Nelson Still Contributing to Magic Despite Shoulder Injury
By Rob Peterson (Courtesy of NBA.com)
April 3, 2009
About halfway through a recent post-game interview with Orlando All-Star Rashard Lewis, a left hand, clutching a shiny iPhone, found its way into the mix of ordinary Olympus and Sony voice recorders.
The man holding the iPhone mumbled a question and then tried to sneak away from the media pack, but in the cramped visitor's locker room at Madison Square Garden, there is little room to escape. When Lewis didn't hear the question clearly, he looked up to try to find the questioner. When he caught a glimpse of Magic point guard Jameer Nelson, chuckling at his own playful deviousness, Lewis himself couldn't help but break into a wide grin.
Lewis' smile underlined the feeling the Magic franchise has toward their injured All-Star point guard. They find it comforting to have Nelson, whose season ended when he tore the labrum in his right shoulder on Feb. 2, with them on the road even if he can't take the floor.
"I think it's important for him and for us," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. "One of the dangers when you have a guy hurt for a lengthy period of time is he doesn't feel a part of it. And if he's not around you sort of lose him.
"We want his spirit around the guys, he's a very competitive guy, people like him, he's always been a leader. So it's important for us to have him around and it's important for him to stay in tune and not be detached from it."
Nelson, who will sit with his teammates at Amway Arena on Friday when the Magic host the Cleveland Cavaliers (8 p.m. ET), wants to be in the mix. The Magic co-captain wouldn't have it any other way.
"I am one of the leaders on the team," Nelson said. "People look for me to do certain things during the course of the game. For whatever reason, guys always cling to me. Six or seven of us always go out to dinner, like we did last night. It's things like that."
One glimpse into the Magic locker room, and it's easy to see how Nelson's magnetic personality draws others to him. Dressed in a sharp grey suit with light blue stripes, Nelson worked the room like a politician. He talked with team attendants, teammates and reporters. He smiled and joked easily as he worked his way through the locker room. All-Star center Dwight Howard, himself an engaging personality, noted Nelson is still essential to the Magic's continued success.
"He's a great leader," Howard said. "At halftime, he came in and talked to us and gave us a speech.
"We're just happy to see him still motivated and helping us win. He could be sitting out, mad about his injury and instead he's here, motivating us."
Nelson has shown himself to be a mature decision maker on and off the floor. Until his injury, he was having the finest season of his five-year career, posting career highs in points (16.7 ppg), field goal percentage (.503), 3-point percentage (.453), free-throw percentage (.887) and steals (1.2 spg).
Nelson, with his ability to run the pick-and-roll and drain the open jumper, put a lot of pressure on opposing defenses to make a choice between doubling Howard as he rolled to the hoop and leaving Nelson open, or sticking with Nelson and letting Howard work his magic on the blocks one-on-one. Orlando's 32-10 record and Nelson's average +/- of 8.5 points per game, good for fifth in the league, shows that foes' decisions were not easy ones. If one of those two options weren't available, Nelson was able to find teammates like Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu to generate 5.2 assist per game.
But that offensive flexibility for the Magic disappeared when Nelson tore the joint in his right shoulder on what he called a freak accident when he and Dallas center Erick Dampier got tangled up going after a loose ball.
"I've seen it a couple times," Nelson said of the injury. "It wasn't even a collision, I just swiped down and he came up. It was just the force."
Magic team doctor Craig Mintzer informed Nelson immediately of the severity of the injury. Nelson had a choice: rehab and try to come back this season, or get surgery and be ready in time for tip-off of the 2009-10 season. With the organization's blessing, Nelson said, he chose surgery.
"As one of the captains, a lot of things fall on me to get the team going in terms of intensity level, focus and other areas," Nelson said. "When I got hurt, my first thoughts were 'I want to rehab and play the rest of the season and get surgery at the end of the season.'
"Which would have been pretty selfish of myself because I would have been messing up this season and next season. If I rehabbed it and played, I still would have had surgery in the summertime and would have missed the first month or two of next season."
Despite his competitive nature, Nelson believes he made the smart choice to think long term. It would be tough to disagree with him. The Magic's core -- Nelson, Howard and Lewis -- are under contract until 2012. Although the Magic continue to battle the Boston Celtics for the No. 2 overall seed in the Eastern Conference, Nelson risked any potential future success if he had chosen to rehab and return this season.
