Brad Stevens Says Isaiah Thomas' Hip Will Be Evaluated In September
BOSTON (CBS) -- Just a month ago, it sounded like all was well on the Isaiah Thomas front.
Now, we're not so certain.
Thomas' 2016-17 postseason ended early when a nagging hip injury got to be too much for the Celtics leading scorer. But C's president of basketball ops. Danny Ainge told The Boston Globe in late July that Thomas did not require surgery, and Thomas said just two weeks ago that he believed he'd be ready to go when training camp rolls around in September.
Celtics head coach Brad Stevens didn't sound as optimistic on Monday when he joined Chris Mannix on The Vertical's podcast. Stevens said Thomas' hip will be evaluated in September, which is when the team will make a decision on the next step for the point guard.
"We still don't know. He has another follow-up and another scan in the early part of September when he arrives back here out east. From there we will know an exact timeline," Stevens said. "Obviously, it's been a lot of appropriate rest, a lot of rehab. There have been some good strides here certainly in the last month or few weeks, but we're not going to know that until after that early September time frame.
"We want what's best for Isaiah. We want to make sure that when he is ready to roll, which hopefully is sooner rather than later, that he is ready to roll at his highest level and for the longest possible time," added Stevens. "That's a lot more important to me than anything else."
Thomas initially hurt his hip in March and missed two regular season games. The pain returned during Boston's seven-game defeat of the Washington Wizards in the Eastern Conference semifinals but Thomas powered through, averaging 27.4 points per game in the series. It got to be too much during Boston's Eastern Conference final matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Thomas' postseason ended at halftime of Game 2.
The Stevens interview wasn't a complete downer, as he also discussed Gordon Hayward joining the Celtics, Jae Crowder's role on the team with Hayward now in the mix and what he saw in pre-draft workouts from Jayson Tatum. The full 40-minute interview is worth a listen for any Celtics fan.
