CELTICS GREEN BLOG by and for boston celtics fans: Celtics Spin Doctors At it Again?

Let's go back a few years to when Al Jefferson struggled coming back from his ankle sprain and everyone was doubting his toughness. He said that he continued to have pain in the ankle, even though the team was saying that it was just a sprain. He played the end of the season in pain and with fans doubting his toughness. After the season, the Celtics issued the official statement that Jefferson had minor arthroscopic surgery for exploratory reasons on his right ankle simply to check it out and be sure there was nothing wrong.

Then, a couple of weeks later, Big Al said that they removed bone chips from the ankle. Now, that doesn't seem like minor arthroscopic surgery for exploratory reasons. Once the bone chips were removed, Al's play took a huge leap. The Celtics' definition of ``minor" differs slightly from those found in the dictionary. ``Minor" typically refers to something small in amount, extent, or size, lesser in seriousness or importance. For the Celtics, ``minor" apparently refers to something they don't want drawing a lot of attention or scrutiny.

Now fast forward to this summer. Perk injured his shoulder in game 4 of the NBA finals. This is the same shoulder that he injured 3 times previously and had surgery on a couple of summers ago. He came back to play in game 6 as the Celtics clinched the championship. Nothing more was said about it other than that Perk turned down playing for the USA select team because he might require surgery.

Then, on July 2, the Celtics announced that their second round pick, Bill Walker, and Perk had both undergone arthroscopic surgery. Walker had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee to repair a small tear in his meniscus and Perk had surgery on his left shoulder to clean it out. Both procedures were described as "minor."

There was a very good article in the Plano Star Couriertoday about Perk speaking to kids at a summer basketball camp.
In it, Perk says that they stuck three screws in the back of his shoulder to give it some support. Ok, inserting 3 screws in a shoulder doesn't sound any more minor than removing bone chips. Once again, the Celtics PR machine uses "minor" to refer to something they don't want drawing a lot of attention or scrutiny.

After they removed the bone chips, Big Al didn't have ankle problems any more. Hopefully this procedure will end Perk's shoulder problems, just as removing the bone chips ended Al's ankle woes. Time will tell. But, it kind of makes you want to think twice when the Celtics describe something as "minor".

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