"The way I play, I'm a contact guard," Nelson said. "I'm not one of the guys who avoids screens, I'm one of the guys who tries to run through screens and set screens.
"I hit the ground a number of times during the game."
And for the first six games after Nelson went down, the Magic ground to a halt, going 3-3. Then, Orlando GM brought in Rafer Alston from Houston to man the point. Since then, the Magic have started to roll again, going 16-5 in Alston's tenure. Another reason Nelson travels is to give Alston advice when questions arise.
"He's actually helped me have a full grasp of the plays and certain sets, where to expect certain guys to be," Alston said. "We just talk. He's been running this team for a few years, so he knows it better than I do.
"There are some things where I may have a mix-up with and I can go to him and go to the coach and get the answers I need."
Nelson's injury has been an eye-opener in another way. He can see himself following in the footsteps of other NBA point guards such as Doc Rivers and Scott Skiles into the coaching profession.
"You learn from a coach's perspective," Nelson said of his time on the bench. "It's a lot slower now to me, because I'm sitting and watching. I'm observing everything. I'm observing what the coaches do, what my teammates do.
"I'm still young, but it's always back in your mind, 15, 20 years down the line that you want to coach or something. I'm just learning from Stan and being around the coaching staff is helping me do that."
In turn, Nelson continues to be valuable to his teammates.
"It's good for us, it seems he's like an extra coach out there," Lewis said. "He talks to the point guards on how to run the pick-and-roll and get other guys shots, as well as motivating you on the bench, telling you pick up your game or giving encouragement on the sideline because he's a captain on this team."
Still, Nelson finds himself itching to get on the floor. Before the Magic's game with the Knicks in New York a couple weeks ago, Nelson snuck in a few left-handed shots during pre-game shootaround, making sure he kept his right arm pinned to his side. In the meantime, Nelson absorbs the lessons he's getting on the bench and hopes to apply them when his right shoulder is strong enough to pull on the Magic jersey once again.
"Coaching is a possibility after playing, but it's kind of too far to think about," Nelson said. "You give yourself a five-year plan and in five years, I'm still playing basketball."
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April 3, 2009
About halfway through a recent post-game interview with Orlando All-Star Rashard Lewis, a left hand, clutching a shiny iPhone, found its way into the mix of ordinary Olympus and Sony voice recorders.
The man holding the iPhone mumbled a question and then tried to sneak away from the media pack, but in the cramped visitor's locker room at Madison Square Garden, there is little room to escape. When Lewis didn't hear the question clearly, he looked up to try to find the questioner. When he caught a glimpse of Magic point guard Jameer Nelson, chuckling at his own playful deviousness, Lewis himself couldn't help but break into a wide grin.
Lewis' smile underlined the feeling the Magic franchise has toward their injured All-Star point guard. They find it comforting to have Nelson, whose season ended when he tore the labrum in his right shoulder on Feb. 2, with them on the road even if he can't take the floor.
"I think it's important for him and for us," said Magic coach Stan Van Gundy. "One of the dangers when you have a guy hurt for a lengthy period of time is he doesn't feel a part of it. And if he's not around you sort of lose him.
"We want his spirit around the guys, he's a very competitive guy, people like him, he's always been a leader. So it's important for us to have him around and it's important for him to stay in tune and not be detached from it."
Nelson, who will sit with his teammates at Amway Arena on Friday when the Magic host the Cleveland Cavaliers (8 p.m. ET), wants to be in the mix. The Magic co-captain wouldn't have it any other way.
"I am one of the leaders on the team," Nelson said. "People look for me to do certain things during the course of the game. For whatever reason, guys always cling to me. Six or seven of us always go out to dinner, like we did last night. It's things like that."
One glimpse into the Magic locker room, and it's easy to see how Nelson's magnetic personality draws others to him. Dressed in a sharp grey suit with light blue stripes, Nelson worked the room like a politician. He talked with team attendants, teammates and reporters. He smiled and joked easily as he worked his way through the locker room. All-Star center Dwight Howard, himself an engaging personality, noted Nelson is still essential to the Magic's continued success.
"He's a great leader," Howard said. "At halftime, he came in and talked to us and gave us a speech.
