Jarred Vanderbilt Discussion: The Vandalorian

I woke up screaming in pain with my knee locked at 90 degrees - I remember thinking I had a cramp and tried to stretch it out and most likely did some extra damage haha. The doctors told me later on that my opposite leg must have rested against a specific nerve and caused a dead calf - as I rolled over in my sleep, the upper part of the leg moved but the lower part didn't. It was definitely a freak occurrence, but thats the way it goes sometimes.

Daily I ran, did strength and conditioning, trained with my coach, trained by myself, watched video, studied tactics, did visualisation, worked on my mental strength, learnt mental models, worked on recovery, tried any one percenters that could get me closer to my goal. It's also why Kobe appealed to me so much as an athlete, that mentality of exhausting every avenue available to you and being totally prepared - you can't control the outcome, so once you do your best, you live with the results whichever way they swing.

Much later on, I realised I didn't exactly love the sport, I loved the journey and working at something with a singular focus day in day out. Once I figured that out, I was able to redirect my focus into other things like being a Laker fan haha.

 

Great story

Thanks for sharing

Too bad for your injury

You could have been big

But it sounds like you still have some top talent and skills

 

Appreciate the kind words. Injuries are apart of sport, the human body isn’t designed to move at such torque and produce such force under tension for a long amount of time. It’s why you see even the athletes that are seemingly touched by the gods with their health and longevity give in to Father Time eventually.

LeBron is an example with his mounting injuries, can he make it through a full playoffs playing at maximum intensity? Same thing with Djokovic, can he last a grand slam playing multiple 5 sets against the likes of Sinner and Alcaraz? Both of these guys were Ironman to various degrees, and then you find out later on how they played through their various injuries, had discreet operations and how much they dedicated of themselves to just staying on the court.

It makes me appreciate how hard Vando had to work to get back to the NBA after multiple serious injuries, and I know I talk about trading him, but I do hope a summer of work improves his offensive game.

 

yeah, anyone who has rehabbed knows how boring it is and how slow the progress can be. unlike svtzr, i wasn't much good at it, found it very hard to stay motivated, and vando could have just counted his 40 million and walked into the sunset.

 

I wasn't very good at rehab either. I kept falling off the wagon.

 

If he's not having to rehab to get healthy this summer, I want him bouncing tennis balls against the wall 24/7 like he's Brad Pitt in F1. Need him to not look like the basketball was just dipped in butter whenever he touches it this season.

 

Lol, classic line

 

reiterating what i said like three posts back (in fairness, it was two weeks ago): i think it matters that he's still working despite it not being a contract year and after having all the injury issues.

 

Geez, Vando has no vertical. Even on his jump shots, layups and set moves in this video, he is barely getting off the ground.

I’m really excited to see some improvement from him this offseason, a Vando that can hit the 3 at 35-37% from open shots and score on cuts while providing high level help defense would be very welcome.

 

I think Vando can help us. Particularly in the regular season.

 

we missed him so badly the year he was out. i hope we can find a way to use him effectively, as i think he really is a defensive force on par with the top names in the league, tbh.

 

With our current roster, he pairs great with Kleber. On defense, can play Vando 1-5, Kleber 4-5. On offense, Kleber 4 and Vando 5, and he's not a liability. Almost any mix of our playmakers and shooters from 1-3 work with this lineup.

 

He looked like freakin Scottie Pippen 2 years ago in that Boston game where he broke his foot

 

he's always reminded me of rodman. not as strong and not as able to sustain effort, obviously, but same crazy versatility and just chaos agency. unfortunately, he has rodman's hands, too, lol.