AJ Griffin Knee Vigil

[jipops]

Yeah, while it is certainly not a good thing for a player who has missed so much game time to miss even 2-3 weeks (note: both the report of a dislocation and the 4-6 week timeline have been scrapped in more recent reporting), I'm also not agreeng the dire Harry Giles concerns yet either. For a a few reasons:
1. While he has now had two knee injuries, neither was nearly as serious as Giles' injuries.
2. While he missed game action the past two years, it isn't like he's been unable to get in work (unlike Giles who missed over a year and a half of basketball related activities). Griffin played part of his junior year (missed a few weeks with a sprained knee but otherwise played). He missed out on games last year because of the pandemic, but did get to train/practice with an NBA team instead.

Now, he hasn't played organized games since his junior year of high school, and he was reportedly trailing Keels in practice. So it's obviously not ideal to miss more time. Especially if it ends up being 4-6 weeks. But if it turns out to be 2-3 weeks? Then hopefully by mid-November it becomes a non-issue.

The other thing to keep in mind is that he is probably not going to be asked to carry the offense. There are enough different weapons that I'd imagine his offensive role was going to be more of an off-ball player anyway. So there's already less impact than there would be if, say, our starting PG or best player got hurt.

Definitely not an ideal situation though. But I'm not ready to call it a devastating blow or a dire situation for the future of this team.

What recent reporting has scrapped the 4-6 week timeline?

[CDu]

What recent reporting has scrapped the 4-6 week timeline?

Steve Wiseman, the Chronicle, and Brendan Marks. The 4-6 week timeline was part of a report of a dislocated knee, which does not seem to be an accurate report.

Not saying it will be less than 4-6 weeks, just that there hasn’t been an actual timeline reported by Duke yet. Just sprained knee, no significant damage, indefinite timetable.

[budwom]

Steve Wiseman, the Chronicle, and Brendan Marks. The 4-6 week timeline was part of a report of a dislocated knee, which does not seem to be an accurate report.

Not saying it will be less than 4-6 weeks, just that there hasn’t been an actual timeline reported by Duke yet. Just sprained knee, no significant damage, indefinite timetable.

that's encouraging, and mos of us know by now not to expect any timeline from the staff. He'll be back when he's back.

[UrinalCake]

What does it mean that he was “reportedly trailing Keels in practice”?

Just looking for a bit of clarification, thanks.

Those paying close attention to the latest scrimmage and practice videos noticed that Keels was suiting up with the first team in favor of Griffin. Though they did later switch off. We also saw some tweets indicating that Keels was playing great and exceeding expectations, while nothing much has been said about Griffin (positive or negative).

[Faustus]

How tired am I of these almost annual 'blessings in disguise'?

[DavidBenAkiva]

Coach K at ACC media day today:

AJ Griffin is off crutches and "We hope it's a matter of weeks until he’s back.”

Seems to be in line with reporting from Saturday. I guess that's good news.

https://twitter.com/DukeDigest/statu...24336485179397

[jv001]

Coach K at ACC media day today:

AJ Griffin is off crutches and "We hope it's a matter of weeks until he’s back.”

Seems to be in line with reporting from Saturday. I guess that's good news.

https://twitter.com/DukeDigest/statu...24336485179397

Hope it's not 52 weeks. You know Coach K doesn't give out too much information.

Thanks for the info.

GoDuke!

[flyingdutchdevil]

Coach K at ACC media day today:

AJ Griffin is off crutches and "We hope it's a matter of weeks until he’s back.”

Seems to be in line with reporting from Saturday. I guess that's good news.

https://twitter.com/DukeDigest/statu...24336485179397

Anytime your don't need device assistance, it's a good thing. If AJ can support his weight with that knee, fantastic.

I expect him back before Thanksgiving. He'll certainly come of the bench for a while, but you can always use a player who can guard the 2-4 and provides valuable versatility.

That said, he's still an enigma.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Anytime your don't need device assistance, it's a good thing. If AJ can support his weight with that knee, fantastic.

I expect him back before Thanksgiving. He'll certainly come of the bench for a while, but you can always use a player who can guard the 2-4 and provides valuable versatility.

That said, he's still an enigma.

Every freshman is an enigma in some sense. Some are just a little more obvious than others.

[Indoor66]

Every freshman is an enigma in some sense. Some are just a little more obvious than others.

Actually, most are a mystery wrapped in an enigma. FIFY

[flyingdutchdevil]

Every freshman is an enigma in some sense. Some are just a little more obvious than others.

I can't recall a freshman with a bigger variance than AJ. On a plus side, he's got an NBA body, a father who is an assistant coach with the Raptors (meaning plenty of access to excellent facilities and trainers), and a really good shooter/excellent defender. On the downside, he hasn't played organized basketball in 18+ months (or something like that), he has a few nagging injuries, and he'll be out of shape for some time.

In the best case, he's Justise Winslow (5.5 win shares). In the worst case, he's an injury prone freshman Wendell Moore (1.4 win shares with a full healthy year). That's a helluva variance.

[UrinalCake]

Coach K confirmed in today's ACC Media Day that it is a sprain and no surgery is required, and the expected timetable to return is "weeks, not months." Also said that AJ is already no longer using crutches. Great news, all things considered.

[Duke79UNLV77]

I can't recall a freshman with a bigger variance than AJ. On a plus side, he's got an NBA body, a father who is an assistant coach with the Raptors (meaning plenty of access to excellent facilities and trainers), and a really good shooter/excellent defender. On the downside, he hasn't played organized basketball in 18+ months (or something like that), he has a few nagging injuries, and he'll be out of shape for some time.

In the best case, he's Justise Winslow (5.5 win shares). In the worst case, he's an injury prone freshman Wendell Moore (1.4 win shares with a full healthy year). That's a helluva variance.

Maybe, Giles, varying from the next Kevin Garnett to a post-injuries Sam Bowie.

[flyingdutchdevil]

Maybe, Giles, varying from the next Kevin Garnett to a post-injuries Sam Bowie.

That was due to a double ACL tear (one in each leg) before he even stepped foot on Duke's campus. Knees robbed Giles of any promising career.

[SouthernDukie]

Coach K confirmed in today's ACC Media Day that it is a sprain and no surgery is required, and the expected timetable to return is "weeks, not months." Also said that AJ is already no longer using crutches. Great news, all things considered.

That is good news. I think Duke needs all hands on deck if it wants to send Coach K out on the appropriate note - an NCAA Championship.

[Billy Dat]

I saw DukeMBB IG story had a shot of Paolo throwing Theo an alley-oop...which is fine...but the shot ended with AJ coming into frame participating in the full court drill. Maybe he's going to be back sooner than expected.

[DavidBenAkiva]

Interesting development. Even getting a few minutes each half from AJ would be a big help.

Here's a screenshot of the moment:

[Ultrarunner]

I saw DukeMBB IG story had a shot of Paolo throwing Theo an alley-oop...which is fine...but the shot ended with AJ coming into frame participating in the full court drill. Maybe he's going to be back sooner than expected.

That would be very welcome news.

[cato]

Interesting development. Even getting a few minutes each half from AJ would be a big help.

Here's a screenshot of the moment:

Nice catch.

As for AJ, even Phil Mickelson would be jealous of his calves.

[CDu]

That is great news. I had a feeling we might see Griffin take part in warmups against WSSU. This leads me to believe even moreso that might happen. Hopefully that means a return to game action is not too far away (if not this Saturday).