Suns Well on the Road to Recovery
Posted: March 8, 2010
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Barring any setbacks during the team’s five-day lull in the schedule, Leandro Barbosa, Goran Dragic and Steve Nash are expected to play when Kobe Bryant and Co. come to town later this week.
All three players were at practice Monday, although in different capacities. Nash and Dragic played spectators, working with the Suns training staff on low-impact exercises, while LB was enjoying his first real activity since undergoing surgery to remove a cyst in his right wrist on January 26.
Before being officially cleared to practice, Barbosa was relegated to some pregame shootarounds and playing two-on-two against his younger teammates since last week. The Suns have sported a 14-6 record in Barbosa’s absence.
“We’ll practice this week,” Barbosa said, “and if I feel comfortable, I’ll be OK to play Friday. I’m very hungry to come back and help my teammates. I don’t know if I’ll have the same minutes I used to have, but I’m just going to help the team. The bench is playing great, and I just want to add to that.”
Pushed by the Suns training staff during his personal path back, an appreciative LB showed he certainly hasn’t lost his touch when it comes to his jumper or his conditioning on the court.
“I feel great,” he said. “The arm is still a bit weak. I need to get better in the weight room, but it’s better than what it was. I’m happy about that.
“You have to be patient and positive. The playoffs are coming soon, so you just have to stay tough (mentally). With any sport, you’re going to get hurt. Be patient and stay strong mentally. I’m fine with that.”
In the 29 games the Brazilian guard has played this season, Phoenix has scored 100 or more points in 28 of them. That said, Senior Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin and the rest of the team are very excited to see what the guard’s addition will mean to the Suns who are 8-2 over their last 10 games.
“The thing with the Barbosa situation is that Goran isn’t 100 percent yet,” Griffin told Suns.com. “We really need to know that one of those two guys will be ready to play significant minutes Friday. Our team really gets a shot in the arm off the bench when LB is healthy. Because we start Robin Lopez now, we have found a way to balance our defensive presence in the starting lineup. In the second unit, we haven’t found a way to replace LB’s offense. Having Channing Frye and Leandro together give us incredible floor spacing in the second unit and give us the ability to really keep pressure on teams offensively. Now we’ll have the ability to defend and 'blitzkrieg score' on people. During this time we’ve played so well, we really haven’t had that 'shock-and-awe' scoring we used to have, and maybe a healthy LB gives us that.”
Enjoying a solid second year in the league, Dragic missed his second-consecutive game Saturday, after sitting out with a sprained right ankle suffered against the Clippers last week.
“Goran is progressing nicely,” Head Athletic Trainer Aaron Nelson told Suns.com. “We won’t have him do anything tomorrow on the court as far as practice. Wednesday, we’re off. If he’s doing well Thursday morning, we’ll get him into practice that day and potentially have him play Friday.”
Dragic spent most of Monday’s practice on an elliptical machine before later hitting the free throw line – happily limp-free.
“When I twisted it, I thought I’d be out for two weeks,” Dragic said. “The first few days, my ankle was hurting really bad. Now I’m walking without pain. The training staff fixed me in four days. It feels great now. It’s perfect to have five days off. We had all these problems – LB, me and Steve… we just need to get healthy for Friday.”
According to Nelson, Nash figures to have the smallest workload this week as he tries to brush off the effects of a bad back and an abdominal strain.
“Steve is also progressing well,” the head athletic trainer said. “We have four days to do all the things we need to do with him from the manual corrective component. He may do some shooting, but that’s all he’ll do these next few days.”
Usually a stickler for keeping to a well-maintained schedule, even the All-Star point guard is looking forward to the reduced hours through Friday.
“It’s a good week to recuperate,” Nash told Suns.com. “Hopefully this will serve us really well for the last 17 games and the playoffs. The rest for me will be one part less pounding and one part mental. I have to do a lot of rehabilitation training to get myself back to full strength.
“You can always use a mental break, and use it when you get it.”
In addition to a plethora of exercises designed to get his “body moving and moving properly again” during this near-offweek, physiotherapist Rick Celebrini is rumored to be headed to the Valley for two days to help Nash get game-ready.
“It gives Steve the time to recover, as opposed to just maintaining the condition he’s in,” Griffin said. “He’ll work with Rick, who’s coming in from Vancouver, tomorrow and Wednesday. He’s done great things with him in the past, and that also gives Aaron Nelson and Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Mike Elliott more time with him, too. The more time they have to work on somebody, the better.
“Steve’s maintained himself so well over the years, no player puts in more work to be prepared to play a game than he does.”
Even with the Suns playing some of their best basketball as of late, this is one time Phoenix is just fine with a much-needed timeout.
“The break came exactly at the right time,” Griffin said. “If there was ever a team that was listing into port, it’s us. We were running on fumes. The fact we had played more games than everybody else, you’d like the schedule to be a little more balanced. The way this could work out for us could really be advantageous, especially heading into the playoffs.”
