WizBlog RSS FeedSONGAILA TO UNDERGO SURGERY; WILL BE OUT 10-12 WEE…
SONGAILA TO UNDERGO SURGERY; WILL BE OUT 10-12 WEEKS
Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld announced today that forward Darius Songaila will undergo surgery to repair a herniated disc, and will be out for 10-12 weeks.
Songaila originally sustained the injury while playing in the World Championship Games for the Lithuanian National Team this past summer.
“I am very disappointed that I will not be out there with my new teammates,” said Songaila. “I plan to work hard and look forward to getting back on the court. Unfortunately, surgery is my best option at this time.”
This obviously doesn’t help the team depth-wise. Do you think Songaila’s absence will be a big hinderance through the first months of the season? Based on the time-table provided by the team, it looks like the earliest Songaila will be back is around February.
October 31st, 2006 at 4:42 PM
10 to 12 weeks thats a long time and that sucks because I had never really seen darius play before and cant wait to see what all the hype is all about.
October 31st, 2006 at 5:03 PM
I’m from Lithuania and I know Darius very well..Be strong Darius!!Lithuania is with you!
October 31st, 2006 at 5:16 PM
Me too.
So…
PF:
Jamison will have to play virtually all his minutes here - none to speak of at SF.
SF:
Since Jordan says (and I agree), Blatche isn’t ready for the rotation, Hayes will play most of his minutes here, rather than at shooting guard.
Shooting Guard:
Mason will, therefore, be in the rotation spelling Stevenson at shooting guard until Songaila comes back.
I look forward to seeing the centers in their new roles, and Stevenson and Mason in theirs.
What do you think?
October 31st, 2006 at 6:27 PM
Darius,
May your surgery be successful and may you have a speedy recovery.
A NBA Fan - kg
October 31st, 2006 at 6:49 PM
With the Darius out do you think that we could see Brendan and Etan in the game together?
October 31st, 2006 at 7:25 PM
This is quite disappointing. I was really looking forward to see what Darius would add to our bigs right from the start.
October 31st, 2006 at 8:10 PM
Talk about dissapointments. Songalia was supposed to bring toughness to the Wizards, but instead hurts himself. Great…. What a way to start the season.
October 31st, 2006 at 8:17 PM
The injury to Darius makes for a difficult start to the season — especially because it means more minutes for Antawn, who played on Team USA through the summer.
Much of the Wizards’ success will be riding on Jarvis Hayes. If he is really back, stays healthy through the season, and plays to the level he played to before his injury, we can be 5 games better than last year.
Who is capable of finishing ahead of us in the East? Miami, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, and NJ. Not saying they all will, but these teams might be projected ahead of us.
Who will be our biggest rivals in the rest of the East: the Pacers and Orlando.
I don’t see any great results in store for the 76ers, Knicks, Bucks, Celtics, Bobcats or Toronto.
The wild cards that affect us, and are out of our control: just how good will the Bulls be? Just how much of a dip, if any, will the Pistons experience? Will the Nets hold together through the season?
My estimate: 45 wins, in the playoffs, and probably have a very difficult first series against either Detroit, Cleveland or New Jersey. If we win that series, we can win the 2d round too (unless vs. the Heat, I guess).
October 31st, 2006 at 10:54 PM
speedy recovery.. D-Song!
October 31st, 2006 at 11:07 PM
yeah i don’t think this is as bad as everyone is going to make it i think this will give Hayes some time to get in there and show us what we have been missing but i don’t like the fact that we just spent allot of cash to get him here and he has not been on the floor because of this problem i am glad that we did find it now and that might give us that lift at the end when the games get allot tighter
November 1st, 2006 at 1:54 AM
Surgery! Damn, that really should be his last resort. Plus there is no guarantee that it will resolve his problem in the first place. If this just happened, they are jumping the gun in my opinion.
Did they say exactly what is wrong with him and what kind of surgery he will be getting? 10-12 weeks is pretty fast recovery to be 100%.
I hope they are right in their diagnosis and their choice of treatment.
Good luck Darius…Be diligent with rehab & do lots of cardio!
November 1st, 2006 at 7:10 AM
I think that the Wizards will have a good record my the time Darius returns. I just hope that when he returns to the line up it dosen’t mess up the rotation too much.
November 1st, 2006 at 9:04 AM
They don’t make NBA players like they used to…these “catz” stay all broke up. Etan is always pullin’ a stomach muscle (in the playoffs) A.D rolls his ankle at least once a year, Peter John Ramos had tendonitis and we never got to see him play except for two Novembers ago when he “gave it to Shaq.” Will Jarvis make it to 25 games? The bottom line is…our team has tallent but injuries limit us to how far we can go.
I was anxious to see what Darius had to offer…I hope he’s a “banger”…b/c right now our team is too soft. Ever since Jamison let LeBron drive baseline for the series winner, I lost respect for his game…he’s not what we need. I would prefer Dalembert over Songaila…but he’s all locked up.
November 1st, 2006 at 9:46 AM
I am not saying this injury does not hurt, no pun intended, but it is not as bad as everyone is making it.
I , for one, and glad that he decided to get the surgery sooner or later. Word is that he has a herniated disc. The only way to fix that is with surgery. If he had given it a month, thinking it was a pinched nerve, then decided he needed surgery, that would have hurt ever worse.
Without Songaila, Jamison will have to play more minutes at PF and is out of the question for time at SF until Songaila returns. I think that Ruffin will have to step up to spell Tawn. Now Ruffin will not give you anything on the offensive end, but he keeps the ball alive like no other. Etan said the other day that EJ told him that at any one time they will have 3-4 scorers on the floor, and Etan needs to concern himself with defense and rebounding.
I think there are still plenty of different types of rotations available. We are now 10 deep, as opposed to 11 deep. Things will be fine. Songaila will come back just in time to get gelled and help us finish strong. His familiarity with the system and presence at practice and games will help him be a quick study.
November 1st, 2006 at 10:24 AM
I know Darius from Kings he played there couple years i believe and i liked his game he can shoot at the same time he can pass so thats exaclty what we need!! I mean im little bit said that we wont be able to see him playin for us doin what he does!!! HOPE YOU GET BETTER DARIUS! you know we need your gift!!!!!
November 1st, 2006 at 10:47 AM
Andrew: Pinched nerve is just terminology. Herniated disc is one of the things that can pinch the nerve, so they are really one and the same.
Either way, I hope they figure out why he developed this problem, otherwise it may come back, sooner rather then later later.
The need for surgery should only be after they exhausted all conservative management. It has only been a couple of months, if he injured his back this summer, and that is too soon to make such drastic decision. I really hope that motivation for the surgery is that it is best treatment option for him and NOT the belief that this will expedite his return to play.
November 1st, 2006 at 11:30 AM
Hopefully this will provide Blatche with some valuable experience to expedite his development. Injuries like this can actually benenfit a team in the longterm and make it stronger come the end of the season and playoffs, especially if you have a young player like Blatche who can step in and gain some exposure he otherwise wouldn’t receive, opposed to sitting at the end of the bench with no action delaying his progress. Now by the end of the season we will hopefully have a more seasoned Blatche who can actually contribute, in addition to a healthy recovered and well rested Darius Songaila. This could actually benefit us overall as we go into the playoffs.