Knicks Officially Shut Carmelo Down
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Carmelo Anthony played most of the season with a partial tear of the left patellar tendon, The Post has learned.
In new details, the debridement part of Thursday’s surgery was to clean out the calcium deposits that formed within the partial tear, so the tear could be repaired.
If Anthony had suffered a full tear of the patellar tendon — also known as a rupture — he could not have played on it this season. Ex-Knick Antonio McDyess suffered a full tear in 2000, as did the Giants’ Victor Cruz last season.
Knicks president Phil Jackson gave a likely four-to-six month timetable for Anthony, meaning he won’t be permitted to participate in contact scrimmages until somewhere in that window.
In the best-case scenario, Anthony will be scrimmaging in late June and will have his full summer training program uninterrupted. If he’s out six months, Anthony wouldn’t scrimmage until around mid-August. Training camp begins around Oct. 1.
Anthony will be reevaluated after eight weeks and could be cleared to do light work on the court then. The issue of his timetable arose because Anthony said two weeks ago the rehab was eight weeks, not four-to-six months.
Anthony is on crutches and hasn’t talked to the media since the procedure.
Jackson had declined to specify what the knee injury was. The Knicks announced in a release Anthony would have “a left-knee patella tendon debridement and repair.’’ The release made no mention of a tear.
Anthony played 30 minutes on his partially torn tendon in the All-Star Game, his last appearance of the season, and has said it has bothered him since the second game of the season.
Had the surgery just been a debridement, an eight-week rehab would’ve been in place.
In new details, the debridement part of Thursday’s surgery was to clean out the calcium deposits that formed within the partial tear, so the tear could be repaired.
If Anthony had suffered a full tear of the patellar tendon — also known as a rupture — he could not have played on it this season. Ex-Knick Antonio McDyess suffered a full tear in 2000, as did the Giants’ Victor Cruz last season.
Knicks president Phil Jackson gave a likely four-to-six month timetable for Anthony, meaning he won’t be permitted to participate in contact scrimmages until somewhere in that window.
In the best-case scenario, Anthony will be scrimmaging in late June and will have his full summer training program uninterrupted. If he’s out six months, Anthony wouldn’t scrimmage until around mid-August. Training camp begins around Oct. 1.
Anthony will be reevaluated after eight weeks and could be cleared to do light work on the court then. The issue of his timetable arose because Anthony said two weeks ago the rehab was eight weeks, not four-to-six months.
Anthony is on crutches and hasn’t talked to the media since the procedure.
Jackson had declined to specify what the knee injury was. The Knicks announced in a release Anthony would have “a left-knee patella tendon debridement and repair.’’ The release made no mention of a tear.
Anthony played 30 minutes on his partially torn tendon in the All-Star Game, his last appearance of the season, and has said it has bothered him since the second game of the season.
Had the surgery just been a debridement, an eight-week rehab would’ve been in place.
Good thing the President left the decision to play on the "tear" up to the player and let the coach he hired play the player several games where he cracked high 30s and even broke 40min of play on multiple occasions. I mean we were only doing what was in the best interest of this franchise and protecting the $125mil investment
Of course Melo "Trapper John MD-General Hospital-ER-Grey's Anatomy-House" Anthony told us he'd recover in 2mos and couldn't make the injury worse by playing on it. [Kanye West Shrugging Shoulders]
The Mickey Mouse operation[no pun intending on Melo knee operation] continues at MSG in how they conduct business.
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Mickey Mouse that's what you would call a billionaire owner responding to a senior citizen life long fan calling him an alkie and telling him to root for the cross town team if he didn't like it and a millionaire President of the team telling the whole world the team played like crap on twitter.
Let a player do that and criticize PJ, DFish or Dolan with something like, why are you trading players and getting nothing back for them if you want to win on Twitter and see how quickly he gets shipped out of here. Amare scored 14 pts in 11 mins in his first game for Dallas. I'm for tanking and getting rid of Amare helps that but don't criticize the team when you dumped Amare to tank.
