The Lakers Have the WORST Training Staff Ever!

By Craig Kwasniewski

Are the Lakers getting medical treatment at Kaiser Permanente?

Seriously, did the Lakers outsource their training staff? How is it that one of the marquee franchises in professional sports continues to be struck with the injury bug? Last season I put the blame squarely on a roster loaded with injury-prone players, but looking back I think it's the Lakers training/medical staff. Here's a list of previous errors/underestimates/misfortunes (it goes back to the 2003-04 season):

Karl Malone in 2003-04 - The Lakers look unstoppable with Shaq, Kobe, GP and the Mailman and are heading toward a record season when Scott Williams injures Malone's knee in December. The initial prognosis was day-to-day with Malone returning by the New Year. Karl Malone never fully recovers, playing out his final season on one knee ultimately missing Game 5 of the NBA Finals... the last game of his career. Rumors persist that the medical staff misdiagnosed the knee injury early on and rushed him to recovery too soon.

The 2004-05 Season - the Rudy T. era never happened! Vlade Divac never returned to the Lakers to steal money and smoke 12 packs a day. Kobe Bryant never played the All-Star game sporting a Boom Dizzle beard. Chucky Atkins didn't start 82 games for the Lakers. This season never happened!!!!

Chris Mihm in 2005-06 - Mihm sprains his ankle late in a game against Seattle. The initial diagnosis is a severe spain and Mihm misses the next 17 games, but he plays the final regular season game hoping to get healthy for the playoffs. It backfires and Mihm is forced to have surgery on the ankle. He is *STILL* recovering from that injury, only playing in 20 games in the past two seasons.

Are the Lakers using 30 Rock's Dr. Spaceman?

Luke Walton in 2006-07 - Walton sprains an ankle and is listed day-to-day. Turns out, day-to-day is defined as 22 missed games out of the last 28... and people still think he's recovering from the ankle this season. (BTW - I'm leaning toward the whole "year after contract year" thing.) Whatever it is, all season we were told that Walton is coming back any day... stay tuned, this is a theme.

Vladimir Radmanovic in 2006-07 - The dude separates his shoulder snowboarding. It's a straight up douchebag move! No accusations at the training staff for this one. It just goes to show that Lakers + Vlade/Vladi = dumbass move!

Andrew Bynum in 2007-08 - Bynum hurts his knee against the Grizz back in January. Sitting at the top of the Western Conference, the season looks lost and fears of "here we go again (with the injuries)" are throughout the locker room. The Lakers diagnose it as a "temporarily dislocated his kneecap and suffered a bone bruise" with a recovery time of 8 weeks (a mid-March return). Bynum is still not ready to return. Reports fluctuate from next week to early May with rumors of next season... it seems as though nobody knows.

Are the Lakers calling Dr. Bombay?

Trevor Ariza in 2007-08 - Lakers back-up forward and key reserve breaks his foot in practice on January 21st. The timeline is that he will be out about eight weeks. Ummmm... he's still out and it looks like he won't return until the playoffs... maybe. It seems as though nobody knows.

Pau Gasol in 2007-08 - Pau lands on Vladi (there's that Vlade/Vladi jinx again!) and sprains his ankle a few weeks ago against New Orleans. The Lakers are left with Ronnie Turiaf, DJ Mbenga (Mr. Opposition And-1) and Chris Mihm's recovering ankle as their only bigs left. Gasol's initial estimate for return is about two weeks... it's been two weeks and two days with continued swelling. Hopefully this ain't a Walton-esque day-to-day because the Lakers are reeling without the Mad Spaniard. Again, the theme of underestimating the injury rings true.

How is it that a team like Phoenix is able to avoid similiar problems? They cured Steve Nash's chronic back, they cured Grant Hill's ridonkulous ankle problems and Shaquille O'Neal is moving around like it's 2005. Even Amare Stoudemire has completely recovered a career-threatening micro-facture surgery! And didn't Raja Bell return from a horrible-looking spained ankle? How are these guys able to go at it a nightly basis and the younger Lakers sit in designer suits?

Just watching the Lakers trudge through the last few games of the regular season you can see that the surviving top 8 are exhausted. The regular season is a long marathon and with so many players forced to go longer minutes that normal they're starting to break down. Derek Fisher has as slight tear in his foot and Kobe is pulling an A.I. with all of his nagging injuries. So the question remains, when the hell will these guys get back?

Either the team doctors are playing it ultra-safe (especially after leaning their lessons with Malone and Mihm) or they simply don't have a clue... which should be a red flag. Either way, I think the Lakers are too exhausted and don't have the time to incorporate Bynum and Ariza into the mix to put together a serious run this spring (translation: second round exit). What they really need to do is ask why, with the technology today, do the Lakers take forever to recover?

