We'll know if JO gets surgery or not on Tuesday

[Drucci]

Twitter updates of the day :

JO to explore another option this weekend and will make decision to have/not have surgery on Tuesday
JO said surgery could put him out til around 2 weeks before end of regular season
JO does not want surgery if it won't completely heal him and have him ready to go for playoffs. Would rather play thru pain

Source : http://twitter.com/#!/JCameratoNBA

[Roy H.]

People always talk about JO being soft, but that reaction doesn't sound like one from a soft guy.   

[Adelaide Celt]

I don't think JO is soft, far from it. Just unfortunately injury-prone.

I don't claim to be some sports science expert, but blind Freddy could see as early as training camp that something had to be done about JO's knee/knees. Not trying to sound like some know-it-all type but surgery should have been the first consideration IMO. Arthroscopic surgery would have been number one on my list of suggestions.

2 weeks before the end of the season isn't ideal but I reckon that's the path we have to go down now. Don't like the sound of this 'playing through pain' one little bit.

[pearljammer10]

People always talk about JO being soft, but that reaction doesn't sound like one from a soft guy.   

Well said. I hope JO is able to fix this problem. I love having him on the court and would hate to see him miss most of the season, especially if it doesnt clear up completely.

[Change]

My blind prognosis, I think this is the same injury Andrew Bynum sustained in the playoffs last season A torn meniscus. Just my blind prognosis. Matt Barnes tore his meniscus not that long ago, his timetable was 2month.

I just hope its a minor surgery. Celtics can ill afford to lose Jermaine for the season.

[Celtics Fan]

Guys I'm a realist, I dont know if we can depend on JO this year. I did think before the injury he was doing fine, but now I just dont know. I find myself cursing more at the tv after I told myself for my New Year resolution I would drop cursing all together, BUT once KG went down it was like he jumped into my soul. Edren is horrible.....He doesnt play with any toughness. I'm like E you have to get a mean streak in that paint man, its a must since the Ticket is down and JO knee is swelling up every other day. These last 5 games I DONT KNOW HOW WE R GETTING IT DONE BUT WE have have been getting dominated in thwe paint like crazy look at the rebound and in the paint stats...GUY's we need health but whos to say by spring our big men will be healed and ready for war? I dont beleive in Edren nor JO and I dont know what to think?

[Celtics Fan]

OH, by the way Blake Griffin is a BEAST!! good god.

[radiohead]

Good thing Perk and KG are just about ready to go. JO has a big decision ahead of him, but I'm not too keen on having a 50% JO the rest of the way. I'd say go for the surgery and give Semih some burn. If he can come back fit with 2 weeks to go in the regular season then fine. He'll be the insurance big for the rest of the playoffs. What do you guys think?

[housecall]

My question is wasn't JO having these same issues while with the Heat or something similar.I remember him missing a handful of games off/on last season.I wasn't exactly keeping up with the Heat's every move as i would a player for the C's but i do remember them going periods without him from hearing it over the radio/tv.Now if thats the case why did Danny allow him to get the upperhand in the negotiations.And i fully understand our needs at that time but it seems Danny had the cards stacked in his favor.Also,didn't Danny suspect something could've been more severely wrong or at least the potential of it by his on/off the court play the year before?Couldn't the medical screening before signing figured out enough not to sign JO for two seasons.I understand giving him the 1yr look but to committ for two seasons with a guy that hasn't been that dependable for awhile is not good managing in my opinion.One thing is for certain,JO talks a great game.

[DinTN]

Sounds like we need a plan in case JO is out for the remainder of the year or can't give us enough during the playoffs.

Give Sheed a call. If he's not interested, let us know so we can make other plans. If he is intereseted he needs to be in shape & ready soon.

[Goldstar88]

I certainly hope he gets the surgery this coming week. Hopefully all he needs is a bit of arthroscopic surgery on that knee and will be healed up in time for the playoffs. Semih Erden is a better option than JO if hes going to be playing at 60%.

[Donoghus]

Can't say my optimism is at an all time high with this situation.

[Roy H.]

In case anybody missed Jimmy T.'s story on the front page, there are some good quotes from JO and Doc:

Standing at his locker, O'Neal fielded every single question thrown his way in regards to his ailing left knee. The soft-spoken former power forward turned center seems to be just hanging on at this point in his career, and it all happened so fast.

"I need surgery," he said rather bluntly. "I understand what the issue is with the knee. I understand long term what needs to happen for me to operate on a day to day basis."

"There are some days where I can't even walk up the stairs, you know?" he said. "Thirty-two years old."

"I didn't have any issues in the summer time," O'Neal said of his body. "I let go, I trained extremely hard, and got to the season and had a situation in a cut. It was almost just cutting on the court and all of a sudden my knee just flared up."

He hasn't been the same since. O'Neal has missed 22 games so far this season, and has yet to make any sort of impact on the Celtics.

Regarding the knee situation, he's has asked everybody from his personal chef to his wife. On Monday, he'll get a final opinion from a specialist. The next day, he will have made up his mind - surgery or play through the pain.

"I think the decision of actually being in or having surgery is really going to come down to does the surgery put me clear from the injury," he said. "If it doesn't put me clear from the injury then I might as well play and get through it. That's really what it's going to boil down to."

"If it's going to be a 60-percent chance then I might as well just put the uniform back on and go with it. That's what I want to do, but we're going to see."

. . .

"You have to look at it like if you miss basically the rest of the season, there's really no way you can help the team going into the playoffs, there's just no way," he said. "Because one, the team already has a nice rhythm, they already have a rotation set, and you don't want to interrupt that. You can't play your way back into rhythm in the playoffs because every game and every possession counts."

Doc Rivers was quick to echo O'Neal's remarks, saying, ""I'm a realist. I just think if you're coming back in April and you haven't played all year, there's a very low chance you're going to help us a whole bunch."

If O'Neal doesn't get surgery, he'll deal with these same issues for the remainder of the season: Active on one night, inactive the next. Regardless, he says he'd rather have that.

"My goal is to be here, compete, and if I'm helping the team even at 50-percent, I'm willing to help the team at 50-percent. I'm willing to jeopardize a little bit of my health long term to have a chance at winning a championship this year."

"You don't get this opportunity very often, that's how I see it," he said. "That's probably the most difficult position to be in. Because you know you make decisions now that you might have to pay for a little bit down the road. But sometimes it's worth it. It's hard to find a situation like this."

O'Neal thought about playing Friday night, but decided against it. He needs to keep the knee calm incase he does opt to go through with surgery on Tuesday.

It sounds like he's leaning toward playing through the pain.  If he does get the surgery, it doesn't sound like either JO or Doc is optimistic that he'll contribute this year.

[nba is the worst]

Considering his (lack of)production so far, if surgery can help at least he might do something next year to justify the MLE.

What good is 5.2/3.8 in 18 mpg anyway?

[Assassin70]

Very easy choice get the surgery and get right as soon as possible.  Semih can fill in for this him Semih with hurt shoulder > JO with gimpy knee.

Even worst case scenario Shaq and Semih are hurt this version of JO is still next to worthless so do what ever you have to do to get right ASAP.