Given our totally unexpected nice record, do we bring JT back in Feb if he is ready?

[fallguy]

I may wait until next season honestly and see if this team can add some pieces etc. Right now I don't see any team beating OKC (unless they have some catastrophic injuries)

Yeah, it seems like he will be back this season but I don't have any sense this team has real prospects in the playoffs beyond a round or two. Lots of good things happening this season, unexpectedly, but we're not going to be a real contender until 26-27.

[Fencer reregistered]

The short training videos suggest his lift is much lower than normal. And there's little evidence of sudden movement, those sidesteps notwithstanding.

How long will or should the gap be between unrestricted practice and actual NBA play?

[31to6]

I may wait until next season honestly and see if this team can add some pieces etc. Right now I don't see any team beating OKC (unless they have some catastrophic injuries)

Yeah, it seems like he will be back this season but I don't have any sense this team has real prospects in the playoffs beyond a round or two. Lots of good things happening this season, unexpectedly, but we're not going to be a real contender until 26-27.

Add a top-10 player in the league (JT; I know arguably top 5) and you increase your prospects, right? Try to make a surprise run to the Finals, see if you get ridiculously lucky if you get there. *If* his tendon is healed and his body is ready, of course. Unless there's a benefit to him continuing to rehab for 6 months past the point he's ready?

[31to6]

The short training videos suggest his lift is much lower than normal. And there's little evidence of sudden movement, those sidesteps notwithstanding.

How long will or should the gap be between unrestricted practice and actual NBA play?

Well I have no idea, e.g. if the tendon is truly healed, what sort of compensation injuries should they be looking out for? And -- they've already been planning for that/training for that, I'd assume. It doesn't seem like we've lucked into any insider perspective on this, beyond general Twitter sports doctors. I anticipate being really nervous watching him for quite some time.

[fallguy]

I may wait until next season honestly and see if this team can add some pieces etc. Right now I don't see any team beating OKC (unless they have some catastrophic injuries)

Yeah, it seems like he will be back this season but I don't have any sense this team has real prospects in the playoffs beyond a round or two. Lots of good things happening this season, unexpectedly, but we're not going to be a real contender until 26-27.

Add a top-10 player in the league (JT; I know arguably top 5) and you increase your prospects, right? Try to make a surprise run to the Finals, see if you get ridiculously lucky if you get there. *If* his tendon is healed and his body is ready, of course. Unless there's a benefit to him continuing to rehab for 6 months past the point he's ready?

I don't expect Tatum to play like a top-10 guy this season if he does come back. So that's one thing. But that's not even why I said what I did. I just don't think this supporting cast is good enough. Some lovely surprises this year, but I don't think we have enough horses after JT/JB/DW.

[canman1971]

If he's close to 100% and the team is doing as well as they are currently, Tatum will be back if he so chooses. That is the bottom line. If he has any doubt, he won't. We shall see.
Ex, my thoughts and positive vibes are being sent to you and your family.

[hugepatsfan]

He should come back when:

(1) the medical examiners don't see any heightened risk of re-injury, AND

(2) he feels mentally capable of playing freely enough that he's not at risk of falling into any traps where you're playing so scared that you're always bracing and locking your body up for contact which can actually make you more exposed to injury since you get your legs planted.

Those are the only two things that should be considered. If the Celtics team record is a consideration at all then him and the Celtics are both recklessly irresponsible. If those two conditions are good to go in January, then awesome. If they aren't until next year, then oh well.

Seeing all the progress updates and reading reports, it does feel like we're looking at a return sometime this season. But there really shouldn't be any pressure to push that timeline up.

[hugepatsfan]

I may wait until next season honestly and see if this team can add some pieces etc. Right now I don't see any team beating OKC (unless they have some catastrophic injuries)

Yeah, it seems like he will be back this season but I don't have any sense this team has real prospects in the playoffs beyond a round or two. Lots of good things happening this season, unexpectedly, but we're not going to be a real contender until 26-27.

Add a top-10 player in the league (JT; I know arguably top 5) and you increase your prospects, right? Try to make a surprise run to the Finals, see if you get ridiculously lucky if you get there. *If* his tendon is healed and his body is ready, of course. Unless there's a benefit to him continuing to rehab for 6 months past the point he's ready?

Hard for me to believe you get a top 10 level player out of Tatum this year, never mind top 5. There's a rust factor. And training shape isn't game shape. He's also going to be integrating himself with a ton of new guys due to the roster turnover and guys elevating to new roles. None of us have a crystal ball so maybe he has some freakish recovery where he's right back to norm, but it's hard for me to take any predictions of that seriously since they'd be based off of really just blind faith rather than logic.

But that actually is a reason why they should let him play if he's ready. Shake the rust off this year vs. waiting to next if he's medically ready to go.

[Fierce1]

We don't need a top 10 level player in Tatum.

JB is Top 5 this season.

Cs just need Tatum to supplement JB.

Let JB be the go to guy while JT is the one setting up teammates and grabbing rebounds.

Scoring comes naturally for Tatum, so I wouldn't be too worried about his offense.

The benchmark, IMO, is DWhite.
If JT will be better than DWhite then that's all the Celtics need this season.
It's another story if White and PP will end up being better than Tatum this season.

Tatum can take it slow all the way up to May.
By mid-May, that will be 12 months when the injury occurred.
I think that's when Tatum can go all out without restrictions.

