The Celtics announced on Monday that Kristaps Porzingis is being assigned to the Maine Celtics for Monday's practice. Xavier Tillman is joining him, most likely to give Porzingis a challenge during the practice. The Celtics will recall both of them after the practice. In a release, the team said Porzingis "has reached the next phase in his recovery" and he will "continue to ramp up his workload" after today's assignment.
- Karalis' analysis:
They didn't give any further timeline for Porzingis' return, but considering this happened on November 18, it's a good sign for an earlier-than-expected return. The original timeline put his return somewhere around Christmas, but this news makes it seem like he could come back a little sooner.
Let's start with the common response to an injury-prone player coming back sooner than expected when the team is winning a lot of games. There will be people saying "keep him out until January" and "keep him out longer just to make sure."
This type of injury doesn't require that kind of care. This was rare, and it involved a non-muscle tear that led to instability of the ligaments in his foot. Once that tear healed, it healed. Much like a broken bone, once it's healed, there's no amount of extra time necessary to make it stronger.
Think of it like your phone charging and reaching 100%. You can leave it plugged in longer, but it's not going charge any more than it has and it won't stay extra charged when you start using it. It's just at 100% and that's that.
But just like your phone, the more you use it, the more you drain the battery, so now comes the optimization of Porzingis, making sure they don't drain his battery too fast by overdoing it too quickly.
Professional training staffs have incredibly advanced ways of measuring fatigue and readiness. Look at the black band on Porzingis' right arm as he pumps up the crowd for a pregame workout before Saturday's game:
No one soaks up the love quite like Kristaps Porzingis pic.twitter.com/04VQxqiuqZ
— John Karalis 🇬🇷 (@John_Karalis) November 17, 2024
That's just one of the ways to measure what's going on with his body. The Celtics have baselines of what a healthy Porzingis looks like, and he'll have to match those before he's ready to play even if his ankle is feeling good. He has to hit all those metrics before he'll be allowed back on the court, and then once he does come back, they will be careful about how much he plays. He will likely have to start with shorter stints and a strict minutes restriction before he's back to his full self.
And that's what makes his earlier return so encouraging. Getting a couple of extra weeks of short-burst reps means they can really take their time with his ramp up to make sure he's fully ready to take whatever next step there is. At this point, the concern is another injury somewhere else, not reinjuring his ankle. The last thing they want is to push him too hard and lose him to a hamstring or calf issue. As far as I'm concerned, the ankle has fully healed at this point and this next phase is all about putting him in position to stay healthy when he comes back.
It's a delicate process. Porzingis is a uniquely built human and that means he has unique challenges, especially the way he plays basketball. His biggest strength, his size and mobility, truly is his biggest weakness because his joints are hit with more torque than most athletes. The process of ramping him up and keeping him as healthy as possible has to meet the uniqueness of his body.
Again, we don't know when he'll be back exactly, but every update we've gotten so far has been very encouraging. Porzingis seems to be on track for an earlier-than-expected return and the fact that he's starting to get some practice work in solidifies my opinion.