Eye Surgery For Reeves Nelson: Recovery Time & Impact On UCLA's Rotation
by Nestor on Feb 23, 2010 4:54 AM PST
in Basketball
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PrintReeves Nelson had surgery on his left eye yesterday. The official site has the details:
UCLA freshman forward Reeves Nelson had laser retinopexy on his left eye today to repair a slight tear in his retina. The surgery was done at UCLA's world-renowned Jules Stein Eye Institute by Dr. Steven Schwartz.
He did not practice today and is not slated to practice tomorrow. He will be revaluated on Wednesday for Thursday's game against Oregon State (Feb. 25).
"The retinal tear was very far away from his central and meaningful peripheral vision and should not affect his ability to see the court," Dr. Schwartz said. "He is an extremely tough kid and tolerated the procedure extremely well without anaesthesia."
Dr. Schwartz said that he has consulted with Los Angeles Lakers' athletic trainer, Gary Vitti, who will assist with protective eyewear, the same worn by James Worthy.
The tear had a small amount of blood around it, indicating it was a recent injury.
What a tough kid. Hope Reeves feel better soon. What is interesting here is that injury Nelson suffered against Washington State was to his right eye when he had to get 15 stitches. He also took number of hits to his right eye earlier in the season as detailed by Foster in the LA Times:
Nelson, who is averaging 11 points and five rebounds per game, also took a finger in the right eye against Kansas in December, suffering a corneal abrasion. He was elbowed in the same eye during the next game against New Mexico State. Nelson was also elbowed in the eye early in the game against Washington.
I wonder when did his left eye get hurt when all the injuries have been to his right one? Are they connected? I would hope that is a question reporters ask Howland when they meet him for the weekly presser today.
The official site notes Nelson "will miss at least the first two practices this week and will be reevaluated on Wednesday." I would hope at this point Coach Ben Howland opts for the safe route and seat him down at least for the Oregon State game on Thursday. This would mean we are probably looking at the starting lineup that will have either Brendan Lane or Bobo Morgan at 5.
I would ideally prefer Howland to bench Ragovic and start both Lane and Bobo and bring Rago off the bench along with Anderson. I would also hope this situation means Howland gives Mike Moser an extended look so that he can enable either Roll or Honeycutt get a breather and stay fresh for the second half. Guess we will find out how Howland manages the rotation.
We all wish a speedy recovery to Nelson. It is kind of a bummer though that it seems like we always have injuries that open up the possibilities for extended time for our bench. Wish those guys were being used more consistently all season long, so that they would be more prepared for this kind scenario. Guess we will have to see what transpires on Thursday night.
GO BRUINS.
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Ouch!
I’ve noticed that when RN goes for the basket, he many times bulls his way through traffic with the ball held around his head. Opposing players are constantly taking swipes at the ball and my guess is that where this most recent eye injury came from. Given that is part of his game and unlikely to significantly change in the future, the glasses sound like a great idea (although I think I read previously where he didn’t want to wear them).
On your points on rotation couldn’t agree more. To repeat what many have said, now is the time to look ahead and give the young ones the minutes (plus continued play for MR).
Will it
help his foul shooting? ;-)
Just kidding. Give the poor guy time to heal. He has earned it.
by BruinFanGA on Feb 23, 2010 8:37 AM PST via mobile reply actions
To be honest, regarding the rotation,
I think I’m just a complete cynic at this point, but this is probably just going to result in more PT for Rago.
don't risk anything with Reeves
There’s no upside by playing Reeves unless he is 100% healthy. Totally agree to give those minutes to Lane, Bobo and Moser.
by RealisticBruinFan on Feb 23, 2010 8:54 AM PST reply actions
Let's see what JM can do and keep his head in the game
I would like to see JM start and get lots of minutes, assuming he can tolerate it with his conditioning. His brief spurts in games, if at all, have not been enough for him to get in the flow. He does have upside, but needs the minutes. He can score and needs some OJT to get the defensive side down pat.
Bill
Mensgym
Totally agree with Nestor
Let Reeves rest and recover. Let Bobo, Lane and Moser play major minutes. I’ll be at Pauley for both games this week and I want to see the Bruins sweep the Oregons with our bench on the court. Go Bruins!
by Arturo del Mundo on Feb 23, 2010 9:20 AM PST reply actions
They should have six players on the court
with a coach running alongside him holding his shoulder in place
"I can't believe I ate the whole thing" Homer Simpson
wouldn't be the first time
that we ignored his health issues after another guy went down… but yes.
by britishbruin on Feb 23, 2010 9:53 AM PST up reply actions
Please No RN for Thursday
Play it safe. There is no downside. His health is more important.
