Isaiah Livers approached his coach, Juwan Howard, recently and let out some steam. The junior forward has been classified as “day-to-day” for over a month now, watching helplessly as his team has sputtered to a 2-3 record in his absence.
“‘Coach, this is a tough time for me right now,’ ” Howard recalled Livers saying. ‘I’m going through it.’”
Howard offered no assurances of Livers’ imminent return, only that “he’s improving”, which he deemed to be “a great sign, not a good sign, a great sign.”
But Howard also empathized with what Livers has been going through in this stretch.
“Here’s a guy who sees his teammates out there, competing hard, (has) been a part of the team since the beginning of the season, was a part of the team’s success — a huge part of the team’s success — and now, you miss, I stopped counting how many games he’s missed, and looking at his face, yes, it wears on you,” Howard said. “Because he wants to be out there helping his team, and he knows that his teammates need him. He misses the competition. He misses the games, playing against their opponents, sharing their success and fun opportunities with his teammates.”
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