Comments

[Michael]

This is absolutely spot-on. More attention needs to be paid to this issue. Some variation in injuries is normal, but you can't convince me that the trainers in Phoenix and Detroit aren't doing something better than the trainers in LA and Cleveland (another team with huge problems keeping guys on the floor). I know the Lakers head trainer Gary Vitti has been considered one of the best for a long time, but maybe he's resting on his laurels now, and has turned responsibilities over to less talented underlings. I don't know, but something more than bad luck is going on.

[lakergirl]

This is definitely right on! And the medical staff (the supposed expert sports doctors) the Lakers go to is probably to blame! I went to their so-called renowned spinal surgeon and he misdiagnosed me--said I had a rotator cuff injury in my shoulder. After months of worthless physical therapy and ending up with a frozen shoulder (from protecting it b/c of the pain), I finally had an MRI of my neck (after demanding it) and discovered I had 2 ruptured disks in my NECK which were causing the radiating pain in my shoulder and down my arm!! This so-called reknowned spinal surgeon then said he didn't know if he could help me! I ran out of there as fast as I could and went to a real professional (neurosurgeon!) who diagnosed me properly, and operated on me within 2 weeks! And these are the sports doctors who are taking care of OUR LAKERS!

[basketbawful]

Dude, no kidding. Good stuff.

[mrquzo17]

Lakergirl, your story is sending a chill through me. I would hope the Lakers only hire the best money could buy. God knows they have plenty of $. I have my fingers crossed for Bynum, Ariza and Pao. I think we are really going to need ALL of them to just make a dent at playoff time. Their futures are even more important, especially Bynum's, you know they will have more injuries in the coming years and if the training staff is as negligent as reported - I don't even want to think about that.

[lotecq]

Maybe Mitch should draft a physical therapist or a qigong master in the second round this year.

[GoLakers_ScienceBased]

Craig Kwasniewski, could you please find something else not so science-based to brag on? Your joke was not funny, and you don't seem to know basketball.

[LA Ball Talk]

You can continue to say what you want about the training staff, but injuries are injuries and these guys are not miracle workers. Gary Vitti has long been known as one of the most reliable team trainers. Perhaps the outside doctors that the team is using are the ones that aren't really doing what we need. Either way you look at it, we need a healthy team and only time truly heals injuries. Pau and Bynum will be back soon enough and we'll be quite happy when it happens!

Daniel - www.laballtalk.com

[Sports Tsar]

Daniel -

Gary Vitti a reliable team trainer?

These days, he looks more like a blinged out leathery tanned octogenarian from florida. he's getting far too comfortable in his LA job and needs a swift boot to the ass.

WE PAY YOU TO DEAL WITH THESE THINGS, VITTI, NOT TO SIT ON THE SIDELINES LOOKING PRETTY

George
http://sportstsar.com/

[pauline]

i was saying the same thing with bynum wy didn;t they start him on the bike ,that would of been better to start with ,wath are they thinking

[nick b]

Neither I the author of this post knows much about medicine and anatomy, but I appreciate that he wrote this article. The Lakers' medical staff may or may not be medically competent, but they are definitely guilty of mismanaging fans' expectations. Doctors, along with their technical knowledge, are supposed to be told or taught how to manage people's expectation of a patient's recovery from an injury or sickness. This year the Lakers done a terrible job of that. They told us minimum 8 weeks for Bynum and Ariza and told us 4-5 games for Pau. They didn't say a maximum but they didn't have to. They already hurt their credibility by giving a low minimum. Most likely, they're doing all the right things but they have said all the wrong things. The staff would've been better off say that Bynum and Ariza were done for the season so fans wouldn't be in agony pining for their returns. That's what non-sports doctors do. They tell a guy he's never walking again then walks again. Maybe my suggestions aren't the best options, but the staff has to improve the flow of information from their practices.

[4 20]

dumbass luke will be having surgery at the end of the season cause of a chippen bone in his ankle it aint sprained,they r keeping safe for bynum he is only 20,y jeopardize his career.think before u post buddy

[4 20]

Pau and kobe wen someone gets ijured u cant avoid,its up to a persons way of healing,kobe and lamar r fast healers but some arent.Gary vitti is one of the best doc or whatever they say in the nba

[Converted to Vittism]

At first I totally thought you were right, I mean this is a long pattern that's been independently noticed by a lot of people and then I read 4 20's comments and I was swayed by his elegant prose

[Rick M]

a friend forwarded me this post. Love it. The problem is the Laker staff seems to be entrenched in the old model. If you injure something, then you need to strengthen all the muscles around it. So blow your knee out? Then strengthen all the muscles around the knee.

