Is it okay to target an opposing player's injury?

[Roy Hobbs]

Lebron has an injured elbow.  Does anybody on here think it's unethical / dirty to target that elbow with screens, arm hanks, directed elbows to the injury, etc.?

I think it's dirty.  I also think it's smart basketball, and don't care much about the ethics of it.  There's no doubt in my mind that every team in the NBA (or any other professional sport) would target an opponent's weakness, even if they didn't acknowledge it publicly.

Any disagreement?

[BudweiserCeltic]

If a play is legal, all is fair game. That doesn't mean you go slapping him around in his injured area, but a strong screen is not dirty at all. The player should protect himself better if that's the case.

[Chris]

With an elbow?  I don't have a problem with it.  Same thing with any muscle problem, dislocated shoulder, sprained thumb, or something like that.  Where I would draw the line is going after someones knee coming off a major injury, or a head injury.

And again, this is all assuming it is with legal contact. 

[Roy Hobbs]

And again, this is all assuming it is with legal contact. 

What about illegal contact?  If a player has a rib injury, and one of our players elbows him in the ribs (subtly, so that he can try to get away with it) is that a problem?

It happens all the time in sports.  I'm just curious if people take exception to it.

[BudweiserCeltic]

And again, this is all assuming it is with legal contact. 

What about illegal contact?  If a player has a rib injury, and one of our players elbows him in the ribs (subtly, so that he can try to get away with it) is that a problem?

It happens all the time in sports.  I'm just curious if people take exception to it.

Well, illegal contact (even though everyone does it) is playing dirty anyways, so...

[Roy Hobbs]

And again, this is all assuming it is with legal contact. 

What about illegal contact?  If a player has a rib injury, and one of our players elbows him in the ribs (subtly, so that he can try to get away with it) is that a problem?

It happens all the time in sports.  I'm just curious if people take exception to it.

Well, illegal contact (even though everyone does it) is playing dirty anyways, so...

Two things:

1) Illegal contact isn't necessarily playing dirty; lots of times fouls (to stop a basket, for instance) aren't dirty;

and

2) Even if it's dirty, do you have a problem with your team doing it?

[Amonkey]

I think it is okay as long as somebody mentioned earlier, it's not something that might hamper the opponents players career or life.  If the guy is coming from a concussion injury, one shouldn't purposely knock the guy on the ground while he is in the air.  However, a player's job is to maximize every opportunity to win the game.

[BudweiserCeltic]

And again, this is all assuming it is with legal contact.  

What about illegal contact?  If a player has a rib injury, and one of our players elbows him in the ribs (subtly, so that he can try to get away with it) is that a problem?

It happens all the time in sports.  I'm just curious if people take exception to it.

Well, illegal contact (even though everyone does it) is playing dirty anyways, so...

Two things:

1) Illegal contact isn't necessarily playing dirty; lots of times fouls (to stop a basket, for instance) aren't dirty;

and

2) Even if it's dirty, do you have a problem with your team doing it?

True. If we're talking about fouls, fouling him hard on purpose to hit him in the injured elbow is dirty in my opinion, and I don't condone it. A legal screen, for example, which is a valid move and for whatever reason gets the added bonus of hitting an injury of a hurt player is all fair game.

Make sense?

[housecall]

As long as its either Kobe or Lebron on the receving end,its ok.

[Chris]

And again, this is all assuming it is with legal contact.  

What about illegal contact?  If a player has a rib injury, and one of our players elbows him in the ribs (subtly, so that he can try to get away with it) is that a problem?

It happens all the time in sports.  I'm just curious if people take exception to it.

Well, illegal contact (even though everyone does it) is playing dirty anyways, so...

Two things:

1) Illegal contact isn't necessarily playing dirty; lots of times fouls (to stop a basket, for instance) aren't dirty;

and

2) Even if it's dirty, do you have a problem with your team doing it?

True. If we're talking about fouls, fouling him hard on purpose to hit him in the injured elbow is dirty in my opinion, and I don't condone it. A legal screen, for example, which is a valid move and for whatever reason gets the added bonus of hitting an injury of a hurt player is all fair game.

Make sense?

I agree.  Although at the same time, if you need to foul to stop a basket, and you hit them a little harder than normal, because you know they have a bad thumb or bad shoulder, I am OK with that.

I just don't like the idea of purposely fouling and hitting someone for the sole purpose of hurting them.  But if it is within the context of a basketball play (and many fouls are), then it is fine in my book.  

[nickagneta]

I think doing so at levels that are less than Division I NCAA amateur is dirty and should be penalized severely and coaches that advocate it should be barred from coaching, at those levels.

At Division I NCAA basketball, football and basketball level and professional sports level, anything is game. Money is involved and the financial rewards have to be considered. If intentionally targeting a players injury causes the other team to be more likely to lose, in a professional or Division I NCAA level, it should not only not be frowned upon, it should be and usually is the right and proper thing to do.

If Lebron goes to the basket for a lay up with his right hand and Perk or Baby or Rasheed or Garnett go to smash his elbow instead of the ball, I have no problem with that. It's why I really didn't have a problem with teams going after Perk's shoulder in prior playoff seasons. It's a weakness, you have to exploit it.

[Greenbean]

I think the best and most sportsman way to exploit this injury is to gameplan around it. For example if he cant shoot because of this elbow, we will have to really sag of of him and he will be much less effective. Actually thinking about it now I would stick Tony Allen on him if he is struggling from the outside.

Also, I would put him on the line alot but not necessarily target his elbow with contact. I dont like that. However if he is struggling from the line as well we should be giving him the Shaq treatment around the basket.

Come to think of it, if this injury is real (which I doubt by the way), this could force him into some more back to the basket post play, something i have been dreading he would develop down the line.

[Edgar]

fiuu fiuu fiuu fiuuu 

[LB3533]

I really don't think it's Lebron's elbow that is injured, it's more than likely something to do with his neck causing his arm to go numb & experience "pins & needles" pain.

[BballTim]

With an elbow?  I don't have a problem with it.  Same thing with any muscle problem, dislocated shoulder, sprained thumb, or something like that.  Where I would draw the line is going after someones knee coming off a major injury, or a head injury.

And again, this is all assuming it is with legal contact. 

  Any foul is illegal contact. The only picks we set are illegal, right?