I try to be as positive as possible about this team, but even I'm starting to get cynical about this franchise. The combination of letting Melo play injured for so long (especially given how bad our record has been since the early season) with the nearly complete lack of returns we have gotten from trading away players that seem to be providing real value to their new teams is a little much even for me. Add on top of that that the Stat era ends with a buyout and he may end up producing for a playoff team and I don't know what to say right now.
Amar'e was never going to help us. A true Zen would have realized this in the summer and bought him out then, along with Barfani. A roster spot(s) could have opened early and try to bring in a fresher body, you know someone like Hasaan Whiteside. Melo isn't a leader and Amar'e wasn't one himself. Whether he had these intentions, his time spent trying to go Thrilla in Manilla against his body wouldn't allow himself to be one. Very interesting read on what Billups had to say about Melo and his leadership or lack thereof playing with him back to his Denver days.
The Tweefin by Phil is so juvenile and it's almost like he's openly rebelling contrary to how he should be conducting himself as a professional. It's becoming an embarrassment that his cryptic tweets have been a bigger story than the team. I didn't see SVG going to Twitter to release his emotional tirades. Haven't heard SVG lament about injuries and feeling free agency could be a distraction and whatnot.
Nope he needed about 25-30gms to see what was real, and told Josh Smith to fly south. Real boss' make boss moves, they don't *****foot and bich out. Detroit is still on an uptick and may grab a playoff spot
It will be interesting to see how many minutes Amar'e plays and how often Mavs sit him. Which I think they'll do things the correct way. When Amar'e spoke for the first time on air he referred to the Mavs as a "First Class" organization. I didn't see Carlisle running Triangle stuff with Amar'e to get him off last night either.
[h=1]Something to be concerned about. The history of other players that have had knee operations similar to Melo, I said this earlier in the season that a guy on the wrong side of 30 with knee problems is going to potentially decline, that's all PJ needs is for Melo to go down with a season ending or career ending knee injury in the next couple of years. I wish Melo a speedy recovery and perfect health for the duration of his contract.
What will Melo's recovery look like?[/h] February, 24, 2015 Feb 24
10:00
AM ET
By Ian Begley | ESPNNewYork.com
NEW YORK -- The Knicks have more than $100 million invested in Carmelo Anthony’s long-term health.
So, naturally, there is some concern in the organization about Anthony’s ability to return to form following his recent knee surgery.
Knicks president Phil Jackson voiced those concerns last week when asked if he had any misgivings about Anthony’s surgery given his age (30) and years of NBA service (12 seasons).
“Yeah,” Jackson said, “We all do.”
Jackson then quickly expressed confidence that Anthony would be fine.
But it’s fair for Jackson -- and everyone with a stake in Anthony’s long-term viability -- to wonder how he will fare after surgery.
There’s no way to predict how going under the knife can affect Anthony, of course.
But at least one medical expert has concerns about his ability to return to full health.
[+] Enlarge
AP Photo/Mike GrollWith a floe of ice no longer enough, Carmelo Anthony has undergone surgery that ended his season.
“I find that older athletes with this issue and surgery continue to have some pain and disability,” ESPN medical expert Dr. Mark Adickes says. “That is why my preferred treatment method is conservative (injections and therapy) unless a large tear occurs. Surgery does not SOLVE this problem.”
Recent history supports Adickes’ point.
Dwyane Wade and Danny Granger -- two players who have had Anthony’s procedure recently (a left knee patellar tendon debridement and repair) -- have had issues post-surgery.
Wade had a patellar tendon debridement in May 2007. He played well in the season following surgery, averaging 24.6 points per game, but was held out of the final 21 games because of ongoing problems with his surgically repaired knee.
He elected to undergo a powerful shock-wave treatment -- dubbed the OssaTron treatment -- to fix the problem.
Wade played regularly over the next three seasons but knee trouble flared up in the 2011-12 season. He played in just 49 regular-season games because of various injuries -- including issues with his knee.
[+] Enlarge
Bart Young/NBAE/Getty ImagesDwyane Wade has picked himself off the court many times after surgeries and remained productive.
In the 2012 playoffs, he had his left knee drained. Wade then had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee following the season.
