Remember when the New Orleans Hornets stretched their playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers to six games behind some incredible play from Chris Paul? Now, imagine the Hornets could add a borderline All-Star averaging 18.9 points per game, 7.6 rebounds per game and shot a 55.8 percent true shooting percentage.
That might have been how close the Hornets came to upsetting the two-time defending champions who eventually lost in a sweep to the Mavericks. Of course, David West missed the Playoffs after tearing his ACL in late March in Utah. The Hornets were without their second most important player and required Paul to carry the Hornets through their short-lived Playoff appearance.
After seven months of rehabbing, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! reports West is all cleared to play and return to the court:
“Free agent David West, one of top players on market, has doctor’s full clearance to return after ACL surgery, agent Lance Young tells Y!,” Wonjarowski tweeted. “After 6 months of rehab, West [has] freedom ‘to push it as hard as he can,’ Young said. ‘He could start training camp in a couple weeks.’ Once lockout ends, Hornets still have a strong chance to re-sign West, one of the franchise cornerstones. Indiana is serious threat, though.“
West is probably the biggest free agent on the market once free agency opens. The Hornets seem to have the inside track to resign their power forward, but the Pacers are also favored in the sweepstakes. Every other team with cap room (whatever cap that might be) seems poised for the blockbuster summer of 2012 instead of David West’s 2011 pay day.
West is a solid player, but an ACL injury is nothing to laugh at.
Some can come back from the injury in a short time, others may take a year or more to be fully back. West might be ready to work out fully, but how will his knee react when he is actually playing basketball every day of the week? Certainly it could cause some problems if the lockout shortens the schedule and forces the NBA to squeeze games in like it did in 1999.
It could be a very long and rough season for West in that regard.
The first question he has to answer is that he is worth a major investment and worth the money teams will spend on him. He has to show that his knee is ready to go and that it will not be a recurring problem.
When the new collective bargaining agreement is made, West could be the test case for its rules. Will owners base his salary on past performance and give him somewhere near the $8.3 million salary he made last year? Will owners give him less because of the uncertainty of his knee? Will the owners be able to give him a non-guaranteed contract?
Whatever rules will be allowed when West finally hits the free market, we will know more about how the new NBA will work by how he signs. Hopefully his knee is healthy and ready when that time comes.
