Injured Miami Heat Players to Stay Injured

Injured Heat foward Dorell Wright has rehabilitated his way into a persistent injury, sayeth the Herald:

An aggressive approach to rehab from knee surgery has led to painful results for Heat forward Dorell Wright, who extended his stint on the inactive list Tuesday against the Wizards.

Wright said he might have tried to come back too fast from surgery last March to repair a torn ligament.

Maybe I'm naive, but how does this happen in the NBA? Doesn't the Heat have its injured millionaires under near-constant supervision, to keep a well-intentioned player from doing unwitting damage? Should Wright really have to accept the responsibility of extending his absence because he was "working too hard" to return?

I understand he was a restricted free agent this summer, so maybe Wright fell into a gap in the system, or maybe an athlete with Wright's paycheck should seek out the professional guidance of his own volition. But it's unfortunate when a player is allowed to unknowingly sabotage himself like this.

Meanwhile, week six of Jamaal Magloire's expected six-to-eight week recovery period is looming, and it's looking more like he'll use the whole eight.

"I would say probably in the next couple of weeks he'll be able to do more with the team," (head coach Erik) Spoelstra said.

The story notes that Miami is of particular need for an extra big next week:

Starting next Monday, the Heat begins a four-game run against the Rockets' Yao Ming, the Blazers' Greg Oden, the Suns' Shaquille O'Neal and the Clippers' Chris Kaman.

It's probably charitable to believe Magloire would do much to impede any of the above. I'm just not sure Magloire has anything left to offer. Either way, keep Udonis Haslem in your prayers.