The first bit of off-season news for the Raptors is bad.
Pascal Siakam is expected to miss at least the start of the 2021-22 season after having shoulder surgery this week in Los Angeles, the team announced Friday.
The 27-year-old power forward had the operation to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder and “the expected recovery and rehabilitation time for this procedure is approximately five months.”
That would keep Siakam out for, at the very least, the first few weeks of a season scheduled to begin Oct. 19.
The greater impact on what the Raptors will do with the roster in the off-season now can’t be known but they were planning on a core group of Siakam, Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby to start the season.
It would be out of character for team president Masai Ujiri and general manager Bobby Webster to make a panic move in light of SIakam’s surgery and there’s no indication the power forward won’t eventually be back to normal.
But with Siakam out for months and his presumptive backup, Chris Boucher, spending the summer rehabbing a slightly torn ligament in his knee, there are more roster questions than management had wanted.
Ujiri and Webster still need to deal with the impending free agency of point guard Kyle Lowry, there remains no centre under a guaranteed contract for next season and there are depth issues at shooting guard and small forward to be addressed. Toss in any concerns about the team’s power forward and it’s a lot to deal with.
Siakam was injured in a May 8 game in Memphis and missed the last week of the regular season. After getting treatment in the last three weeks, the team’s medical staff decided the best course of treatment to ensure a complete recovery was the surgery performed at the renowned Kerlan-Jobe clinic in Los Angeles.
The operation was the final indignity to a tumultuous season for the young forward who is one year into a maximum value contract that will pay him more than $33 million (all figures US) this coming season.
The six-foot-10 veteran began the season failing to convert a handful of game-winning opportunities, he was caught up in a COVID-19 calamity that decimated the franchise at mid-season and he never really had a long stretch of above average play.
He had games when he was wonderful and dominant but went through periods of quite average play.
He was benched for a game New Year’s Eve after walking out on the team with seconds left in a game a couple of nights earlier. He also got into a heated incident with coach Nick Nurse after a March loss in Cleveland.
“I think it was just a different atmosphere and it was hard, obviously,” he said of the season as a whole after it was over. “With COVID protocols and different things that happened — injuries — I just feel like it was so many things that happened that disrupted a lot of things.
“So, yeah, I think all those combined to me are the things that I can think about.”
What the injury will do is rob Siakam of the time when he’s historically been able to work and improve specific parts of his game.
And coming off a disappointing season — the Raptors missed the playoffs for the first time after seven straight appearances — the native of Cameroon was anxious to have a full off-season of work.
“It’s an exciting time and wanting to get better is something that I take pride in and I’ve always done it,” he said during his last media session following the season.
Loading...
Loading...Loading...Loading...Loading...Loading...
“Obviously going through different things, you learn about things that you need and those are the things I want to go back and focus on. Having more time is a better thing.”
Now, he won’t have any time. He’ll miss his usual daily workouts with a team he meticulously put together a year ago to work on everything from his basketball skills to nutritional needs. He will miss the entire training camp and pre-season shape and up to game speed while the season is going on.
For a player who has always thrived on consistent work, both privately in the summer and during the season, it will have him decidedly behind his teammates whenever he does return.
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
Pascal Siakam out five months after shoulder surgery. How does this impact the Raptors’ off-season? - Toronto Star
Read More
No comments:
Post a Comment