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http://www.realgm.com/src_wiretap_ar...ths_not_weeks/
Spurs star Manu Ginobili will have surgery next week on his left ankle and heel to repair ligament damage that has hampered his game for many months.
Though Ginobili on Thursday told an Argentine newspaper he expected to return to action six to eight weeks after the operation, sources familiar with the procedure say it is much more likely he will be out for two to three months. That makes it unlikely he can be ready for action when the Spurs open the regular season Oct. 29 in a game at the AT&T Center against the Phoenix Suns.
Ginobili, the reigning NBA Sixth Man Award winner, is almost certain to miss all of the team's training camp and preseason. Camp begins Oct. 1, with the first preseason game scheduled for Oct. 9, against the Rockets, in Houston.
The Spurs medical staff has been in consultation for several days with other sports medicine experts to determine when and where the arthroscopic procedure will be done, but no decision has been announced.
The Spurs describe Ginobili's injury as a posterior impingement of the left ankle. He most recently injured the joint while playing for Argentina in the Olympic basketball tournament in Beijing, where he limped to the sidelines early in Argentina's semifinal game against the United States on Aug. 19.
He did not play again in the tournament, missing Argentina's bronze medal-clinching victory over Lithuania.
Ginobili, who returned from Beijing late Monday night, had another MRI exam taken of the injured foot and ankle. Results of that test, he told Argentine newspaper La Nacion, indicated the need for surgery.
“They're going to operate on me,” Ginobili told La Nacion. “It is the same as it was two months ago when they did the first (MRI) exam. It's not worse, which is important. Now, the thing is, it's not better, either, and it seems the only way to repair it completely is arthroscopic surgery.”
The Spurs issued a media release Friday afternoon confirming Ginobili will have the surgery next week.
Ginobili has been bothered by varying degrees of soreness in his left ankle and heel for several seasons. He jammed the joint during the Spurs' first-round series against Phoenix in April and was hampered through the remainder of the playoffs.
His production dropped off dramatically in the Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. He averaged only 12.6 points after averaging 20.1 points in the first two playoff rounds, against Phoenix and New Orleans.
After the Spurs were eliminated, Ginobili had an MRI exam that showed significant swelling in the heel and ankle joint. He embarked on a rest and rehabilitation program, but Spurs coach Gregg Popovich urged him to consider forgoing the Olympic compe ion. Popovich reported that the MRI results showed a ligament in Ginobili's heel was four to five times its normal size.
His left foot was placed in a plastic walking boot for three weeks after the MRI, and Ginobili returned to Argentina and reported to the national team after his rehabilitation had reduced the swelling.
The top player on the Argentine team, Ginobili found himself under additional pressure to help his country defend the gold medal it won at the 2004 Olympics. To top it off, he was chosen to carry his nation's flag in the opening ceremonies in Beijing.
Ginobili had his most productive season for the Spurs in 2007-08 after opting not to play for Argentina in the Tournament of Americas compe ion, which earned Argentina a berth in the Beijing Games. He averaged career-highs of 19.5 points and 31.0 minutes per game. He appeared in 74 of 82 regular season games and all 17 playoff games, in which he averaged 17.8 points.
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It would be far preferable for him to miss as much time as he needed to heal and rehab now, than to push anything and have problems down the line. If they are able to stabilize his ankles with this surgery, it will give him a longer career...and that is good for both his sake and all of his fans.
le should be "Surgery Will Cost Ginobili and Spurs Months, Not Weeks"
Time enough for Mason to pick it up with us... he has a golden opportunity to show what he is about...
Damnnn.. He will be back with a brand new game..
Mason was invisible for the Wizards, not an indication that that he will impact the Spurs at all.
Fail.
Roger Mason - 9 starts
37 mpg
17.4 ppg
3.4 apg
3.0 rpg
52.6% FG
43.1% 3PT
90.1% FT
Not exactly invisible. He averaged 8 ppg off the bench, and 17 ppg when he had a chance to start (9 games). Between Mason, Finley and Udoka, the Spurs should be okay til Manu returns. Parker will probably need to average a little more too.
Three months puts his return one month into the season. I can live with that.
From what I understood from the translations, it didn't look like Manu said he'd be back in 6-to-8 weeks. He said that will be when he can start putting pressure on the ankle again.Though Ginobili on Thursday told an Argentine newspaper he expected to return to action six to eight weeks after the operation, sources familiar with the procedure say it is much more likely he will be out for two to three months.
Somewhere between Dec. 1 and Jan. 1 is when I'd expect him back. Jan. 1 is four months away so hopefully that is enough time. However, I do find it worrisome that the Spurs are saying they won't give a timetable until after surgery. That is usually an indication that the arthroscopic procedure is at least partly exploratory.
Looking at the schedule, a December 20th return makes sense.
Sat 20 vs Toronto
Mon 22 vs Sacramento
Tue 23 vs Minnesota
Thu 25 @ Phoenix
Sat 27 vs Memphis
Tue 30 vs Milwaukee
That's a relatively easy stretch of games that are mostly at home. Manu could skip the game against the T'Wolves and then have ample rest between each contest.
Assuming the surgery is successful...
Hope Ginobili comes back full healthy. This is the best scenario for both him & the Spurs. The timing is less important.
That kinda helps the wounds a bit.
If he repeats his comback at the ASB like he did in 2003, fine with me.
He played 69 games that season, so I hardly think he sat until the ASB. That amount of time would have put him in less than 40 games, since it's not the true halfway point of the season, but a bit past it.
Year Team G GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% OFF DEF RPG APG SPG BPG TO PF PPG
02-03 SAS 69 5 20.7 0.438 0.345 0.737 0.7 1.7 2.3 2.0 1.4 0.2 1.45 2.50 7.6
I hope Mason steps up big. He showed a lot of promise in a starting role last year even though Arenas was out.
Yup yup.
6-9months for full recovery.
The silver lining in this dark cloud is, Roger Mason will have more than ample opportunity to learn the system and entrench himself as the starter @ 2-guard. In fact, if Mason is able to contribute a Michael Finley-esque 10pts ppg, that would be ideal. Anything more than that would be gravy and icing.
Last edited by SenorSpur; 08-31-2008 at 01:13 PM.
"Though Ginobili on Thursday told an Argentine newspaper he expected to return to action six to eight weeks after the operation, sources familiar with the procedure say it is much more likely he will be out for two to three months".
Uh well 8 weeks is 2 months, so if he is out, an extra month who cares?? All that matters is we get him back healthy. I don't care if he missed the whole first half of the season, as long as he gets healthy.
Ginobili missing half the regular season would be a disaster.
Last year, Spurs were only 8 losses away from being out of the playoffs. Spurs suffered some injuries form the big 3 but it wasn't major ones.
Spurs' old rotation players will be one year older and new additions are mostly huge question marks. So if Manu is out for 40 games there is a quite significant chance to see Spurs missing the playoffs.
I don't want to be the doomsday guy but you have to face the reality. The west is very good and after a quite poor off season, making the playoffs isn't a lock for a Manuless aging Spurs team.
Anyway, Manu will have his surgery this week. We will know then what the timetable will be instead of the wild guesses made today.
I hope he doesn't pull a last-season-horry.
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