Mason To Miss Entire Season
Already faced with playing as many as 20 games without leading scorer Glen Rice, the Charlotte Hornets learned Tuesday night top rebounder Anthony Mason will miss the entire season.
Mason left practice Monday with what was originally diagnosed as a hyperextended right elbow. When the injury did not respond to initial treatment, he was sent Tuesday for a magnetic resonance imaging test, which showed a ruptured biceps tendon.
Surgery is being recommended to repair the damage, and it likely will take 4-6 months for rehabilitation, said Dr. Glenn Perry, the Hornets' lead physician.
New center Derrick Coleman rolled his eyes when asked about Charlotte's chances of contending in the Eastern Conference without Mason and Rice, who is recovering from elbow surgery.
"There goes the season," Coleman said. "It's going to be tough. I was looking forward to getting out there and playing with those guys."
Coleman, signed at the start of camp, was expected to play a complementary role on a team that advanced to the Eastern Conference semifinals last season largely on the strength of Rice and Mason.
But Rice, who was sixth in the NBA last season with a scoring average of 22.3 points, underwent an arthroscopic clean-out procedure late last month after a bone chip was discovered in his right elbow. He could miss the first five weeks of the season.
Mason, who last season averaged 12.8 points and was seventh in the league with a rebound average of 10.2, hyperextended his elbow while battling through a pick in practice Monday. The team originally thought he would not miss any significant amount of practice or game time, but the elbow did not respond to treatment and he was unable to work out Tuesday, so additional tests were ordered.
"It's very frustrating because those are our two best players," said coach Dave Cowens, whose team opens the regular season Friday night at home against Philadelphia. "They're the guys who have been carrying us. They're a very important part of what we've done in the past. Now we just have to weather the storm."
Rice's small forward spot would likely be filled temporarily by either Chuck Person or Chucky Brown. Cowens said J.R. Reid would be the most likely candidate to take over for Mason at power forward.
"Whoever's in there is going to have to get the job done for us to be competitive," Cowens said. "They'll have to play hard. They'll probably have to overachieve."
Cowens, who had spoken in recent weeks of hopefully being able to compete for a title, said he was not yet ready to give up those hopes because of the inuries to Rice and Mason.
"It's going to be a lot harder. We can still do it, but it's going to be an awful lot harder," Cowens said. "You're going in and you're not really whole like you planned on being when you started."
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