxxxxxx"<hironaka@xxxxxxxxx>]

I hope the World Championships will be a coming out party 
for Paul Pierce. It may be the first time Europe and the 
rest of the world get to see his star qualities. On the 
other hand, ESPN puts a somewhat negative spin on this 
tournament, with Peter May noting that no NBA 1st or 2nd 
team players will participate for USA and Frank Hughes 
suggesting that guys like Paul Pierce risk injury by 
playing in too many games. Pasted below is what Hughes 
wrote. It is purely speculation, but still has big 
time "knock on wood" qualities. I don't see the big deal, 
given that the tournament is at home and Paul's youth. 
But he did play in 97 games last year and training camp 
begins in September if I'm not mistaken. 

Joe

p.s. the Rodney Rogers ESPN radio report is bad news. If 
he signs with NJ for anything near 2 million, I'll be 
disappointed. When he wasn't busy dissing Rogers with 
lame offers, Chris Wallace sped right ahead and spent 1.8 
or so on Waltah, Bruno and JR Bremer. All we can do is 
root for the new guys we added and hope they do better 
than the guys we lost. Go Bruno! Go Waltah! There must be 
some story behind it....something we don't know.


http://espn.go.com/nba/columns/hughes_frank/1416040.html

Payton, who never complains -- at least not about his own 
health -- even admitted that the additional competition 
took its toll on his freak body. When Scottie Pippen was 
playing, he often said that his back problems were a 
result of all the additional time he spent competing in 
the Olympics.

It is an honor, to be sure. And it is a once-in-a-
lifetiime experience, one that most players would love to 
have the opportunity to go through. But this is why you 
are seeing younger rosters being put together by USA 
Basketball, because the oldsters have realized that the 
additional toll it takes on their bodies is not worth it 
when it comes to what essentially amounts to two straight 
seasons of basketball with very little break.

And don't be surprised if you see guys like Ray Allen and 
Michael Finley and Andre Miller and Paul Pierce suffer 
some nagging injuries this coming season -- though they 
are fortunate that the World Championships are taking 
place in Indianapolis and not half a world away, like the 
2000 Olympics.

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