An interesting nugget from 2009 found its way into my e-mail this morning, uncovered by Noah Galuten and forwarded to me from Henry Abbott:
PHOENIX — Phoenix Suns center Robin Lopez will have surgery to repair a broken bone in his left foot and is expected to miss six to eight weeks.
Lopez broke his fifth metatarsal — the long bone on the outside of his foot that connects to the little toe — in the second half of the team’s intrasquad scrimmage Saturday in San Diego.
Team officials say the procedure to insert a screw in Lopez’s foot will be performed Tuesday at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix.
Associated Press – Phoenix Suns’ Robin Lopez out 6-8 weeks with broken left foot
Lopez underwent surgery on the foot on October 6th, 2009, and was activated from the IL roughly seven weeks later on November 27th.
If that same timeframe applies to Brook’s recovery, that’d put his time back on the court sometime around mid-February. That’s a very good timetable for his recovery — he’d be back on the court less than halfway through the season, and 35-40 intensely compacted games are better than 66. And, of course, in this instance he’d ideally be back at full strength a full month before the trade deadline.
While very injury and recovery is different, as far as player comparisons for expected recovery go, it’s hard to get a closer match than an identical twin.