What's more important is Brad gives the Cs help by getting another Center.

Queta can't do it alone.

[exculpatory]

I may wait until next season honestly and see if this team can add some pieces etc. Right now I don't see any team beating OKC (unless they have some catastrophic injuries)

Also Ex, hope you're hanging in there and my thoughts are with you FWIW.

TY

[exculpatory]

If he's close to 100% and the team is doing as well as they are currently, Tatum will be back if he so chooses. That is the bottom line. If he has any doubt, he won't. We shall see.
Ex, my thoughts and positive vibes are being sent to you and your family.

TY

[JimmyFromNz]

Its high risk, low reward in my opinion.

That said, I'm sure JT will be pushing for it, and new ownership will be an easy sell on a potential playoff run.

[keevsnick1]

Ever since we've seen his "dunking" post I've sort of expected he'll be back this year, likely soon after the all-star break. I know he's said he wants to return in Boston, the first home game after the break is February 27th. That would be 9.5 months post injury for what is an 8-10 month injury these days Seems totally realistic to me.

Now if the Celtics make it to the All Stra break and are struggling, well below .500, or have suffered a bunch of injuries that make competing this year unlikely then maybe you hold him out for tanking reasons. It would certainly not be the first time an NBA franchise held out a guy who physically could play just to improve their draft pick. But I have little doubt he will PHYICALLY be able to play this year.

I think even once he's back they'll be careful with him. No B2B's, minutes limit, ect.

FWIW I don't think he'll come back and immediately be a First-Team All-NBA 30+% USG guy. It might take a few weeks, or even a few months for him to get his rythm/conditioning/confidence ect back. Might not be fully back until next season. But i think he can at least be a 6'9n guy who rebounds, protects the rim and hits spot ups which would help a lot. Anything more than that is a bonus to me this year.

[keevsnick1]

Ever since we've seen his "dunking" post I've sort of expected he'll be back this year, likely soon after the all-star break. I know he's said he wants to return in Boston, the first home game after the break is February 27th. That would be 9.5 months post injury for what is an 8-10 month injury these days Seems totally realistic to me.

Now if the Celtics make it to the All Stra break and are struggling, well below .500, or have suffered a bunch of injuries that make competing this year unlikely then maybe you hold him out for tanking reasons. It would certainly not be the first time an NBA franchise held out a guy who physically could play just to improve their draft pick. But I have little doubt he will PHYSICALLY be able to play this year.

Even once he's back they'll be careful with him. No B2B's, minutes limit, ect.

FWIW I don't think he'll come back and immediately be a First-Team All-NBA 30+% USG guy. I'm a little worried that fans expect him to immediately be his same old self. It might take a few weeks, or even a few months for him to get his rythm/conditioning/confidence ect back. Might not be fully back until next season. But i think he can at least be a 6'9 guy who rebounds, protects the rim and hits spot ups which would help a lot. Anything more than that is a bonus to me this year.

[Fierce1]

This season is starting to feel like that 2017-18 season.

I believe if Kyrie didn't get hurt and he played in the playoffs, I think the Cs would've advanced to the finals and lost to GSW.

So I think if JT is cleared to play, he should do it because the east is wide open.

And we don't need 1st Team All-NBA JT, just someone who can be a great 2nd option behind JB.

[dans1230]

Was just reading this Krivitsky article. Achilles expert Dr. Kevin Stone says...

- You can tell if the tendon is healed by looking at MRIs
- Once it's healed, it's healed, and well-healed Achilles tendons are not prone to re-tearing
- A hypothetical return as soon as January is "definitely realistic"
- "The longer you're out, the harder it is to come back"

https://hardwoodhoudini.com/achilles-expert-shares-jayson-tatum-update-excite-celtics-fans

My thoughts have been sit him for the year, even with him healthy i dont think we have a championship roster. Building the value of the guys playing his minutes is more valuable as they can possibly be utilized as trade pieces for Brad to put together a championship level roster. With that said, if what this article says is true, then maybe it benefits JT to get back on the court when fully healthy. The most important part of our future championship roster is our best player which will need to be JT.
I dont want him playing until March 4th at home against the hornets at the earliest, and i dont want him to see more than 25 minutes in a game unless its in the NBA finals.

[robbie84]

I like the idea. If the achilles is completely healed and if it gives him time to acclimate for a playoff run then yeah I guess. The issue for me is that this roster was created for a gap year and we don't have the big men to compete in the playoffs. We'd have to get through Detroit and then either OKC or SAS and not sure wtf we'd do vs Spurs lol. If he re-injured the achilles during any playoff run I'd be raging.

[ThePigeon]

He'll come back when he is healed and cleared by the docs
He is ready right now. You can see that he wants to play. This is what he is doing. This is what he loves. Doesn't matter who is on the team

I think he comes back at the end of January

[sam_I_am]

I think he is coming back this season - the main reason not to come back was to tank. Now that the plan has changed I think we will see him in early March.

I think the issue with coming back is will he still be a top 10 player. I am not worried about reinjury if he is physically cleared to play. I can’t think of a player in the NBA with an Achilles rupture who re-injured their surgically repaired achilles. I will worry he might rupture his other Achilles some day.

[Jammer]

DOC, you should know better. But, as the author of this thread title, some NBA team may put you on staff as a Team Doctor.