I saw that he has re-injured his toe again. It looked bad when initially seeing him reacting to it.
Then he played through it and seemed to be unhindered by it.
I am concerned this could get worse and he will have to be shutdown. We cannot afford that, its a huge luxury being able to get Mason a rest (on) and (off) the court with Graham running point at times.
Hopefully its something he can monitor and play through
@BeddieKU23 I about threw up! We need that guy!!
I was bummed out, but as you say he played through it.
I'm afraid he is going to be hampered with this the remainder of the year.
We can think it would have helped to rest him longer... but that isn't necessarily the way it works with turf toe. Those take a long time to heal and be pain-free. He may easily be challenged with this next year, too.
I've never experienced turf toe by I've watched some big tough guys have to sit out seasons over this. Part of it does relate to how well a player can play with pain, but there is a limit to this. The other part relates to just how much pain is involved. There is big time pain in this kind of injury. He is bound to suffer some loss in his potential because of it. He surely can't pivot and cut like he could if he was healthy.
Hopefully he'll at least be able to continue making some contributions. A big part of what we need from him is his basketball IQ. This guy is really going to be something by the time he is a senior (if he can be healthy). I am every bit as impressed with his potential upside as I am with Kelly and Cliff.
I too was extremely worried when left and limped to the bench. He will most likely feel pain under similar circumstances but some of it is psychological and not just playing through pain. Very likely if he gets the toe stepped and there is pain the first thing that goes through your mind is OMG I'm back where I started after the initial injury. He goes to the bench, is examined and the pain becomes less and you realize that this is not what you were afraid of. This is probably more true for younger players who have never had a serious injury.
We have seen players, especially pros, who after rehab are deemed to be healed by doctors but who are not effective until they get their confidence back. Derrick Rose is a classic example.
Derrick Rose might well end up being the next Penny Hardaway, great talent but little durability; last season he played 10 games and the season before 39. This season he was supposed to be fully healed and rested but so far he has played in only 36 out of 47 games and is averaging 5mpg less than he did before.