Wizenheimer wrote:Spoiler:
if there's a question, I have one regarding the "re-evaluated in a week"...
what exactly does that mean? Will they take another MRI to see if it's healing or still inflamed? Are they re-evaluating simply to determine the course the rehab takes after the inflammation resolves?? If so, could rehab stretch into the playoffs?
Portland has a 4 game homestand over the next 8 days, then they depart on a 4 game road trip. They'll play 4 games in 6 days and that includes a back2back. At this point, it seems unlikely that CJ would play on that road trip. After it, there's 5 games left in the season and the first game is 2 weeks from now. Even in the best case scenario that seems like the most realistic target date for his return. I mean, if he's re-evaluated just before Portland leaves for the road trip, what chance would there be for him to test the knee in workouts?
this was about the worst time for this injury to occur in the regular season. Early and mid-season, teams can adjust to a missing player. But this late, when legs are tired and practice time is practically non-existent, it's likely a lot harder to adjust the offense and rotation
I think that's a good question. I think the most likely circumstance is he has a grade 1 or 2 popliteus strain and will be reevaluated in a week for resuming some degree of activity.
That week timetable could be for an evaluation for moving from resting to starting PT which is hard to say how long it would take from there until he was ready to play. If there's a setback or they discover something they didn't initially see on the MRI that can obviously lengthen the process as well. It could also be where that week timetable is where he's already doing PT and will be reevaluated for playing after that week. I think the former situation is more likely though.
It's all speculative, but from how it looks this may be hard for POR to endure and have a good playoff run. But it could also work out like some others said, if guys like Hood/Curry get more of a rhythm and CJ comes back actually ready to go then that might leave them better than they were before.
