Late in practice on Monday at the PNY Center, Nets forward Yi Jianlian grabbed an offensive rebound in the lane, kept the ball high and rose for a short jumper. It swished.
A few plays after that, Tony Battie snuck behind Yi and exploded from under the basket for a dunk, leaving Yi smiling and shaking his head as his teammates ribbed him, knowing that he hadn't contested the shot as hard as he could've. It was a wise decision – Yi has worked seven long weeks to regain full health after spraining the MCL in his right knee on November 2nd.
While recovering from that injury, Yi appeared ready to return two weeks ago against the Knicks, but took an inadvertent elbow in practice and had to sit out a week when the lip laceration required surgery and 50 stitches to repair. Unable to excerise because sweat could have infected the healing cut, an already antsy Yi found himself aching to get back on the floor.
"He hasn’t played in 6/7 weeks now, so it takes more than one or two practices to be ready," said Nets coach and GM Kiki Vandeweghe. "But I know he wants to play very badly. We’ll just have to make a judgment call if it’s the right thing to do."
Vandeweghe has been among Yi's biggest supporters since trading for him two summers ago, valuing the 22-year-old's mid-range shooting and rebounding. In three full games before being injured, Yi had averaged 11.6 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.3 blocks. All signs point toward an on-court appearance Wednesday, none moreso than Yi banging throughout practice and then running fluidly and fast during full-court conditioning drills.
"I’ve been out for a while, (but) got extra time for the knee," Yi said. "Everything’s good right now."
A Three-Hour Tour
With their first multi-day layoff since the beginning of the month, Vandeweghe ran the Nets through a three-hour practice, with lead assistant Del Harris breaking down teaching points often. The portion open to the media had a defensive focus, first on the halfcourt trap and then pick-and-roll play.
"I will say it: This is the first chance we’ve had to have a real practice," Vandeweghe stated. "We told the guys that it would be a little bit longer. I’m not a big proponent of long practices with a lot of talking, but today we needed it. So we tried to do things a little bit differently, tried to explain some of the things we’re trying to get done."
Vandeweghe knows that the team is at its best on the move, so he attempted to increase their understanding of offensive options, and impress that dumping the ball to Brook Lopez in halfcourt sets doesn't mean standing around is sensible. He also stressed the importance of making the easy pass.
"When you come in the middle of the season, whether things are going well or badly, you can’t change everything," Vandeweghe said. "You’ve got to build on what you have, so what you try to do is you try to really evaluate what’s working and what’s not working and build on what’s working and try to eliminate the things that aren’t."
CD-R's Ankle, and Other Injuries
Chris Douglas-Roberts, seated in a white T and track pants, socks stuffed into slip-on shower shoes, called himself very, very doubtful for Wednesday's game, which Vandeweghe echoed before declaring the second-year swingman out. Douglas-Roberts said his ankle "swole up real bad" after he rolled it with five minutes to go in Saturday's 103-84 loss to the Lakers. They're working to get the swelling down before he can resume praticing, with this Saturday's Rockets game as a target.
Joining CD-R on the sideline was Eduardo Najera (sore back) and ... that's it! Jarvis Hayes practiced for the first time in a long time, stopping early as the team attempts to ease his return from a strained left hamstring that has caused the swingman to miss 27 games. Hayes is a legit three-point threat, and the Nets need as many of those as they can toss out there – the team is shooting only .268 from deep, worst in the league.