"We're just happy to see him still motivated and helping us win. He could be sitting out, mad about his injury and instead he's here, motivating us."
Nelson has shown himself to be a mature decision maker on and off the floor. Until his injury, he was having the finest season of his five-year career, posting career highs in points (16.7 ppg), field goal percentage (.503), 3-point percentage (.453), free-throw percentage (.887) and steals (1.2 spg).
Nelson, with his ability to run the pick-and-roll and drain the open jumper, put a lot of pressure on opposing defenses to make a choice between doubling Howard as he rolled to the hoop and leaving Nelson open, or sticking with Nelson and letting Howard work his magic on the blocks one-on-one. Orlando's 32-10 record and Nelson's average +/- of 8.5 points per game, good for fifth in the league, shows that foes' decisions were not easy ones. If one of those two options weren't available, Nelson was able to find teammates like Lewis and Hedo Turkoglu to generate 5.2 assist per game.
But that offensive flexibility for the Magic disappeared when Nelson tore the joint in his right shoulder on what he called a freak accident when he and Dallas center Erick Dampier got tangled up going after a loose ball.
"I've seen it a couple times," Nelson said of the injury. "It wasn't even a collision, I just swiped down and he came up. It was just the force."
Magic team doctor Craig Mintzer informed Nelson immediately of the severity of the injury. Nelson had a choice: rehab and try to come back this season, or get surgery and be ready in time for tip-off of the 2009-10 season. With the organization's blessing, Nelson said, he chose surgery.
"As one of the captains, a lot of things fall on me to get the team going in terms of intensity level, focus and other areas," Nelson said. "When I got hurt, my first thoughts were 'I want to rehab and play the rest of the season and get surgery at the end of the season.'
"Which would have been pretty selfish of myself because I would have been messing up this season and next season. If I rehabbed it and played, I still would have had surgery in the summertime and would have missed the first month or two of next season."
Despite his competitive nature, Nelson believes he made the smart choice to think long term. It would be tough to disagree with him. The Magic's core -- Nelson, Howard and Lewis -- are under contract until 2012. Although the Magic continue to battle the Boston Celtics for the No. 2 overall seed in the Eastern Conference, Nelson risked any potential future success if he had chosen to rehab and return this season.
"The way I play, I'm a contact guard," Nelson said. "I'm not one of the guys who avoids screens, I'm one of the guys who tries to run through screens and set screens.
"I hit the ground a number of times during the game."
And for the first six games after Nelson went down, the Magic ground to a halt, going 3-3. Then, Orlando GM brought in Rafer Alston from Houston to man the point. Since then, the Magic have started to roll again, going 16-5 in Alston's tenure. Another reason Nelson travels is to give Alston advice when questions arise.
"He's actually helped me have a full grasp of the plays and certain sets, where to expect certain guys to be," Alston said. "We just talk. He's been running this team for a few years, so he knows it better than I do.
"There are some things where I may have a mix-up with and I can go to him and go to the coach and get the answers I need."
Nelson's injury has been an eye-opener in another way. He can see himself following in the footsteps of other NBA point guards such as Doc Rivers and Scott Skiles into the coaching profession.
"You learn from a coach's perspective," Nelson said of his time on the bench. "It's a lot slower now to me, because I'm sitting and watching. I'm observing everything. I'm observing what the coaches do, what my teammates do.
"I'm still young, but it's always back in your mind, 15, 20 years down the line that you want to coach or something. I'm just learning from Stan and being around the coaching staff is helping me do that."
In turn, Nelson continues to be valuable to his teammates.
"It's good for us, it seems he's like an extra coach out there," Lewis said. "He talks to the point guards on how to run the pick-and-roll and get other guys shots, as well as motivating you on the bench, telling you pick up your game or giving encouragement on the sideline because he's a captain on this team."
Still, Nelson finds himself itching to get on the floor. Before the Magic's game with the Knicks in New York a couple weeks ago, Nelson snuck in a few left-handed shots during pre-game shootaround, making sure he kept his right arm pinned to his side. In the meantime, Nelson absorbs the lessons he's getting on the bench and hopes to apply them when his right shoulder is strong enough to pull on the Magic jersey once again.
"Coaching is a possibility after playing, but it's kind of too far to think about," Nelson said. "You give yourself a five-year plan and in five years, I'm still playing basketball."
