New Orleans Pelicans guard Eric Gordon will miss at least two weeks of the exhibition season as he recovers from offseason ankle surgery, head coach Monty Williams said on Tuesday.
Eric Gordon to miss 2 weeks of preseason
The Pelicans are going to ease Eric Gordon into the 2013-14 season for good reason. They can’t afford a repeat of years past when the five-year veteran has missed significant time.
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“He’s ramping up, getting his conditioning back, since he just got his release from the doctors,” Williams said. “He’s moving toward the type of conditioning he needs to be in. I don’t want him to go out there full bore and pull a hamstring or something, because he hasn’t been going (physically) as long as the other guys have.”
It's cause for concern for the oft-injured guard. He's never played more than 78 games in his five-year NBA career, and only played in 42 last season after playing just nine in 2011-12. It's a frustrating situation for Pelicans fans who saw him come over in December 2011 in a trade that sent Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers.
He was one of the young pieces in the deal that would help carry New Orleans into the future, but he’s been unable to stay healthy, much to the dismay of the organization.
Another major concern is the fact that this scenario, one where his head coach has had to limit him early on, has been indicative of a serious injury to come later on. Either way, it’s important that he is in the best shape possible before he resumes play since any failure to compete without proper conditioning could result in another setback.
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