Stevens: Kyrie’s future outlook good
CELTICS NOTEBOOK
Brad Stevens is the son of a doctor, not one himself. The Celtics coach frequently has to add this as a disclaimer when asked to disseminate medical information, like the surgery Kyrie Irving will have today to remove two screws from his left knee.
From what Stevens has been told, the procedure eliminates any chance the point guard had of returning in the playoffs, though his knee should not be compromised. The screws and a tension wire, removed last month, were inserted after Irving fractured his kneecap in Game 1 of the 2015 NBA Finals.
“It’s good,” Stevens said. “Even initially, the structure of the knee is good, everything around the knee is good. Everybody told us from the get-go it was going to be a full recovery. They just didn’t anticipate having to take the screws out. But that shouldn’t affect him at all as far as a full recovery goes.”
Projections aren’t the same as guarantees, of course. Doctors, for instance, didn’t anticipate discovering an infection during the first procedure.
“I’m not going to act like I’m a doctor, but bottom line is that when they took the tension wire out, they noticed there was a possible infection, did all the tests necessary,” said Stevens. “He consulted with everybody around, and they said next step was that you probably had to go in and have the screws removed in the knee as well. Really disappointing for him, he’s bummed, but the right thing to do when you’re talking about infections. There was no reason to think that was going to be an issue. He had played with it for two and a half years, and it really ends up that even with just the removal of the tension wire, it’s the bacterial infection that’s the issue.
“But as far as structurally sound and the effectiveness of that as far as the health of his knee three years ago, and that surgery was really good. I guess it’s just one of those things. I feel bad for all these guys, but it’s totally, totally out of his control and just one of those things.” Irving is not happy. “He’s really disappointed,” Stevens said. “Obviously after the initial surgery the thought was he’d be back in three to six weeks. We thought it would be closer to three than six, the way he was initially progressing. Just one of those things out of his control. But he’s bummed as you can imagine.”
No go on Smart
For those banking on Marcus Smart returning from thumb surgery, Stevens wasn’t encouraging.
“Marcus won’t be back for the foreseeable near future,” Stevens said. “We haven’t planned on Marcus being available in the first couple weeks of the playoffs the whole time. It was six to eight weeks from surgery with a splint before he resumes basketball activities, which is a big difference between playing in a playoff game.”
Almost in Green
The Celtics signed free agent Jonathan Gibson for the rest of the season yesterday, though under the guidelines of the hardship player rule, he won’t be eligible for the playoffs.
Sean Kilpatrick, the player they originally intended to sign, was across the hall in the Chicago locker room. The swingman was under the impression, for roughly half a flight from Chicago to Sacramento, that he was a Celtic. He agreed to a 10-day deal a day before the Celtics beat the Kings. By the time he got off the plane he was a Bull, after Chicago came in with an offer to guarantee him for the rest of the season. He checked into the Celtics hotel for the night, anyway.
“What’s funny was when I was checking out of the hotel the next day I saw some of the Celtics players, and it was more so like a laugh,” he said. “Who knows, if my agent didn’t call me I’d probably be playing in white and green. Obviously didn’t happen . ... When he told me I was going to Chicago, I was like, two legendary situations. I was looking for more of a security blanket, but when it came to (the Celtics) asking me if I wanted to come here, I was like, no question. Where do I sign? My agent texted me ‘You have to go to Sacramento at 6 in the morning.’ I was up at 5. This organization is so respected and legendary, who wouldn’t want to be part of it?”
Time for some rest
With the conference’s second playoff seed virtually locked in, Stevens began a rest program last night, sitting out Al Horford and Jayson Tatum. Other players could follow.
“I don’t know yet. I don’t know what the plan is,” said guard Terry Rozier, who missed Tuesday’s loss in Milwaukee with a left ankle sprain but started last night. “I feel pretty good. Ninetynine percent. Pretty close.” ...
The Celts have three games left against Atlanta (tomorrow), Washington and Brooklyn. Stevens would also like to work on his playoff rotation.
“We’ll balance that a little bit,” he said. “I’d like to get at least one, possibly two games with our group as is to play before we head in. We’ll manage that as we move forward, knock on wood. Shane (Larkin) is a little bit restricted tonight, just coming off the bug he had, but after tonight’s game, we’ll look at Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and figure out when’s the best time to do that.”