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Tim BontempsESPN
BOSTON – Celtic All-Star goalkeeper Kemba Walker has been allowed to practice, the team announced on Friday, and coach Brad Stevens says Walker’s left knee problem has been pain-free for “over a month”.
Walker’s left knee has been an ongoing problem for Boston, which returns for a calendar year, until January 2020. In the weeks leading up to last year’s All-Star game, he has faced continued discomfort. , back on his knees. Then, after playing hard minutes in the midseason showcase in Chicago, he fought before the league closed in March because of COVID-19.
Then, when the teams resumed training in late June, Walker said he felt additional knee discomfort, prompting the Celtics to have a strict minute limit during the team’s seeding games in the NBA bubble at Walt. Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
After a postseason up and down, Walker initially looking great against the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round before facing several fights against the Toronto Raptors and then the Miami Heat, he and the team agreed to make him go on the 12- weekly strengthening program to try to improve the long-term condition of the left knee in early October, as well as give him a knee injection.
Last month, the team said Walker’s condition would be updated in the first week of January. Now that there is one, the question will change now that Walker will be ready to make his season debut.
Stevens said he gave Walker credit for his willingness to take the time to straighten his knee, rather than destroy it and play a level below what he is capable of. Walker has earned a reputation for being willing to play through injuries, rarely in the first eight years in the league with the Charlotte Hornets.
“Believe Kemba that he said, ‘I need to strengthen that, and I need to make sure he’s ready for a season and then, if we’re lucky, a post-season,'” Stevens said. “It simply came to our notice then [strength coach Jace Delaney] they did a nice job preparing a plan of attack, along with Phil Coles, and then hopefully he’ll be back soon.
“But we won’t rush that. We’ll see how the practice goes and everything else.”
Meanwhile, Boston will have to deal with a significantly exhausted rotation in front of the field, after center Robert Williams III tested positive for COVID-19, and senior colleagues Grant Williams and Tristan Thompson were ruled out due to tracking contacts in in accordance with the League’s Health and Safety Protocols. .
This leaves Boston with only two big men available on their list: incumbent Daniel Theis and Tacko Fall, who has a two-way contract.
“Well, obviously, we’ll be limited by the number of guys who can play that place. Basically, we’ll have two important categories on our list for the next two games,” Stevens said. “It’s what it is. I think the biggest concern for me is that when we play small sometimes, it’s awfully small. And that’s the challenge, right? We have to make sure we mix and match as well as we can to keep the wing as deep as possible on the floor, at least a few wings on the floor, whenever we can. “
However, Boston will have veteran Jeff Teague back after missing the last two games with a sprained ankle, as well as goalie Javonte Green, who missed the trip in four games in Boston due to being placed in those health and safety protocols. .
Stevens said that while the depth of the team is obviously a blow because of the protocols at the moment, he is confident in what the league does and how it handles the virus.
“The NBA goes through an incredibly detailed schedule whenever there are any concerns,” Stevens said. “Basically, they relived the last days, your time together. And I know I do that with every team. It is a long and difficult task for our people who are responsible for all our protocols and who follow all the protocols and for all the people in the league. Those people put a lot of time and effort and are the experts. I listen to them and tell myself what we can and cannot do.
Scott Brooks, who echoed Stevens’ faith in the league to get things right, added that Russell Westbrook, who dislocated a finger on his right hand late in Washington’s loss to Philadelphia on Wednesday, is “good to go. Against the Celtics.