jnrjr79 wrote:Rainwater wrote:jnrjr79 wrote:
Again, the Bulls are quite unlikely to wait until September, because the window to apply for medical retirement is in July.
I wasn’t responding to your medical retirement comment I was responding to your comment “It's pretty concerning if he can't sprint at this point” that is a false statement. It’s a case by case thing but most are running little before or after a year. So it is kinda ridiculous to say it’s concerning if he is not running or sprinting now. To really see where he is at you have to wait until September. I had this surgery and my doctor doesn’t recommend running for a full year.
Second, I am pretty certain the Bulls won’t qualify for medical retirement. That is a lengthy process which you would to prove a lot of things. Very few players have qualified for it seems.
As someone who has gown through the surgery I think that Ball will play again. From what I have heard the discomfort that caused him to get the surgery is gone. The only thing I would be worried about is will he return the same player or is this a Derrick Rose situation.
Medical retirement is not really a "lengthy process." It involves an independent physician reviewing his medical records and potentially having him sit for an exam. I'm not sure what you mean by "very few players have qualified for it." That would be because very few teams have applied for it and very few players have had career-ending injuries while the medical retirement relief has existed in the CBA. It's not like teams are applying for this and getting rejected all the time. Has there been an instance where a team has sought this and it has not been granted? I can't think of one. Medical retirement was granted for Brandon Roy and Chris Bosh - the latter over his objection.
And with due respect, whatever your doctor told you about your recovery timeline from your surgery, which may or may not be the same surgery Lonzo had, is of pretty limited utility in evaluating the fact that Lonzo can't run at full speed a year after his surgery.
This does not sound awesome:
Before Tuesday’s loss to Detroit, a source told the Chicago Sun-Times that the Bulls “were having even more concerns about Ball’s progress.” The 26-year-old point guard has been trying to work his way back from a cartilage transplant surgery. He hasn’t appeared in a game since January of 2021.
Head coach Billy Donovan was also asked about Ball’s status on Tuesday, and his comments to the Sun-Times weren’t very encouraging:
“I don’t know if he’s stuck. He is doing some shooting, some running, some jumping. He hasn’t done any sprinting yet, that I know…
They talked about that, and [sprinting] was kind of a goal, a set point. I do think the one thing that has been a priority right now so he does not get set back is he needs to develop more strength in his leg. Because of him having that surgery and being off his leg so long, before he’s really able to ramp up, I think they want him to get to a place physically that relates to his quad strength, hamstring strength, before he starts to really do that…
I don’t want to say it’s a holdup, but that’s where they want to get him to. In terms of what he’s doing, he feels better.”
https://www.bleachernation.com/bulls/2024/02/28/lonzo-ball-upd-2-28/
You are correct, maybe “lenthy process” was the wrong words to use and the issue is that many teams don’t really apply for medical retirement rather than them just being rejected. But the mere fact many don’t apply should tell you that Bulls likely won’t either.
In even in the cases they were granted, those issues faced by those players were far worse than Lonzo’s issues. Roy was basically playing bone on bone and Chris Bosh had blood Clots. While the remedy to correcting cartilage defects has changed, Lonzo’s issue is something many other players have had in the past including T-Mac, Amare, J-Kidd, and more. Could these teams haves applied for retirement benefits for cartilage defects for their players and benefited maybe, but the mere fact that these teams didn’t even apply and cartilage defects is a common issue should tell you it may not be granted.
While I am no expert, in regards to your last point, many of these cartilage transplant treatments have long recovery times. For the OATS procedure it can take 12 months to recover. The Maci’s procedure (which I had) could take a year to run long distances. Micro Facture surgery (which is no longer used) took 9 months if I remember correctly. You can look these things up. Again, him not running at this point is not a huge concern.
And if you look at the quote, they say he feels no pain and the coach even said he is not necessarily stuck and needs to work on his quads. And in a prior tweet it said the medical staff is ok with his progress.
In all honesty, Ball will play again but the only question is will he be the same player. This is same question many other players faced when they had cartilage defects and it has been mixed.
I am not a Ball fan but some dude who had the surgery. I think people are making a news story about something they know very little about. Give the man until September to actually see where he is at.