Wade had a relatively strong 2012-13 season, playing 35 minutes per game and shooting 52 percent from the field in 69 games. But he was affected by knee issues again late in the season and into the playoffs. After the 2013 Finals, he elected to again undergo the powerful shock-wave treatment to treat tendinitis in his surgically-repaired knee.
Will Anthony have the same issues? No one knows. No two surgeries are alike. And no two players are alike. But Wade's ex-teammate, Granger, also had issues following a patellar debridement and repair.
Granger had the surgery late in the 2012-13 season and missed the rest of the Pacers’ season and its run in the playoffs. He then needed a second knee surgery in the 2014 offseason.
Knee issues have severely hindered Granger. He’s appeared in just 71 of his last 135 games. He’s playing 20 minutes per game this season, down from 33 minutes per game in the season prior to his injury.
Players needing additional surgery following a debridement is common.
Jeff Stotts, an injury analyst at Rotowire.com and the founder of Instreetclothes.com, estimates that 45 percent of the 70 players that required the surgery over the past nine seasons underwent an additional surgery on the same leg later in their career.
None of this is being pointed out to suggest that Anthony will have the same issues following his most recent surgery. We actually don’t know exactly what was done to Anthony’s knee yet. But the injury history of Wade and Granger is worth noting as you think about what Anthony may face in the final four years of his Knicks contract.
Also worth noting: Anthony, 30, has played 12 seasons -- and logged 30,000 minutes -- in the NBA.
Players who fit that profile have had various degrees of success in the next four years of their career.
Let’s take Dirk Nowitzki, who entered the NBA at 20 years old, one year older than Carmelo.
He scored 23 points per game and won an NBA title with the Mavericks in his 13th season. His scoring dipped below his career average of 22 in the next three seasons and he played in 195 of a possible 246 regular-season games.
How about Paul Pierce? Pierce’s scoring remained consistent in the three years following his 12th season. He also continued to play 33-plus minutes per game. Pierce experienced a significant dropoff in year 16, which would be the final year of Anthony’s contract.
Is this what Knicks fans have to look forward to over the life of Carmelo's five-year contract that expires in 2019? Only time will tell.
What will Melo's recovery look like?[/h] February, 24, 2015 Feb 24
10:00
AM ET
By Ian Begley | ESPNNewYork.com
NEW YORK -- The Knicks have more than $100 million invested in Carmelo Anthony’s long-term health.
So, naturally, there is some concern in the organization about Anthony’s ability to return to form following his recent knee surgery.
Knicks president Phil Jackson voiced those concerns last week when asked if he had any misgivings about Anthony’s surgery given his age (30) and years of NBA service (12 seasons).
“Yeah,” Jackson said, “We all do.”
Jackson then quickly expressed confidence that Anthony would be fine.
But it’s fair for Jackson -- and everyone with a stake in Anthony’s long-term viability -- to wonder how he will fare after surgery.
There’s no way to predict how going under the knife can affect Anthony, of course.
But at least one medical expert has concerns about his ability to return to full health.
[+] Enlarge
AP Photo/Mike GrollWith a floe of ice no longer enough, Carmelo Anthony has undergone surgery that ended his season.“I find that older athletes with this issue and surgery continue to have some pain and disability,” ESPN medical expert Dr. Mark Adickes says. “That is why my preferred treatment method is conservative (injections and therapy) unless a large tear occurs. Surgery does not SOLVE this problem.”
Recent history supports Adickes’ point.
Dwyane Wade and Danny Granger -- two players who have had Anthony’s procedure recently (a left knee patellar tendon debridement and repair) -- have had issues post-surgery.
Wade had a patellar tendon debridement in May 2007. He played well in the season following surgery, averaging 24.6 points per game, but was held out of the final 21 games because of ongoing problems with his surgically repaired knee.
He elected to undergo a powerful shock-wave treatment -- dubbed the OssaTron treatment -- to fix the problem.
Wade played regularly over the next three seasons but knee trouble flared up in the 2011-12 season. He played in just 49 regular-season games because of various injuries -- including issues with his knee.
