8 replies to this topic

[LALakersFan4Life]

Dwyane Wade May Miss Olympics Because Of Ailing Knee



By TIM REYNOLDS | The Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) Dwyane Wade played with knee pain throughout the playoffs. He'll soon know exactly what was causing that problem, and if it could keep him out of the London Olympics.

One day after celebrating his second NBA championship, the Miami Heat guard told The Associated Press on Friday that he will soon have his ailing left knee examined, and acknowledges that surgery may be a possibility. Wade appeared in all 23 postseason games for Miami, averaging 22.8 points, and scored 20 in the title-clinching win for the Heat against Oklahoma City on Thursday night.

''I've got to make a decision on what my knee needs and what's best, because my career and finishing my career strong is what's important to me,'' Wade said. ''And I know, yeah, the Olympics are coming up. It's something I really want to do. But at the same time, if I have to make a big decision, if something has to happen surgery-wise, that will have to be a step I have to take. My loyalty and my commitment to Miami Heat basketball is the No. 1 thing.''

An MRI exam will likely take place in the next few days. Wade had the knee drained during Miami's second-round series against Indiana.

''From my small conversations with the doctor at that time, I think some kind of cleanup process might have to go on,'' Wade said. ''And when that happens, from our previous experiences, it takes a while to recover. So I want to make sure that I want to recover strong and not like I did the last knee surgery that I had.''

Wade had surgery on his left knee in May 2007. He led the Americans in scoring at the Beijing Olympics, averaging 16 points despite coming off the bench in all eight games.

USA Basketball plans to have the national team convene in Las Vegas and for training camp to start there on July 6. From there, the American team will go to Washington to begin training on July 13, with more sessions beginning July 17 in Manchester, England, and July 20 in Barcelona. The Olympics begin July 27 and the first game for the Americans in London is against France two days later.

The time demands could be daunting, especially with this NBA season ending a bit later than usual because schedule changes necessitated by the lockout.

''This is the hand that's dealt to us,'' Wade said. ''And I'm going to take this hand, I'm not going to complain and I'm going to move forward.''

Wade said Heat doctors and trainers worked with him to find ways of ensuring that playing in the postseason would not make whatever the knee problem is any worse. He also spent time with his longtime trainer, Tim Grover.

''You know what, I was playing in a lot of pain,'' Wade said. ''Obviously, my knee has been an issue. I sat down with the doctors a little bit during the Indiana series and talked about the possibility of what's to come. But I didn't want to think about it then. I said, 'Listen, let's just do what we have to do to make sure that I can give my all.' And they did that. I thank them for that.''

He said he was sitting on his couch watching television on Friday when his thoughts turned to his hopes of being able to play in London. At that moment, he said an Olympic commercial appeared on his screen.

''Got a little emotional,'' Wade said. ''I loved what we had and what we shared as a unit. The possibility of not being able to do that, man, it's a little different.''

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Follow Tim Reynolds on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/wades-knee-may-keep-him-225905660--nba.html

Edited by LALakersFan4Life, September 30, 2012 - 09:16 AM.

[pll4]

How unfortunate.

[bfc1125roy]

Kobe will get more minutes I guess...

[MDI]

Cool. Screw him

But this means that jackass Harden will be on the team

[lodom7]

He and Harden are the worst of the new generation of basketball, their first priority on offense is drawing a foul and they both are fake tough and flop a TON.

[Yaboy]

I wouldn't play either.... why risk it if he's already playing with injuries.

[Warren2ThaG]

Cool. Screw him

But this means that jackass Harden will be on the team

what

[Massacre]

I like Westbrook in the Olympics as a 2. Not like he's going to get any PT behind Deron and Chris Paul.

Paul / Williams
Bryant / Westbrook
Durant / Anthony / Iguodala
James / Griffin / Love
Chandler / Davis

[LALakersFan4Life]

Dwyane Wade Slow To Recover From Knee Surgery



Dwyane Wade is 30 now — in NBA terms, an old 30. After knee surgery and other ailments, the Heat hopes more rest will extend his career.

By Joseph Goodman
jgoodman@MiamiHerald.com

The knee has taken longer to heal than Dwyane Wade, the Miami Heat or anyone else would have expected.

Four to six weeks was the projected recovery time. Training camp began Saturday, marking 11 1/2 weeks of Wade’s rehabilitation from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. He will miss preseason games, perhaps all of them. He said Friday that his goal was to be ready for action Oct. 30, the day of the Heat’s season opener in Madison Square Garden.

For Wade, it’s a disappointing beginning to the Heat’s bid to repeat as NBA champion. This is the second preseason in the past two years Wade has spent time laboring over pain in his legs rather than playing, and last season, plantar fasciitis in his left foot nagged him often. He has had surgery on his left knee twice in the last four years and it swelled with fluid at the end of last season, forcing him to have it drained during the second round of the playoffs.

“I understand that it’s a process and I’m going to take that process and be … I’ve been here before, guys, so I know what to do. I’ll be all right,” Wade said to reporters Friday. “I went all the way around the block just to go next door.”

In other words, he put off surgery on his knee for far too long.

The Heat will not admit it publicly, but there are concerns among those in the organization about the second half of Wade’s Hall of Fame career. Reckless abandon on the court made him famous and made him rich and made him loved in his adopted city of Miami, but now it’s making him and the Heat refocus their expectations. Wade is only 30 years old, but it’s an old 30.

Wade expects himself — as does the Heat — to play well into his 30s and at a very high level. It might seem early in his career for such things, but the team has started an aggressive plan to preserve Wade’s body for the long term. Reduced minutes, scheduled off days and a repurposed skill set are all being considered.

It begins in earnest with this training camp.

Wade is noticeably heavier this preseason than the last, so dropping weight, strengthening his legs and core and allowing his knee to heal fully from surgery are the first priorities. Next will come a more intense level of conditioning and monitored minutes of scrimmage time.

“I’m just strictly looking at him big picture,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “I don’t have a specific plan for him in training camp of how many days. We’re going to read and react to it.”

More days off likely

Although Spoelstra would like to have him back to full speed by Oct. 30, there is, in reality, no specific time crunch or deadline. Off days will be sprinkled into Wade’s rehab just as off days will dot his regular-season box scores. The ultimate goal is for Wade to be completely healthy and pain free after the All-Star break.

“When you feel good and you want to push it to the next level, sometimes that’s when it’s important to take the day off,” Spoelstra said.

Last season, Wade played 49 of the regular season’s 66 games. Convert that percentage to this season and that’s 22 games before the playoffs. By no means does Wade expect to miss that many regular-season games, but if he did, and you multiply those rest days over the next four years, that’s an entire season added on to Wade’s career.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/09/30/3026608/miami-heat-plans-for-dwyane-wades.html