He said that rest and exercise and not surgery was the way to go and that he expected JO to be back in plenty of time for the playoffs with little or no restrictions. Of course, we all know what happened about three weeks after this statement was made:
"This is a good option,’’ Ainge said. "I think he feels like if he gets himself in better shape, and [gets] the strength, then he’ll be ready to give us an effort that we haven’t seen this year out of him.’’
...we'll take the next four weeks to do nothing but work to build up his glutes and quads, with the sole purpose of that. So he'll be rehabbing to build strength in his leg to get ready for the end of the season.''
"I would say the purpose is to get him ready to play in late-season and postseason play, with no restrictions,'' Ainge said. "I mean, his first night there might be, but the purpose is to get him back 100 percent.''
"I mean, there's no guarantee, but I think the wear and tear on the knee, he might have overdone it - he wasn't in as good a shape as he could have been, maybe came back a little too soon,'' Ainge said. "But he got a second opinion from a doctor in New York and our medical staff thinks that he should be back without restriction.''