When is Isaac Returning? Ruled out for the entire 2021-2022 season

[fendilim]

Good move.

Beneficial for every party involved.

[yoyojw17]

Eh.... it is what it is. I'm going with the route of.... "He's just gonna kill the tank" and keep on rolling with it. hahaha

they said there is no setback... the guy has had non contact injuries... maybe they really do want him to be 1000%. Joel Embiid was held out for 2 years after being drafted. didn't really deter him from dropping 60 points on SA last night. lol. Not saying JI will come back an ALLStar by no means... BUT.... I do think that taking a step or 5 back... won't make him not be able to reach his potential. But... I will say I am going to miss him for sure... would have been great to see him on the court.

[AaronB]

Let part 2 of the book tour commence!

[Magic_Kingdom]

Shocker....you have to start wondering if JI will ever get to his previous level and start looking at other options because we cant rely on this guy and either way he is not a superstar talent either way.

So here's the tale of the tape on how much time he will have missed *if* he comes back to start next season:

Missed 2 consecutive full seasons and part of a third
Missed 160 consecutive games
Missed 191 of his last 193 games
Only played 33 total minutes since the start of 2020

Isaac saying he didn't have a setback is a more definitive statement on the subject than we have had to this point. However, "setback" is a very vague term, and he did admit the rehab was taking longer than they hoped. The Magic press release says he is continuing to "strengthen and condition all aspects of his body", and they are "out of time to ramp him up to play games." That's a bit of an odd statement. It means, again, that they still aren't ready to *practice* him, much less play him in actual games.

So although he may not have re-injured the knee, my theory is that the knee is showing weakness or instability under stress tests and conditioning. That would make re-injury inevitable, so he can't even practice.

[cedric76]

Read on Twitter

there we go, get's super interesting if we waive him

Very interesting indeed...

We r not waiving our franchise player

[ReadyOrlando]

This is a master piece of a tank move.

[Magic_Kingdom]

Weltman is still saying mostly nothing, but in combination with what JI said and the Magic press release, I think the most plausible take-away is that the knee isn't responding to rehab the way they hoped it would.

Weltman: Not a setback but a timeline issue. We hoped to have him back this season but it didn't happen. Now we have to "re-calibrate the timeline".

Isaac: Not a setback but rehab has taken longer than we hoped.

Press Release: Continuing to strengthen and condition his body, ran "out of time" to ramp him up to play games.

Weltman used one phrase that offers the biggest clue -- "re-calibrate the timeline". This phrase does not fit with the previous party line that they were just being cautious and all is well. "Re-calibrate the timeline" means this wasn't the plan and benchmarks have been missed.

[The Effect]

Read on Twitter

there we go, get's super interesting if we waive him

Very interesting indeed...

We r not waiving our franchise player

Franchise player


Chuma Okeke is more likely to be our franchise player than this walking injury

[MartinsIzAfraud]

Weltman is still saying mostly nothing, but in combination with what JI said and the Magic press release, I think the most plausible take-away is that the knee isn't responding to rehab the way they hoped it would.

Weltman: Not a setback but a timeline issue. We hoped to have him back this season but it didn't happen. Now we have to "re-calibrate the timeline".

Isaac: Not a setback but rehab has taken longer than we hoped.

Press Release: Continuing to strengthen and condition his body, ran "out of time" to ramp him up to play games.

Weltman's used one phrase that offers the biggest clue -- "re-calibrate the timeline". This phrase does not fit with the previous party line that they were just being cautious and all is well. "Re-calibrate the timeline" means this wasn't the plan and a benchmarks have been missed.

It's safe to say his knee/lower body is soo weak the chances of another injury are extremely high. I'd be shocked if we see Isaac play basketball again, this is going down the path of being medically DQ'd.

[The Effect]

Shocker....you have to start wondering if JI will ever get to his previous level and start looking at other options because we cant rely on this guy and either way he is not a superstar talent either way.

