-
Tim BontempsESPN
BOSTON – Celtics All-Star point guard Kemba Walker has been allowed to practice, the team announced Friday, and coach Brad Stevens says Walker’s troublesome left knee has been pain-free for “over a month”.
Walker’s left knee has been an ongoing problem for Boston, stretching back a calendar year to January 2020. In the weeks leading up to last year’s All-Star Game, he faced on-again, off-again discomfort in the knee. Then, after playing tough minutes in the mid-season showcase in Chicago, he struggled to close the competition in March due to COVID-19.
When the teams resumed practice in late June, Walker said he felt further knee discomfort, which led to the Celtics showing him at a strict minute limit during the team’s seeding games in the NBA’s bubble at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. .
After an up-and-down postseason, with Walker initially looking good against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round before getting more battle against the Toronto Raptors and then the Miami Heat, he and the team agreed to take him to a 12. let go. weekly strengthening program to try to improve the long-term condition of that left knee in early October and give it an injection in the knee.
Last month, the team said there would be an update on Walker’s status in the first week of January. Now that there is, the question will shift to when Walker is ready to make his seasonal debut.
Stevens said he gave Walker credit for his willingness to take the time to get his knee right, rather than take it out and play a level that is below his ability instead. Walker has earned a reputation as someone willing to play through injuries and rarely sit out during his first eight years in the league with the Charlotte Hornets.
“Thanks to Kemba for saying, ‘I have to make this thing stronger, and I have to make sure it’s ready for a season and then, if we’re lucky, for a late season,'” said Stevens. “But he and [strength coach Jace Delaney] have done a good job working with Phil Coles on a plan of attack, and hopefully he’ll be back soon.
‘But we are not going to rush that. We will see how the training goes and all those other things. ‘
Meanwhile, Boston will face a significantly exhausted frontcourt rotation after center Robert Williams III tested positive for COVID-19, and fellow great men Grant Williams and Tristan Thompson were banned for contact tracking under the competition’s Health and Safety Protocols. .
That leaves Boston with only two available big men on their roster: starter Daniel Theis and Tacko Fall, who has a two-way contract.
“Obviously, we will be limited with the number of guys who can play in that spot. We will actually have two major players on our roster for the next few games,” said Stevens. “It is what it is. I think the biggest concern for me is that sometimes when we play small, it’s very small. And that’s the challenge, right? We need to make sure we mix and match as well as we do. Can keep as much of our wing depth on the ground as possible, at least a pair of our wings on the ground whenever we can. “
However, Boston is getting veteran point guard Jeff Teague back after missing the past two games with a sprained ankle, as well as security guard Javonte Green, who missed Boston’s four-game road trip because he was placed in those health and safety protocols. .
Stevens said that while the depth of the team is clearly taking a hit because of the protocols at the moment, he relies on what the competition is doing and how it deals with the virus.
“The NBA goes through an incredibly detailed schedule when there is anything at all,” said Stevens. “They’ve basically relived the past few days, all of your time together. And I know they do that with every team. It’s a long, hard job for our people who are in charge of all our protocols and who follow all the protocols and for everyone the people at the competition. Those people put in a lot of time and effort and they are the experts. I listen to them and they tell me what we can and cannot do.
Scott Brooks, echoing Stevens’ belief in the league to do things the right way, added that Russell Westbrook, who dislocated a finger on his right hand late in Washington’s loss on Wednesday in Philadelphia, “good to know. go “is against the Celtics.