Carmelo Anthony, far and away the best and most important player on the New York Knicks, played through a torn rotator cuff and partially torn labrum at the end of the 2012-2013 regular season and postseason, according to the forward.
This offseason, Anthony opted against having surgery to repair the issue, opting for an extensive rehab that he termed "a huge risk." The results are paying off, though, as Anthony's claimed he's "ecstatic" with how the shoulder feels.
"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 own. 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."
According to doctors, surgery would've required four to five months of rehabilitation, causing him to miss time at the beginning of the regular season. Anthony is also admitting it was foolish to play with the injury, originally suffered on April 14th against the Indiana Pacers.
"I was a little naïve," Anthony said. "I kind of felt it was torn or something like that when it first happened. Once it happened, I knew something was wrong with it." Anthony's field goal percentage dropped from 45 percent during the regular season to 40 percent in the playoffs. Some of that can be attributed to stout defense, but the shoulder clearly had its role.
"It was all types of stuff going on in there," Anthony said. "It was messed up." Still, he was doing all he could to avoid going under the knife. "Everybody has their opinion and brought it to the table, everybody had their pros and cons. Surgery was the last resort."
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