This is horrible horrible news. Amar'e didn't sound that concerned Friday night. He said it was something that just needed to be massaged out. Hopefully MRI is just precaution and hopefully the source sayin git's the same type of injury is wrong.
Wow what a strange year.
An absolute disaster- not only does it does it screw the rest of this season (if the MRI confirms our worst fears), it really puts a huge question mark over his career. It took him over 6 months of rest last time, plus a further 4 months of playing to get back into the swing of things. He didn't even do any fancy move in the Pistons game to injure it.
Please, please, please don't show any damage, MRI.
A genuine question here (I'm panicking)- what exactly was the back injury LJ suffered- I never found out the whole time he played with us, just that he had suffered a back injury while playing for the hornets that had robbed him of his explosiveness. What exactly was it? Was it similar to Amar'es muscle pull or something more serious?
Definitely hope it's just precautionary. After all that concern about signing Amar'e with his knees, it's his back that's haunting us. STAT just got back to reminding everyone why he's the man!
Fingers crossed. 
Can't take anything these guys say at face value.
I hope there is nothing to be concerned about but at this point he is a $60 plus millon liability on the books and the cost of an MRA to "Make sure" is prudent"
If he has any boo boo I'd have him sit thru an MRI.
There might be a reason Sarver only offered a three or 4 year contract vs. Dolans 5 year.
"Amare wanted to be here".........Im sure he did! Can't say I blame him!
Hope Stat is ok.
However, I think the move that could be the most costly is not saving the amnesty for him. Does anyone have confidence that he will be able to play out his contract?
Actually, just found it myself- depressingly similar to Amar'e:
This may have been a classic case of the body going before the brain, but a back injury early on in his career would continuously come back to haunt him. It happened in a charity game, when on a breakaway dunk attempt, he strained his lower back while going for another rim-punishing slam. He was just coming off an All-Star season, and once the back acts up that’s usually all she wrote, as his legs were the next things to go bad as a result of his back.
http://www.hoopsaddict.com/hey-what-ever...
Is a back sprain much different to pulling a muscle in the back? Why does a sprain or pull elsewhere in the body completely heal, but linger so long if it's in your back? I really hope I'm over reacting.
Edit- on further research, here is an article that contradicts that:
Johnson had a herniated disk in his lower back. For the first time his mighty body had failed him. Here is a man who cannot remember missing a game before the injury. "Never," he says. "Going back to junior high, even." Here is a man who laid claim to the NBA's 1991-91 Rookie of the Year award, a starting spot in the next season's All-Star Game and the valuable flooring immediately beneath the baskets of both ends of NBA courts. He did so with 250 pounds of ferocity and explosiveness packed into a frame that does not quite reach 6'6". At the same time, off the court, he created an imaage for himself as a smiling, approachable fan favorite with a whimsical side: For Converse commercials he dressed up in a gray wig and an old lady's housedress to play the role of his fictional Grandmama.But last season, racked by two damaged disks that causedback and leg woes, Johnson missed 31 games (the Hornets wen 9-22 without him) and was but a shell of himself in most of the other 51. His scoring average dropped from 22.1 in 1992-93 to 16.4 and his rebounding average fell from 10.5 to 8.8. He turned sullen toward teammates and fans and, what's worse, soft; he confesses now that he "ran away from the ball."
http://www.angelfire.com/il/larryjohnson...
So it seems the injuries were different, which is kind of a relief- but still, anyone an expert on back muscle injuries? Once you injure them are you on the decline or are they just freak occurences?
Sounds like it's time for a back transplant.
when it happens soft tissue (massage + ice + rest) hurts just the same as bulging or arthritic discs (surgery).
Its a total crapshoot. Ive had back spasms that kept me unable to walk or sit up, but I was able to play baseball a day later. Its a funny thing. None of this means anything until that MRI shows what the story is
I have come to expect the worst being a NYK fan. Amare is done for the year.
We dont' really know the extent of his injury last spring.
We read one thing about working out and wanting to do a mini camp yet he had not done much and to do so without a staff would be foolish.
Its gonna be what it is and we won't know much unless the team comes clean with truth.
Truth don't sell tickets.
Vmart wrote:I have come to expect the worst being a NYK fan.
Me too.
Amare is done for the year.
I see your Amare "done for the year" and raise you "Jerome James has been re-signed to take his place."
I'll wait for results before panicking. But if this is serious... Damn!
"Doctors say I need a backiotomy". Hope Amar'e is ok. but that popped into my head.
I'm not willing to throw the towel in just yet... Amar'e pushed it in the playoffs because it was the playoffs. hopefully he'll get right because we won't push it
i'm in wait and see mode, too, but this is worrisome. especially for those of us who have thought amar'e has looked stiff and awkward all season.
i'll admit in recent games, over the past week, he started to look like amar'e of old. maybe he started feeling good, overdid it and re-aggravated the injury?
also, this is why i was really hoping we could get jj hickson somehow.
Unclear whether this is a similar injury or not - that is, unless you trust only 1 news source reporting this speculation.
Last spring the injury was reported as back spasms. This time we're talking about a mild stiff back. Tough to say what exactly we're dealing with here.
We do know that last year's probably took a really long time to get under control... but we also know that for the past month or so, Amare's been leaping, exploding, and dunking like the athlete of old.
It's hardly the same type of injury that LJ had, but by the same token - it's quite worrisome that his back is involved again, even if it is something different. It might be another fluke, or it might be another sign that his body mechanics might be off.
We're in a much better place, though, vs where we were last year in the playoffs. Our bench is much improved, and we still have plenty of guys who are looking for more shots (Smith, Shumpert, Lin, Davis, Chandler) that we simply didn't have at all last year.
Elton Brand's looking really good!
