addByline("Marc D'Amico", "Celtics.com", "Marc_DAmico");
NEW YORK – The timeline for the re-evaluation of Kelly Olynyk’s surgically repaired right shoulder has been pushed back.
The Celtics originally expected Olynyk to be evaluated by his surgeon, who performed a right shoulder arthroscopy on Olynyk May 17, during the team’s trip this week to New York City. However, those plans were deviated over the last couple of days.
“Kelly has not been evaluated,” head coach Brad Stevens revealed after Friday afternoon’s practice at Baruch College in New York. “His doctor was out of town. We hope to get that done sometime in the very, very near future, but it may not happen this weekend now.”
The good news is that Olynyk’s timeline to return to the court has not been pushed back due to a setback in his rehabilitation. The bad news is that the timeline has been pushed back, period.
Olynyk is now in serious jeopardy of going the entire preseason without participating in a game. Following Saturday’s matchup with the New York Knicks, Boston has only two remaining games on its preseason schedule. Those games will be played Monday and Wednesday. That’s a tight timeline to be cleared for full contact and to return to game action if the evaluation does not take place this weekend.
Brad Stevens admits that missing the entire preseason would be a detriment to Olynyk, but he says that such a scenario would not necessarily be a worrisome issue for the smooth-shooting big man and the Celtics.
“I think it would be a benefit (for him to play during the preseason), but it’s not the end-all, be-all,” said Stevens. “I don’t think that we should – obviously you’re not going to rush him if he’s not cleared or ready just to play in a preseason game.”
Should Olynyk miss the remainder of the preseason, he can lean on one of his teammates for advice. Avery Bradley missed the entire 2012 preseason after he, too, underwent offseason shoulder surgery. (Bradley, in fact, underwent two offseason shoulder surgeries that year.) Bradley knows exactly how it feels to be thrown into the fire of the regular season after missing the entire exhibition schedule.
“One thing I told him is, I remember (former Celtics assistant coach) Tyronn Lue told me when I came back from my shoulder surgery, ‘You might have some days where you make some shots and feel good, but you’re going to go through a drought,’” Bradley said. “It happens, especially after having shoulder surgery.”
Bradley said that the key to overcoming the loss of a preseason is simply hard work. Olynyk must do everything he can on the court, in the film room and in the training room in order to be as up to speed as possible when he is finally cleared to play.
“I’m pretty sure KO will do that,” Bradley said of Olynyk. “He’s a gym rat.”
For now, that gym rat is restricted to participating only in non-contact drills. He should be cleared for full contact sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, the odds of that happening this weekend are now slim to none.