The story was revolving around Houston Rockets star big man, Dwight Howard who banged his knee up on Saturday and is still feeling some of the after effects.
“Some of the swelling has gone down,” Howard said. “I got a lot of movement and range in it, more than I did when I first hurt it. It felt pretty good today. Thank God it wasn’t that serious, because it did bother me the whole game. A lot of people noticed it. One thing I was thinking is I need my knees to play this game.”
I’m sure the Rockets ownership and fans are happy it wasn’t that serious either.
“I’m going to have to find some of those Hakeem (Olajuwon) knee pads,” Howard said. “We actually did talk about that at the end of the season, me wearing some knee pads. It looks like I’m going to have to do it. Taking those bumps now, at 21 (years old) I could recover at halftime. But now, I got some of that kryptonite juice stuck in my knees so I have to make sure I get that out.” This last quote is what really forced my brain off on a slight tangent. It’s 2014; why aren’t all NBA players wearing knee pads?
Especially bigs or guys who attack the paint and are vulnerable to knee on knee hits in traffic? Why wouldn’t ownership make this piece of equipment mandatory?
The answer is simple. Machismo. Nobody wants to be called soft (especially Dwight … right Kobe?) and wearing protection on your knees is apparently the sign of “getting too old to play” or “being soft”.
Hakeem wore them and dominated. So did Patrick Ewing. I don’t remember anyone ever questioning their toughness.
NBA players wear mouth guards to protect against elbows in the face and help absorb impact on a blow to the head. Well, headshots are serious – so we don’t consider that soft.
NBA players wear THICK foamy compression shorts or pants under their uniform to absorb impact whenever they hit the floor. Well, you want to be aggressive, plus nobody can see that big diaper looking thing – so we won’t call you soft for that either.
Basketball kneepads evoke thoughts of bulky rectangular bandages that may hamper mobility and more importantly, not look cool.
These days, the technology has changed. Honeycomb style pads built into knee / leg sleeves allow all sorts of protection.
Allen Iverson started wearing a compression sleeve to assist with the treatment of an injury, and it became a fashion statement.
Howard already wears his trademark arm sleeves – why not some leg sleeves too with built in protection?
If it extends your career another year or two isn’t it worth it?
Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of kids that would copy cat, and go out and buy the exact same gear. Sure, they’d be doing it just to look cool – like their favorite baller, but in the end it would also be protecting those oft destroyed knee ligaments that so often fall victim to this game.
