Houston Rockets Veteran Guard Suffers Broken Left Foot: Report

geraldgreen

Getty The Houston Rockets veteran guard will be out indefinitely.

This is not good news at all for the Houston Rockets.

As the Rockets prepare to open the regular season on Oct. 24 against the Milwaukee Bucks, they will be without Gerald Green. That would be because it’s believed that the veteran guard suffered a broken left foot in the team’s preseason win over the Toronto Raptors last Thursday, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Green had played a key role as a reserve for the Rockets over the past two games, appearing in 115 regular season games and 28 postseason contests. In his 115 regular season appearances as a member of the Rockets, the 33-year-old veteran has averaged 10.2 points in 20.9 minutes per game.

With Green out of the picture, the Rockets lose a big chunk of depth. In other words, Thabo Sefolosha now projects as the team’s top backup at small forward behind Eric Gordon. Sefolosha is a proven veteran, but he provides no offensive upside and he averaged just 12.2 minutes per game last season.

Austin Rivers and Ben McLemore will now see more playing time at shooting guard as a result of Green’s injury.

As cited on the NBA’s official website, Green’s injury was initially thought to merely be a sprain. However, as Charania’s report indicates, it’s obviously a lot worse than just a sprain.

“Green suffered the injury, which was initially diagnosed as a sprain, in Japan during the Rockets’ preseason matchups against the Toronto Raptors. Charania reports that Green will seek more medical opinions on the injury.”

We’ll keep you updated here at Heavy as soon as more information becomes available regarding the severity of Green’s injury.


James Harden Wants Nothing to Do With NBA-China Feud

As the NBA continues to be mired in controversy due to Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s tweet regarding his support of pro democracy protestors in Hong Kong, franchise star James Harden wants to make one thing clear — he wants nothing to do with it.

Via Yahoo Sports‘ Ryan Young:

“I’m staying out of it,” Harden said. “I’m focusing on what we have and trying to get better. We’re a week and a half away from the regular season.”

Even head coach Mike D’Antoni acknowledged what a distraction the situation has been over recent weeks.

“It’s a distraction,” D’Antoni said, via USA Today. “But guys can handle it. We still got good work in. Everything’s fine. It happens. It’s regrettable that it happened, but as I said, our work will get done.”

President Trump and Gregg Popovich Have Battle of Words

As if the story couldn’t be juicy enough, now President Donald Trump and San Antonio Spurs head coach are going at it.

After President Trump denounced both Popovich and Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr for taking a passive approach in their comments regarding the situation, the Spurs head coach has responded.

Popovich called Trump “cowardly” in his response while also making sure to point out that the way he handled the situation paled in comparison to NBA commissioner Adam Silver.

“I’m too busy. I have things to do. All I did was make a comparison between Adam Silver’s show of principle and courage in a tough situation, as opposed to how our president reacts when in the company of authoritarian figures, whether it’s Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Russia or Turkey, whatever it is. It comes off as really feckless, impotent, cowardly by comparison. Adam Silver, that was fraught with economic peril, but he stood by our nation and its principles. That’s pretty huge these days. Sometimes, it’s kind of Orwellian. You think we’re living in a place where, ‘Is this really happening?’ But that comparison was pretty stark when you put our president up against those leaders when he’s with them or talking to him, and how reacts compared to the way Adam Silver reacted. I was proud of him. It was great.”

Needless to say, it was nice that the attention was shifted away from the Rockets — at least temporarily — regarding the tense situation between the NBA and China’s relations.