What they are missing is the POSITION of the body and they are not dealing with the body as an integrated unit. I’m the clinic director of The Egoscue Clinic in Austin, Texas. I’ve been a Laker fan since I was a little kid in the early 70s. I predicted to friends over two years ago, in writing, that Bynum would injure his left knee because I saw a photo of him at his rookie media day event and his left knee was in a crappy position that left it vulnerable. They’ve done nothing to improve the position of that knee and the training he’s done has probably served to amplify the mispositioning, leaving the knee more predisposed to destructive torque.

I saw video of Vitti explaining Bynum’s injury and rehab process. He acknowledged the mispositioning (valgus stress) but it sounds like he is treating it like it’s a genetic thing they have to live with. They don’t. It can get a lot better if you provide the body the proper stimulus. I have little faith they are doing that.

I don’t know precisely what the guys in Phoenix are doing but it sounds a LOT like what we at Egoscue do and how we look at the body. So yes, there’s a reason their guys get better and healthier while others don’t. You have to look at the body as a unit and treat it as such and consistently strive to present the body the demand it needs to come back to balance. You do NOT strengthen a mispositioned joint, that’s a prescription for injury.

[Eric]

Totally, no speculation at all. I mean, the average Laker fan with the LA Times in-hand has all the insider info on the rehabilitation of it's players. They should fire all the training staff and hire the guy who wrote this article.

Seriously people, come on. The Lakers training staff has no obligation to keep us in the loop about diagnosis of injuries. They have to tell reporters something every day at practice.

And this article simply throws out a list of injuries the Lakers suffered and then backs it up with "the phoenix suns got healthier faster." Read that Phoenix paragraph again--it's loaded with QUESTIONS. You can't string together questions and then say it leads to an obvious conclusion that their staff is better.

Bringing back players to soon? Karl Malone ("RUMORS persist that the medical staff misdiagnosed the knee injury early on and rushed him to recovery too soon")? Chris Mihm? They brought these guys back at the end of the season when games are more important than ever. These guys were trying to play through it to help their team, JUST LIKE KOBE IS DOING RIGHT NOW. Everyone commends Kobe for fighting through the pinkie pain, but if he hurts it again and can't shoot, it's the staffs fault?

Bynum's injury was pretty serious. Same with Ariza. Considering that we're still in the hunt for the top seed, is there a need to rush them back? No! We're two players deep at every position without those two. When Pau's out it's a different story because we have no post game. Kobe and co. have to work harder for shots and play more transition defense with long rebounds. That wears them down. But with Pau, everyhthing's fine. When he comes back, all Bynum has to do is hold down the paint against dribble penetration and attack the offensive glass. Kobe and Pau will run the offense. So please don't mention "we need time to build chemistry."

In conclusion, no need to whine. The Lakers are back!

[A-man]

Gary Vitti is no doctor, he is a trainer that took a couple of classes at a small college in Utah, and basically has no more medical knowledge than a nurse. This would be fine, if it were anything else than a multi million dollar franchise, i dont see why they dont get MD's on the staff and sidelines, i know a lot of doc's (myself included) who would love that job. Look at what Bill Parcells is doing in miami, he basically saw the same problem and attacked it from all ways: better training for the players, and better trainers themselves...

[A-man]

Gary Vitti is no doctor, he is a trainer that took a couple of classes at a small college in Utah, and basically has no more medical knowledge than a nurse. This would be fine, if it were anything else than a multi million dollar franchise, i dont see why they dont get MD's on the staff and sidelines, i know a lot of doc's (myself included) who would love that job. Look at what Bill Parcells is doing in miami, he basically saw the same problem and attacked it from all ways: better training for the players, and better trainers themselves...

[john rose]

hey, if you dont chew big red, then FUCK YOU

[NP]

As a professional, I agree we need not look further than Phoenix who has a great blend of athletic trainers and physical therapists. They rejuvenate players like Shaq and Grant Hill to All Star level. I have colleagues on staff with USC football, and you can look at Mark Sanchez's same injury as Andrew Bynum's last year, Sanchez returned in weeks. Also why does Bynum need to go to New York for care, we have great physicians, therapists, and athletic trainers HERE!!!! I hope Jerry Buss looks hard at the medical staff and revamp it, it's not the 80's times have changed.

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game every season. That being said, you think he would just "have" a stress fracture JUST to play for China? No player WANTS to be injured, and as much of a joke you make of this 21 game streak, I'm sure Yao would

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