So the New York Knicks’ season will apparently be hanging on Carmelo Anthony’s vulnerable shoulder. That should be comforting news for Knicks fans.
In a story courtesy Pro Basketball Talk via Marc Berman of the New York Post, Anthony says that he still harbors concerns about the health of the shoulder he injured in the playoff series against the Boston Celtics.
Anthony was faced with a difficult decision this offseason, in which he could either have surgery to repair the damaged shoulder and miss the beginning of the season or let it heal on its own and hope the problem doesn’t reoccur.
Carmelo Anthony said he took a “huge risk’’ this offseason in opting not to have left-shoulder surgery and claimed he also had a torn rotator cuff to go along with a partially torn labrum.
“I’m ecstatic going from a torn rotator cuff and torn labrum to not needing surgery,’’ Anthony said. “Let me take that back. Taking a risk in not taking surgery and letting it heal on its down. I took a huge risk in doing that. It meant I had to put more time in the offseason to do what I had to do to get it right.’’
“Everybody has their opinion and brought it to the table, everybody had their pros and cons,’’ Anthony said. “It was the last resort. Doctors sat down [explaining] what will happen if I got surgery. I wouldn’t have been able to start the season. I would’ve been out four, five months because of the severity of the tear.’’
If I were a betting man, I would wager that at some point in the season Anthony’s shoulder will become an issue, simply because he’s a physical player who attracts a lot of contact on a nightly basis.
He’s been looking sharp in preseason thus far, so that’s a good sign for the Knicks.