[+] Enlarge
Bart Young/NBAE/Getty ImagesDwyane Wade has picked himself off the court many times after surgeries and remained productive.In the 2012 playoffs, he had his left knee drained. Wade then had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee following the season.
Wade had a relatively strong 2012-13 season, playing 35 minutes per game and shooting 52 percent from the field in 69 games. But he was affected by knee issues again late in the season and into the playoffs. After the 2013 Finals, he elected to again undergo the powerful shock-wave treatment to treat tendinitis in his surgically-repaired knee.
Will Anthony have the same issues? No one knows. No two surgeries are alike. And no two players are alike. But Wade's ex-teammate, Granger, also had issues following a patellar debridement and repair.
Granger had the surgery late in the 2012-13 season and missed the rest of the Pacers’ season and its run in the playoffs. He then needed a second knee surgery in the 2014 offseason.
Knee issues have severely hindered Granger. He’s appeared in just 71 of his last 135 games. He’s playing 20 minutes per game this season, down from 33 minutes per game in the season prior to his injury.
Players needing additional surgery following a debridement is common.
Jeff Stotts, an injury analyst at Rotowire.com and the founder of Instreetclothes.com, estimates that 45 percent of the 70 players that required the surgery over the past nine seasons underwent an additional surgery on the same leg later in their career.
None of this is being pointed out to suggest that Anthony will have the same issues following his most recent surgery. We actually don’t know exactly what was done to Anthony’s knee yet. But the injury history of Wade and Granger is worth noting as you think about what Anthony may face in the final four years of his Knicks contract.
Also worth noting: Anthony, 30, has played 12 seasons -- and logged 30,000 minutes -- in the NBA.
Players who fit that profile have had various degrees of success in the next four years of their career.
Let’s take Dirk Nowitzki, who entered the NBA at 20 years old, one year older than Carmelo.
He scored 23 points per game and won an NBA title with the Mavericks in his 13th season. His scoring dipped below his career average of 22 in the next three seasons and he played in 195 of a possible 246 regular-season games.
How about Paul Pierce? Pierce’s scoring remained consistent in the three years following his 12th season. He also continued to play 33-plus minutes per game. Pierce experienced a significant dropoff in year 16, which would be the final year of Anthony’s contract.
Is this what Knicks fans have to look forward to over the life of Carmelo's five-year contract that expires in 2019? Only time will tell.
Second straight season that will be ended by surgery for the same injury on the same knee after it was surgery on the other knee that ended his season 2 years ago. Rose is still owed over 20 million for the next 2 seasons.
You can forget about the Bulls not matching for Butler. Scratch him off Phil's list if he was on it.
Too bad about Rose but he wasn't having an All Star year so I don't know how much they lose with Aaron Brooks running the show, I wonder if they would be interested in Calderon for next season?
Too bad about Rose but he wasn't having an All Star year so I don't know how much they lose with Aaron Brooks running the show, I wonder if they would be interested in Calderon for next season?
He was on the list but he was never gettabull. He's already said he's not going anywhere. They're saying right now Rose has more of a tear that could result from having torn it before. It's more minor in nature but something that needs to be addressed asap. He could return for the playoffs.
It'll be interesting to see how he handles possibly returning and if he'll change the way he plays.
I would be surprised if he comes back this year, that hasn't been his history with his injuries no matter how much the team needs him.
Rondo had a blowup with Carlisle over Rondo walking the ball up the court when Carlisle probably wanted him to push the ball up the court. Cuban thinks it's nothing but I don't think Rondo re-signs for a team that the coach calls all the plays. Rose and Rondo maybe available this off-season though Rondo's 9ppg and 6 dimes since he's been in Dallas is nothing to write home about. Rose will be a hard sell so I think the Bulls are stuck with him.
It's an interesting idea, but even if Rondo does want to explore the market, I don't think we'll be considered an option for players who are looking at other teams to find a "better" fit for themselves. I think we will be an option only for free agents, like Stat a few years ago, where we are their only max offer. For this reason, I'm starting to look more and more towards two offseasons from now with the hope by then we will have something put together that is attractive for reasons other than the option to get overpaid.