What exactly is the story with Giles' knees anyway?

#1
Is he expected to be full-go for Summer League and training camp, or is he in a rehab mode? I mean can he play all out or is he moving gingerly on the knees?
 
#2
Torn ACL, MCL and Meniscus in his left knee at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in 2013.
After seemingly making a full recovery from his initial injury, Giles tore the ACL in his right knee in the very first game of his senior high school season in 2015. He sat out the entire year
He had another more minor (arthroscopic) surgery in late 2016 that delayed his collegiate debut until late December.

Since Dec 2016 he plays with no further injury (but avg just 11.5 mins). Due to his history , he is a gamble (with a big upside if he stays healthy)
 
Last edited:
#3
When he was "healthy" on Duke, he didn't look like anything special. I think this made some people guess if he wasn't as good as people thought he were, or if it was the injuries that attributed to his disappointments. There was discussion of this in the Vertical Draft show, and Mike Schmitz couldn't really give an answer because I don't think he knew either. Question was something like: "Did 1 year of college expose Harry Giles..or is it the injury holding him back?"
With Giles, you have to be extremely cautious with his knees. Lots of scary stuffs there considering his injury history
 
#4
There was an article on NBA.com from May 11th that gives a little insight into his mentality about it. Have to give him respect for his outlook on it. He is accepting and wants to play with a little edge for those opponents that think they can sleep on him.

Scott-Howard Cooper article. I would link it but I still live in a cave.
 
#5
I hope the Kings just focus on rehabbing him. I've heard talks of sending him to Reno but that isn't going to keep him from getting reinjured.
 
#7
guess I'll be interested to hear the plans for him. Seems to me either he can play full contact all out basketball or he can't. It's not like they play 3/4 speed in Reno or have special rules that protect guys with fragile knees.
 
#8
@pdizo916

I am an OG fan and had my fingers crossed we would draft him with one of our picks. I think we still drafted great. I may be wrong about OG, only time will tell. Was just a risk I thought worth taking.

Again, we did really well and if Harry stays healthy we straight killed it this draft.
 
#10
@John Galt

He was playing around 9-10 mins a game through the tournament. I am guessing we will sign a median PF to back Skal. Giles will play in the G-League, with minutes increasing in increments till both he and the coaching staff are comfortable.

I could see him play 12-15 minutes for the Kings by years end. No rush if the reward in the long run is even 70% of what he was projected to be.
 
#11
From what I've read, his knee's seem to be fine, and he even performed quite well from a physical stand-point at the combine. It's more about getting his head and his confidence right, and getting him back into the mentality that he had in high school.

In a sense, it reminds me a little bit of Skal (minus the injuries of course). Joerger got Skal to play with some confidence last year after a timid year at Kentucky, so let's see if coach can do it again!
 
#12
His left knee, the original injury, is the one that causes concern. People making a big deal about his right knee are usually uninformed. I love the pick though, Harry Giles is one of the best PF's I've ever seen in HS, his hand-eye coordination is elite and he's really still got major plus agility as far as I'm concerned. I've gotta find the highlight but there was this one recovery and block he had this year in a game I watched which really was by-far my favorite play of his and made me think he's still got it.
 
#13
This is the only pick of the four I'm not currently on board with. Bigs with multiple serious knee injuries are tough to get excited about. I'm writing Giles off as a probable swing and a miss but definitely hope Vlade proves me wrong once again.
 
#14
Did he need microfracture surgery? If not I really am not all that concerned. I really don't want him in Reno though. I want him doing light workouts with the big boys until he is ready.
 

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#15
Did he need microfracture surgery? If not I really am not all that concerned. I really don't want him in Reno though. I want him doing light workouts with the big boys until he is ready.

No but he blew out his ACL, MCL, and meniscus in an epic Shaun Livingston-esque knee explosion. He rehabbed that injury, came back, and then, at that point, started playing so well that scouts ranked him at #1 in the class of 2016 and then tore the ACL of his other knee.

