jnrjr79 wrote:Probably. I do not know whether this is the sort of thing that could also have resolved via rest/treatment. Many injuries present with both options. But I agree he didn't just have some sort of totally unnecessary procedure to piss off management. It may have been a thing, though, where he could have gutted it out until the end of the season before doing it, but decided to move forward in the hopes he would not get traded to Detroit. I don't know. It may have been immediately medically necessary, but obviously the FO seems to disagree if the reporting on this has been accurate.
There are two fundamental elements, and I am splitting them out:
Element #1: Zach believed the surgery was the best course of action.
This speaks to the desire to have the surgery at some point in time. It isn't discussing timing, just that he would not get a surgery that has a long recovery window if he didn't think it was the best course of action. This doesn't mean it was the only possible course of action and it doesn't speak to whether he could gut it out.
the second element is the timing of the surgery, and I'm speaking to that separately, because I think agreeing to the first element, that people don't undergo surgery to piss other people off is a pretty important objective, easy to draw line in the sand. If someone disagrees with that, and think people make surgical decisions that stop you from living your daily life or walking for like a month out of spite, then I'm just fundamentally on a much different page.
Element #2: Timing of the procedure
Generally, I don't think being on last place Detroit where you have no history is a reason to delay the procedure, and wouldn't be for most people. Going to the Lakers may have been different, but I don't view that as an indictment of Zach. I wouldn't delay a surgery over something I don't want / neutral about, but I might delay one for my dream job.
Generally speaking, if a surgery is the best possible option, you get it as soon as you can unless there is an overriding reason to wait.
I would not say this is true as a general matter re: athletes. All sorts of athletes delay surgery so they can be available to play in the short-term. I do not know whether Zach could have done this here, but I don't think this rule of thumb is accurate.
I agree, but I think this lives next to my point rather than is different. I said generally, you do not put off a surgery unless there is a reason to wait. Playing through the season might be a reason to wait. I agree, one might choose to play through pain or put off a surgery to make it through the season, but if there were no season, you would generally get the thing done as soon as possible. The bar to wait may not be incredibly high, but your default stance is usually to get a surgery done in the first convenient window.
Given Zach already attempted and failed a comeback that feels like a reason for him to have the surgery to me. The point I was discussing (maybe separate from you) was whether he did it to avoid Detroit and that's what made management mad. Detroit's situation was definitely not one that I think a player would typically delay a necessary surgery for.