Plus, we don’t need RN to beat OSU or Oregon at home anyways. These are the worst teams in the PAC 10. This is the perfect game to start Bobo and play BL more minutes so they can play in the PAC 10 Tourney, the AZ game, etc. It will be great for their confidence.
But before anyone jumps up and down when they play well (which they likely will) remember these are bad teams.
And if we somehow lose to either one, the team has truly has given up on CBH.
We lost to Oregon
w/o Lane, Bobo and Moser. So if we beat Oregon with those guys playing big mins, it will mean something.
No Comparsion between OR at Home and Away
Yes it means “something” and it should be “spun” as such but no it does not mean that much to beat Oregon at home.
The last game at MacArthur court, the hardest place to play in the PAC 10. It was an emotional night for Oregon and all the intangibles favored Oregon. There is no comparison as the best UCLA teams regularly lost there. Oregon is 2-7 on the Road and 10-7 at home. One of their two road wins came because of some bad calls against WSU. Oregon has also lost five in a row and has not won on the Road since January 2.
I hope our guys play great and like i said it will be good to build on for AZ and the Tourney but these are the easiest games in PAC 10.
Sorry don't buy it
Oregon came into that game demoralized losing 5 games in a row. They were pounded and didn’t have a shred of confidence. Howland stuck with his short rotation and when the team went up with double digits in first half, he didn’t bother trying out his bench. We melted just like we did against other mediocre teams through rest of the season and never really recovered the momentum.
You have been wrong about Dragovic’s PT all season long and you are desperately trying to spin it back. It is kind of pathetic.
regardless of the PT / rotation / etc
The question about OU home vs away isn’t exactly seen in the conference play data.
As far as I can see they are 2-5 at home and 2-5 away, after opening up with road wins @WSU and @UW. With games at the LA schools and home to the Washington schools to come, unclear whether OU will finish with a better record home or away in conference.
by britishbruin on Feb 23, 2010 11:11 AM PST up reply actions
but
I don’t understand what is ‘spin’ in DCBruins’ original post, unless you are objecting to the use of the phrase “perfect time”?
by britishbruin on Feb 23, 2010 11:15 AM PST up reply actions
Good point
OR is a bad team that we almost beat on the road. They is a credible argument that we should have beat them. I am just saying there is NO argument that we should lose these next two games. If we do, the team has given up.
honestly
we are so inconsistent from game to game, I would predict we finish the season 2-2, and no combination of wins and losses – including losing two at home and winning two away – would surprise me that much.
by britishbruin on Feb 23, 2010 11:42 AM PST up reply actions
No spin
I like the way you have now added Bobo to your list, something I have been saying all year and something you have only recently started. But that is great, you can’t teach height.
You said we will be beat Oregon before the $C game. You knew this was the easiest PAC 10 game of the season, probably before the year. If CBH loses it for any conceivable reason, he blew it.
Besides is home court worth at least ONE point, which would have been enough to win the first game?
Look, it is good if Bobo, BL, and any others who did not see time in the first game play well but it is still apples and oranges.
I have no problem admitting
Bobo surprised me. I always discounted Bobo before because I bought the argument he hadn’t earned playing time in practice. Well I don’t trust the coach’s decisions wrt to rotation based on practice performance any more after what we have seen in last two years.
Bobo has really been a pleasant surprised. I shouldn’t have discounted him like I was doing earlier. He is clearly working hard and it is a matter of his coaching staff allowing him mins.
Thanks Nestor
I admit OR is such a bad team this year that there is a very good, credible argument that we should have beat them this year on the road, even with this team.
Another point about the Duckies
They have explosive athletes. They have beaten the Huskies in Seattle and also the Cougs (by a controversial call) in Pullman. Winning against them is not going to be insignificant if we do it with a true young rotation. Same goes for Oregon State which is coming off a home stand that included throttling of the Bears.
right
taking any win for granted in this Pac-10, with our own inconsistency, and with the two guys (or three if you count DG) out who have logged the vast majority of our minutes at the 5…
by britishbruin on Feb 23, 2010 12:15 PM PST up reply actions
Bobo
Has really become a student of the game it seems. Apparently he’s been watching a lot of tape, and I don’t know if others have noticed, but last year he used to sit on the bench and chat all the time. This year, however, he always seems focused on what’s going on in the game.