The fates are cruel.
 
#16
Did he need microfracture surgery? If not I really am not all that concerned. I really don't want him in Reno though. I want him doing light workouts with the big boys until he is ready.
Microfracture surgery is slowly becoming less and less popular, as the results have been less than stellar.
 
#18
No but he blew out his ACL, MCL, and meniscus in an epic Shaun Livingston-esque knee explosion. He rehabbed that injury, came back, and then, at that point, started playing so well that scouts ranked him at #1 in the class of 2016 and then tore the ACL of his other knee.

The fates are cruel.
Yeah, it's brutal and obviously cause for concern but at 20 I feel like it's low risk with high reward potential. If we wanted Jackson at 10, this is basically like a freebie.

Plus there is absolutely no reason for him to do anything besides rehab next season until he feels better than 100.
 
#19
The silver lining is that Harry Giles injuries happened when he was only 15 (in 2013) and 17 (in 2015) years old.

The chances for full recovery are better when the injury and surgery happens at a young age, the body heals better.

So, if Giles can stay healthy and make a full or near full recovery, we may have the biggest steal of the 2017 draft! :)
 

VF21

Super Moderator Emeritus
SME
#20
#23
A professional physical therapist wrote a fantastic and thorough article detailing the risk and upside of Giles' recovery prospects, and I highly recommend you read it if you want detailed evidence for an optimistic outlook on his recovery.

My main takeaway from that analysis is that we should just redshirt him this year and focus on having him rebuild strength in his body and restore confidence in his athleticism before throwing him out on the court full-time. There's absolutely no reason to rush this, and the reward for patience in this scenario is potentially the best big-man prospect in the draft.

https://www.3cbperformance.com/blog/2017/6/17/harryd-knees-the-riskreward-of-harry-giles
 
#24
A professional physical therapist wrote a fantastic and thorough article detailing the risk and upside of Giles' recovery prospects, and I highly recommend you read it if you want detailed evidence for an optimistic outlook on his recovery.

My main takeaway from that analysis is that we should just redshirt him this year and focus on having him rebuild strength in his body and restore confidence in his athleticism before throwing him out on the court full-time. There's absolutely no reason to rush this, and the reward for patience in this scenario is potentially the best big-man prospect in the draft.

https://www.3cbperformance.com/blog/2017/6/17/harryd-knees-the-riskreward-of-harry-giles
Nice article, I liked it until he mentioned the Laker's!!! o_O
 
#25
Good article.

I'm starting to lean that he should continue to just rehab with the training staff and get his knee as close to 100% before he steps on the floor.

That means skip summer league and target training camp at the earliest (maybe even target after New Years) to really start full bore basketball activities.

I feel that if we let his knees heal right, he may be a special player, a lot of comparisons to Chris Webber type big hands and talent.
 
#27
#28
Must read. Could skip right to risk/reward analysis.

Another great point: both of Giles' injuries were direct contact as opposed to non contact. This means it's not a biomechanical issue less likely to re injure. Also, being young when then happened is a plus. Also, he wasn't pushed at Duke.
Good read, the follow up scope is the biggest negative indicator of future problems. Hopefully it's not a matter of the knee becoming arthritic.
 

SLAB

Hall of Famer
#29
I'm confident Pete Youngman and crew will do the right thing for Giles and the Kings. :)
So his knee will be fine, he'll just tweak his hammy? :p

I kid I kid! I love the pick. That dreaded "P" word is always tricky, but it truly feels like the luck is changing around here.
 
#30
Good read, the follow up scope is the biggest negative indicator of future problems. Hopefully it's not a matter of the knee becoming arthritic.
Having the knee scoped after a major surgery like that doesn't seem that big of a red flag to me. Seems fairly common place and he was back playing 2 months later.

I remember that Nerlens Noel had "procedures" done on his ACL repaired knee and he was out for a few months of the season. Noel seems to be healthy now.