FanPost

Looking At a Clipper to Salvage Hope For the Future? Some "Worthy" Optimism


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Is this the final blow? We’re down and out and we’re spiraling downhill faster than even Kobe Bryant can jack up shots. Julius Randle was our last hope: the #3 ranked prospect out of high school and the #7 pick in this year's draft. He averaged 15 and 10 for the "Dream Team" known as the Kentucky Wildcats. Many analysts believed he had possibly the highest upside out of all the players in this very celebrated draft class, as long as the concerns about his foot injury didn’t materialize into anything serious. Well, it’s safe to say no one, save Rex Ryan, is concerned about Julius Randle's feet right now.

Fourteen minutes into his promising career and he’s already experienced his first setback, and it sucks, because the Lakers will simply not be as good without him. However, it’s still JUST a setback. This Lakers team is built on setbacks. You don’t have to look far to see a setback within the organization, whether it’s Nick Young’s thumb injury, Steve Nash’s almost-certain retirement, or even that painful stint where Mike D’Antoni was coach. However, Swaggy will be back shooting his way into our hearts soon enough. Steve Nash’s retirement might hurt now, but it could very well be a blessing in disguise. He will hopefully stay on as an assistant coach, and he will make an excellent assistant, setting the all-time record for high fives by a coach. Also, Nash’s retirement gives Lin some room to find himself on this team and possibly grow into the player that he’s capable of becoming. Then, there’s the matter of Mike D’Antoni, and… he’s gone.

So yes, Julius Randle has been lost for the season after playing a minimal fourteen minutes, but his story is far from over. It will be a hard road back, and he will have to overcome a lot of adversity, but luckily for him, he is not alone in his struggle. Julius will be aided by a very supportive group of teammates, who have already reached out to him and have done everything they can to give as much support as possible to him. The most important thing is for him to keep his spirits up.

"Even for myself, being a veteran and dealing with something like this, it's tough," said Bryant, referring to his recent devastating injuries. "For him being a 19-year-old kid, it's tough. That's what we're here for. We're here to pick him up and take it day by day."

Carlos Boozer, Randle's mentor, also sent his well-wishes:

His teammates are there for him, and that will go a long way in helping him fight his way back. Randle should be extremely happy that he has Kobe, the master of overcoming adversity, in his corner. After all, Kobe has fought adversity every day in his career since that fateful day in 1996; He was merely a 17 year-old out of high school that needed his parents to sign his own contract. The Lakers took a chance on him, because they saw what the future could hold. Randle is the future now, and it’s up to Kobe and the rest of the Lakers to support and aid him in his recovery.

"I just told him to stay strong," Scott said. "Adversity tests the true character of a man. This is some adversity that we're facing with a young guy being out, and obviously, it's something that he's facing. I feel for him. I feel extremely bad for him. He was kind of crying, and I just told him to stay strong and that it's going to make him a better basketball player."

Clearly, Randle has the full-fledged support of Byron Scott, who might be on to something by optimistically stating that Randle will come back "a better basketball player". You don’t have to look very far back in the annals of basketball history to find some proof for Scott’s statement.

"We just got to look forward, not look back, and move on and hopefully he's healthy for next year," said Clippers center Chris Kaman. "He's a great player and a great guy and he's got a lot of potential. It's frustrating, but what do you do, you know?

"Any time someone gets hurt, you don't control those things. Those things happen and you try to do the best you can and live with it. He looked really solid in preseason and unfortunately the injury, and he's just kind of stuck behind the 8-ball."

Obviously, Kaman is referring to Blake Griffin, who suffered a broken kneecap in his final preseason game, ultimately ending his "rookie" campaign before it ever began. At the time this was chalked up to the "Clipper Curse", but it’s clearly just a fact of basketball that players get injured, and there’s often nothing that could have been done to prevent it, like Kobe said.

Randle finds himself in a very similar position to Blake, and Laker fans should be hopeful, as there’s nothing stopping him from coming back as strong as Blake did, ultimately winning the Rookie of The Year in his second attempt at his inaugural season in the NBA and then becoming the perennial All-Star that he is now. For once, Laker fans should look to a Clipper for hope, because if Blake could get past the "Clipper Curse" and become the Blake Griffin that is, according to NBA rank, the 5th best player in basketball, Laker fans should be cautiously optimistic.

Now, if there’s a level of discomfort stemming from looking to a Clipper for hope, just look to James Worthy, that guy who does half-time reports. He was also the number one pick in the 1982 NBA draft, for the Lakers, and went on to win three championships with them, including a Finals MVP in 1988. He also was a seven time All-Star. All this stuff is basically common knowledge, but many people forget that "Big Game James" broke his leg near the end of his rookie season and had to miss the entire playoffs, in which the 76ers ultimately swept the Lakers. Worthy bounced back strong though, and impressed upon nearly every one of his rookie numbers during his sophomore season, never stopping to look back at his misfortune.

See, he's still got it.

Worthy believes that Julius will be back, and luckily for Laker fans, or unluckily depending on how you look at it, he has had this same injury, making him a very credible source of inspiration. If he believes, than so too should Laker fans.

James Worthy had his rookie season ended by a leg injury. Blake Griffin had his rookie season ended by an injury prior to it ever beginning. Now too, Julius Randle has had his rookie season ended tragically early, but both of Randle’s so-called predecessors came back to find tremendous success in basketball. As long as Julius Randle continues to be given the support that he deserves by his teammates, and keeps his head up, there is absolutely no reason to believe anything other than what Byron Scott said; he will come back better.

<!--EndFragment-->And to cheer all Laker fans up while we wait for the comeback: