With health improving, Powe readies for new opportunity

It's been 15 months since the injury, five since the return, and 2 ½ since the end of the playoffs that passed him by, and Leon Powe says he's not close to 100 percent. The thing is, he says it with enthusiasm and not concern.

If he can do this well in workouts at 85 to 90 percent, the current self-estimate, then imagine what he can do for the Cavaliers in November and beyond, after another chunk of summer and training camp for continued rehabilitation. Imagine what could still be, after all the setbacks.

Powe can finally see the comeback nearing completion. That's exciting enough. Except that the latest moment of resiliency also arrives at the same time as his greatest NBA opportunity, the one where he is one of the few people in Cleveland who will benefit from the departure of LeBron James.

Not in the team sense, of course. But James' exit meant the Cavaliers would be out of the championship business for the foreseeable future, which meant that veteran centers Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Shaquille O'Neal would not be re-signed, which meant a much different rotation at the power positions this season. Which meant Powe will be coming back, really coming back, from his 2009 knee injury at the right time.

The actual return from a torn ligament in the left knee and the subsequent microfracture surgery was Feb. 27, the first installment in 20 regular-season appearances at just 11.8 minutes per and three more games in the playoffs for a total of eight minutes. But there was never anything close to a real comeback in that time, not with the limited time available on a team playing for the moment and certainly not with a balky knee he estimated at 70 percent.

Now, it's the 6-foot-8, 240-pound Powe, Antawn Jamison, Anderson Varejao, J.J. Hickson and possibly newcomer Ryan Hollins. That's a lot of power forwards in a continuing traffic jam for Powe to get minutes, but one will have to play at least backup center barring a future roster move, and Ilgauskas and O'Neal are gone no matter what. Chances will exist that didn't before.

Powe knows all about only needing a chance. He underwent reconstructive surgery on both knees and came back to have a very productive college career in two seasons at California. He lasted until No. 49 in the 2006 draft and responded by not only making the Celtics but by turning it into an increasingly prominent reserve role in three seasons in Boston. The Cavaliers became big enough believers that they signed Powe as a free agent last summer even with the understanding he would miss a large chunk of the start of 2009-10 with the knee injury suffered in the playoffs.

These are obstacles he can handle. Now he knows the opportunity will be there that did not exist last season and probably wouldn't have if James stayed and the Cavs retained at least one of their centers.

"I made good strides last season, as far as my knee and my health," Powe said. "Just being able to step back on the floor was a blessing in disguise for me with the tremendous hard work that I'd been putting in. And now to come in this summer and have a great sense of where my health is at, it's really feeling good.

"It's getting there. It's getting real good. I'll probably be around, like, 85-90, something like that [at the start of camp]. Give me another month and I think I'll be all right. I think it all comes back this season. I have to put together getting my rhythm back, too. Once I do that, I think everything will be fine."

Imagine that.

Scott Howard-Cooper has covered the NBA since 1988. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.