Interesting ESPN Article on IT's Hip Injury

[Roy H.]

So the theory is that he played with a torn labrum since December, rather than March? And he played like an MVP?

If his treatment gets him at least until that level -- partially torn -- it sounds like he'll be fine. As the doctor noted, there are tons of guys playing with hip injuries:

Philippon says "a lot of players" come to see him for a hip tear but they don't fix it surgically, and no one hears about it.

Roy if IT misses the whole season do you still hate the trade?
If IT is not the same player do you still hate it?

Just genuinely curious. I hated the trade at first but it seems like I thought IT was going to be fine which now seems in doubt.

Under those circumstances I'd be okay with the deal.  But, I don't expect that to happen.

So you think IT will be able to return to 100% the player he was before?

Also, if we hold that he will recover to 100%, how many games would he have to miss and how long would it have to take before he reached 100% before you felt the trade was the right decision were OK with the trade?

1. As close to 100% as he was most of the season, yes. We've already seen him play on this injury.

2.  All of them? I'm not trading Jae, Zizic and BRK for regular season wins.

[cman88]

something doesnt add up about his injury. surgery would be a 6month recovery....but rest/rehab has him out until possibly February thats 9months of rest

[ThePaintedArea]

Does everyone remember the Dwyane Wade foul on I.T., it was March 9th 2015.  If you watch that play he falls directly on his right hip and makes it very clear that the pain is in that region.

This kind of injury is often - usually - cumulative; for most people there isn't even a single causative event that they can identify. But this one that you've found looks more relevant than the Towns collision, which was diagnosed as a bone bruise at the knee joint (!) at the time. In any case, what's likely is that multiple injuries contributed to the labral tear.

Let's be clear about something: there are TWO issues.

1)There is a labral tear. There are lots of ways that that can happen from a traumatic injury, such as something like the DWade collision you're showing.

2) There is a FAI - that is extra bone growth on one or both of the two bones that meet at the hip joint. That is a condition that predisposes the joint to labral tears. It existed before the labral tear and was not caused by an injury.

It sounds like Dr. Kelly is proposing to shave off the bone growth. If that works, then "all" IT will have to do is rehab the labral tear.

This is a steep climb of recovery. Thomas will have to be strictly guided by the doc - trying to come back too soon could result in a big setback.

Will he come back as good as ever, or will he come back at all? It would be amazing if he started playing NBA basketball before the all-star break, but it's better not to set a timetable.

By the way, kudos for finding this.

[greece66]

O'Connor published today an article on IT, I copy-paste the part on the injury:

>Thomas suffered a hip injury--a right femoral-acetabular impingement with a labral tear, to be specific--that ended his 2016-17 postseason with three games left to play in the Eastern Conference finals. The same injury delayed the Cleveland trade by a few extra days and now puts his Cavs debut into something of a moving target; Cleveland won’t have a timetable for Thomas’s return until sometime during training camp, according to Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon.

>While the Celtics say Thomas tore his hip labrum in March 2017, as ESPN’s Tom Haberstroh detailed, it may have actually happened in December 2016 when he was diagnosed with a “groin injury.” If we dig deeper into history, we’ll also find Thomas had other issues in the general hip area. He missed 10 games in March 2014 with a bruised right quadriceps, and another eight in March 2015 after a hard fall led to a “bruised lower back.” Haberstroh wrote about the difficulties in diagnosing a tear to the labrum, which is made of cartilage and thus has no nerves to signal when there’s an issue. Is it not possible these other injuries also were misdiagnosed? At the very least, problems to Thomas’s hip area aren’t new.

>But while there are questions to raise, multiple front-office sources explained Thomas’s decision to forego surgery on the hip as such: He has apparently dealt with the injury for years and still managed to produce at a high level. “The limp he walks with is not swag,” said one source who is familiar with Thomas’s injury history. “He’s got an issue that he just plays through.”

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2017/9/7/16265220/isaiah-thomas-injury-cleveland-cavaliers

[kozlodoev]

something doesnt add up about his injury. surgery would be a 6month recovery....but rest/rehab has him out until possibly February thats 9months of rest

Hip surgery is a roll of the dice and often takes a lot more to come back than originally advertised. Jonny Flynn's NBA career was effectively over after he had surgery for a similar hip issue.

[kozlodoev]

>But while there are questions to raise, multiple front-office sources explained Thomas’s decision to forego surgery on the hip as such: He has apparently dealt with the injury for years and still managed to produce at a high level. “The limp he walks with is not swag,” said one source who is familiar with Thomas’s injury history. “He’s got an issue that he just plays through.”

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2017/9/7/16265220/isaiah-thomas-injury-cleveland-cavaliers

Didn't the article detail that Thomas has extra bone matter in his joint, which causes impingement and pain? That's not the same as having a torn labrum (which is an actual injury).

[Ed Hollison]

Not sure if this was posted already but here you go:

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/20595342/nba-cleveland-cavaliers-guard-isaiah-thomas-faces-uncertain-return-potentially-career-ending-hip-injury

[Boris Badenov]

Is there anything in that article our resident hip experts haven't already said?

[Celtics4ever]

So Ainge was heartless and calculating but correct, eh?

[celticsclay]

So Ainge was heartless and calculating but correct, eh?

Could be... the way the Cavs acted today only added further credibility to this report...

[SHAQATTACK]

His gamble most likey is not gonna pay off ...not having surgery.  He needs A NBA quality hip. .....one thta helped make him a star .   

He probably feels ok with normal routine of average life .   Im thinking , he has been testing the hip and he is getting push back from his hip.

Without a 100 % heathly IT .....we would be dead meat in the playoffs .

Danny made the right move on all fronts .

i think IT was played ng his cards outto the end .....maybe Boston would sign him ..hip injury and all....no miracles available ......only surgery.

Best of luck ..to IT?

[ThePaintedArea]

>But while there are questions to raise, multiple front-office sources explained Thomas’s decision to forego surgery on the hip as such: He has apparently dealt with the injury for years and still managed to produce at a high level. “The limp he walks with is not swag,” said one source who is familiar with Thomas’s injury history. “He’s got an issue that he just plays through.”

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2017/9/7/16265220/isaiah-thomas-injury-cleveland-cavaliers

Didn't the article detail that Thomas has extra bone matter in his joint, which causes impingement and pain? That's not the same as having a torn labrum (which is an actual injury).

Yes - but the extra bony stuff predisposes the joint to a torn labrum, which he also has, and which likely resulted from an injury or multiple injuries.

[kozlodoev]

>But while there are questions to raise, multiple front-office sources explained Thomas’s decision to forego surgery on the hip as such: He has apparently dealt with the injury for years and still managed to produce at a high level. “The limp he walks with is not swag,” said one source who is familiar with Thomas’s injury history. “He’s got an issue that he just plays through.”

https://www.theringer.com/nba/2017/9/7/16265220/isaiah-thomas-injury-cleveland-cavaliers

Didn't the article detail that Thomas has extra bone matter in his joint, which causes impingement and pain? That's not the same as having a torn labrum (which is an actual injury).

Yes - but the extra bony stuff predisposes the joint to a torn labrum, which he also has, and which likely resulted from an injury or multiple injuries.

I realize that -- but he's been playing just with a painful condition -- not with a soft tissue tear.

[CelticsElite]

Anyone have any wagers on how long until lebron whines about this? He tends to whine about everything