HIGHLY doubtful
not of his game was based on his athleticism which allowed him to jump passing lanes, double jump for block shots, run down fast breaks etc but when you have multiple injuries to your lower body, include a very badly torn acl\mcl for a 7fter.......yeah i doubt hes getting that athleticism back any time soon

Also, some on here (not saying you) need to stop acting like he was some all-nba first team superstar\franchise player even when he did play. He was a great defender with no offensive game outside of open spot up shots. He cant create for himself or others, hes not a great shooter, and most of his points came from hustle plays like fast breaks or good defensive plays. Also, the team didnt win at any higher rate when he played vs when he was hurt

He was a glorified role player that the team tried to push as franchise player cause they were so desperate for one

[Magic_Kingdom]

Weltman is still saying mostly nothing, but in combination with what JI said and the Magic press release, I think the most plausible take-away is that the knee isn't responding to rehab the way they hoped it would.

Weltman: Not a setback but a timeline issue. We hoped to have him back this season but it didn't happen. Now we have to "re-calibrate the timeline".

Isaac: Not a setback but rehab has taken longer than we hoped.

Press Release: Continuing to strengthen and condition his body, ran "out of time" to ramp him up to play games.

Weltman's used one phrase that offers the biggest clue -- "re-calibrate the timeline". This phrase does not fit with the previous party line that they were just being cautious and all is well. "Re-calibrate the timeline" means this wasn't the plan and a benchmarks have been missed.

It's safe to say his knee/lower body is soo weak the chances of another injury are extremely high. I'd be shocked if we see Isaac play basketball again, this is going down the path of being medically DQ'd.

Agreed, I think that is where we will end up. Notice we don't hear the player or agent bucking this decision or disputing the assertion that he can't even practice yet, more than 19 months post-injury. With an injury clause in the contract, if there was any belief from the player side that he could play, we would be hearing about it through his agent.

[OrlDave]

As others have said there really is no upside to playing him this year. If he came back like Kelle and didn't miss a beat then we probably would win more than we lose going forward. We can't win our way out of top lottery odds at this point. Certainly not since we are already are eliminated from the playoffs. Let him have another 7 months to get right. If he can't play in October, he needs to wander off though. There is a limit to how long you wait for a guy.

[Kent]

We can speculate all we want, but JI knows best. And the staff supporting him knows too.

Let's be happy they're approaching it differently than in the past when he's been reinjured soon after returning.

As it's been said, Embiid took an extended break and it worked out great. Grant Hill took a year off before returning to form after periods he came back after "normal" timelines.

Personally, I just want what's best for the guy and the player second. If I was JI or the staff, I'd sit him until next year as well.

[VFX]

Doesn’t really matter. He will come back next season and be injured in less than 25 games somehow. Orlando will probably end up drafting his replacement anyway.

He probably wasn’t worth 4/$70m. Too bad.

[pepe1991]

We can speculate all we want, but JI knows best. And the staff supporting him knows too.

Let's be happy they're approaching it differently than in the past when he's been reinjured soon after returning.

As it's been said, Embiid took an extended break and it worked out great. Grant Hill took a year off before returning to form after periods he came back after "normal" timelines.

Personally, I just want what's best for the guy and the player second. If I was JI or the staff, I'd sit him until next year as well.

But Embiid actually ended up more games than Isaac in first 5 yeras lol

I understand that there is no reason to play him now, however he does not participate in contact practices after what , 20 months? It's clear that he had setback, weather they want to report it or not, some things are obvious.

[Magic_Kingdom]

Just watched the full Isaac interview and he offered a few more specifics. He said there have been delays in strengthening the muscle around the injured knee, which needs to equal the strength of the other knee. He also said he is doing some contact work in the half-court, but no full-court contact work. It sounded to me like his half-court contact work is probably more drills, not game speed. He will spend the summer trying to ramp up to full-court contact work.

[Howard Mass]

There could have been a stepback but also think The Magic are being very cautious here.

I'm still hopeful about Issac though.

[Ralof]

sucks as a fan,but tbh do not change anything.

i mean,no one would count on him for the future,if he will give us quality minutes at some point will be great,if not will be ok.

that said,those 30-35 games just before got injured still are stucked in my mind,his defence was game-changing

[cedric76]

Very interesting indeed...

We r not waiving our franchise player

Franchise player


Chuma Okeke is more likely to be our franchise player than this walking injury

Nonsense

[PrimeThyme]

He will spend the summer trying to ramp up to full-court contact work.

This is honestly pretty heartbreaking. I don’t even want to make a joke or jest about it. 2 years post ACL surgery he’s going to be spending the summer trying to work up to full-court contact.

We may never see him play basketball again.