He definitely has learned how to pass to the cutter or the open man when he gets doubled, so this is definitely promising
Hopefully RN get’s a game off, and we see what Lane and Bobo can do
wait
are you saying Bobo may have become a better player through practice, watching tape, personal dedication, even without having got on the court much in actual games…?
Here’s hoping that rubs off on some other guys. Does Stover get to participate fully in practices as a redshirt player, or are there limitations on what you are allowed to do?
by britishbruin on Feb 23, 2010 3:27 PM PST up reply actions
Stovers get to practice as he is part of the team
He gets to do everything except to play in the games.
Practice is a Great Place to Learn for Raw Talents
Bobo last year was just a body and very raw. He needed to learn the basics of basketball. This year he understands the 5 on offense pretty well and looks good with his back to the basket. (Last year he faced the basket a lot on offense.) Practice can really improve someone like Bobo.
Now if he can start to rebound better, he may be a good PAC 10 player in the future. On Defense he thinks block shot too much and does not move to the ball to “get” the rebound. (His lack of quickness is a longer term problem and the other limiting factor for him.) He has improved though and I hope he will continue to improve.
However, the true test will come against better players in the PAC 10. Someone like Bobo is going to look better against smaller players who aren’t relatively quick. He will have to learn to play well against relatively quick players and playing against Nelson in practice is ideal for Bobo and may be another reason he has improved..
good point
re: defending Nelson in practice
by britishbruin on Feb 24, 2010 8:09 AM PST up reply actions
Might be why
Aboya improved last year after having to defend Kevin Love in practice the year before…
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
I seem to recall some comments KL made himself
about how going against PAA in practice toughened him up very quickly, as there wasn’t an opposing center he was going to face who was more physical than PAA…
by britishbruin on Feb 24, 2010 12:39 PM PST up reply actions
Adding couple of notes
Oregon did have intangibles in terms of their home court. That is always a tough game in general. However, looking back at it, we had a golden opportunity to win that game against a team that sure looked to be demoralized until we gave them a chance. It has gotten blown out on its home court number of times this season indicating how they have given up on their coach (Kent). We had a chance to really take it to them but we didn’t. Our short rotation certainly didn’t help as it has been most of the time this season.
If we put together solid performances in next two games it will mean something (just like it would have meant something we had put in kids like Lane and Bobo against the Bay Area teams at home).
So please don’t keep spinning so you can re-litigate the BS notion that wasting mins on Drago was a good idea. That argument is over.
"And if we somehow lose to either one, the team has truly has given up on CBH."
How do you know this? Does the speculation regarding anyone giving up on CBH come from anything people inside the program have said, or is it just fan talk?
I said it beacuse these teams are so bad
At home, we should not lose to the Oregon schools this year. They are just not good teams. We will be favorites, one game is Senior Day. We even have more athletic talent then either team as many of their regular players would not be among our top 10 players.
Thus, the only way we lose is if we give up. (But you are right, it is just fan talk.)
Oh no we suck again!
Just kidding. We already weren’t doing well anyways. ;)
Hope the best for Reeves getting that eye healed up properly.
Rage Folklore
First of all I’m glad he is ok.
Having said that, this guy is creating his own folklore around himself. My favorite quote there was “He is an extremely tough kid and tolerated the procedure extremely well without anaesthesia.” How can you not love this guy although I still wanna see him bring back the mohawk.
Moser
I absolutely agree that Moser has at least earned the right to some playing time. Every game I watch the bench and after ever point that anyone scores Moser is up cheer and encouraging them. He seems like such a good teammate and leader which is exactly what this team needs. I would love to see him getting some playing time either for Roll or Honeycutt with those long arms he could be really affective in the zone.
As far a CBH goes, I am a Bruins fan living in Seattle and I have never been more embarresed then watching that game. I was pretty sure that one that night my Junior High School could have beaten the Bruins. The entire game could be summed up by the effort that ragovic put forth on our first offensive possession. One pass then he took a contested three that wasn’t even close. My faith in CBH has been completely shaken by his relentless grace toward ragovic. Last year the downfall of the team was when ragovic joined the starting lineup over JK, although we can all agree that Keefe has been a disappointment on the offensive end his effort was great and his lack of confidence is completely on CBH.
We have a chance to atleast begin to rebuild in the end of this season. Moser needs to play, BL needs to have significant minutes, and Bobo needs to start and play alot.
Goggles were good enough
for a certain basketball player named Kareem (not to mention James Worthy)…hope Reeves heals well but I really think he should be wearing them, considering what’s happened to him of late. Basketball is one thing, but eyesight is just a slight bit more important (!).
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