PHOENIX — Utah Jazz point guard Mo Williams' surgery to repair damage in his injured right thumb went "according to plan" this morning in New York City.
The Jazz player, who re-injured his thumb in Miami on Dec. 22, will be re-evaluated in six weeks.
In the meantime, Williams will wear a splint. He will be limited to doing conditioning and restricted weight lifting.
Williams' surgery was done by hand specialist Dr. Michelle Carlson, who did a similar procedure on his right thumb in the 2008 offseason.
Williams sounded positive in tweets he posted after this morning's surgery.
"Surgery went great," he wrote. "@drcarlson is the best and she fixed me up. I will be back stronger than ever. #letthegrindbegin"
Williams also posted a photo on Instagram and Twitter with this post: "Right after surgery. Just waking up. I asked the nurse what time is it? She said 2:00. The surgery was at 8."
It hasn't been announced how long Williams will stay in New York now that the surgery has been performed.
The Jazz will continue to start Jamaal Tinsley, with Earl Watson in a backup role, in Williams' absence. The team has a maxed-out roster of 15, including exiled Raja Bell and D-League assignee Kevin Murphy, so a player would need to be waived or a trade made in order to bring another point guard into the mix.
Coach Tyrone Corbin said he will explore putting the basketball in the hands of Gordon Hayward, Randy Foye and Alec Burks as alternative playmaker options.
DENVER — Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin gave a
somewhat surprising answer when asked to assess Alec Burks' grasp of being an
NBA point guard, a task the second-year player will presumably be given more
often in Mo Williams' six-week-or-so absence.
Interestingly, Corbin did not focus on the pros and
cons of a Burks-led Jazz offense.
"I thought defensively he's getting better," Corbin
said in the wake of the former Colorado standout being handed ballhandling
responsibilities for a good chunk of the second quarter Friday in Phoenix.
"He has to learn defensively how to play guys, stay
between the guys, sometimes pressure the guy."
Corbin believes it's tougher for younger NBA players
to get the hang of playing point guard from a defensive standpoint than it is
for them to learn and implement the intricacies involved in running a complex
pro offense.
"There is a lot of responsibility on the defensive
point guard," Corbin said. "When you take a young guy like Alec or even a Randy
(Foye) or Gordon (Hayward), point guards naturally, then it is a difficult
adjustment at times."
Corbin liked what he saw from Burks on the offensive
end in the Jazz win Friday. Combined with what he's seen in practice, the Jazz
coach said he feels comfortable putting the 6-foot-6 guard in the playmaker
position more often in the future if deemed necessary.
Burks' number is most likely to be called, Corbin
added, when opponents go into a zone defense and the Jazz need some offensive
punch from their point guard.
"Offensively, we can put the ball in his hands,"
Corbin said. "You look at the play he made … at the end of the half (a reverse
layup Friday). Not a lot of guys can make that play for us — go under the basket
and make a reverse shot — like he did.
"He gives us something on the offensive end," Corbin
added, "but we've got to make sure he grows on the defensive end also."
Burks cracked a slight smile when asked about that
burst to the basket he made in Phoenix on Friday, giving Utah some momentum
heading into half of the 87-80 win.
"Everybody know I can get to the basket," he said, "so
it was good that it could get in."
Burks is certain people are less aware of his point
guard abilities — mostly because the bulk of his playmaker minutes happened in
summer league and preseason.
He quickly claimed to be "real comfortable" running
the Jazz offense.
"I used to play point before I hit a growth spurt, so
it's nothing new to me playing point," he said. "I don't think most people have
seen me play it, but I can play it."
Burks played 17 minutes in Saturday's 110-91 loss, but
he didn’t get any point guard time with the game on the line.
Looks like they might have their young pg afterall?
INJURY UPDATE: Jazz center Enes Kanter has missed the past two games with a sprained right ankle, but the 6-11 big man is optimistic about his chances of playing Monday against the Mavericks.
"I hope so," he said. "I'm going to try to practice (Sunday)."
Kanter remained in the training room for treatment throughout the Jazz's blowout loss. He might have been the only one on the team who saw positive results.
"After the game, I just looked at it (the ankle) and it's so much better," said Kanter, who's been sporting a walking boot since injuring himself at the end of Wednesday's win over Minnesota. "The swelling is going away. It's so much better."
COMPLIMENT FROM KARL:
Denver coach George Karl has long been an admirer of Jerry
Sloan and his system, and before Saturday's game
he said the Hall of Famer's touch is still visible in this up-and-down Jazz
squad.
"I think there's still a lot of Jerry Sloan in what they do.
They still run a lot of the same plays," Karl said. "I think they've become more
of a low-post offensive team. They were more of a cutting and executing team in
the past."
Though Utah is on the outside looking in on the
playoff picture right now, Karl wouldn't be surprised if that turned around.
"I thought they had a great year last year," he said,
"and I think they're on the cusp of having a really good year this year."
Mo Williams' surgery Friday was to repair a "complete tear" in his right thumb that was nearly identical to the injury he suffered in 2008 while with the Milwaukee Bucks
The specifics of the injury Williams suffered on Dec. 22 in Miami were previously unknown, with the Jazz first listing the thumb as "severely sprained" and later amending the point guard's status to "right thumb surgery." He has missed eight games since injuring his thumb while defending a drive by Mario Chalmers. While Williams has commonly been said to be out a minimum of six weeks, the reality could be much harsher. He will have a pin removed from his thumb after six weeks, which is when "the rehab really starts," he said.
"I'm going to fight to get back," Williams said. "I'm going to go by the proper protocol, try to do it the right way and make sure I'm 100 percent when I get back."
The Jazz's starting point guard and captain averages 12.9 points and 6.7 assists in 24 games. However, now in his 10th season, Williams has missed 10-plus games due to injuries six times.
Williams is more than familiar with what the rehab this time around entails. He suffered a similar injury at the end of the 2008 season before undergoing surgery in the summer. That surgery, like Friday's, was performed by hand specialist Dr. Michelle Carlson in New York.
The lone difference between this injury and the one he suffered in 2008, Williams said, was that this time he suffered a small bone chip in the thumb. The primary date to watch, though, is that six week mark, around the All-Star break, when Williams will be reevaluated.
"We'll see where it goes from there," he said. "That timelne can be long, can be short. We're going to fight to get back and we're going to listen to [head trainer Gary Briggs] and the guys and we're going to make the right decision."
Starting small forward Marvin Williams will miss at least three games due to inflammation in his right knee, the team announced Tuesday.
The first-year Jazz forward left Monday’s 100-94 win over the Dallas Mavericks in the third quarter and, though the team said he was available, did not return. Acquired in an offseason trade for Devin Harris, Williams was expected to play for the first time against his former team on Friday, when the Jazz play in Atlanta in their second game of a three-game road trip.
After saying late Monday that he expected to play Wednesday at Charlotte, Williams missed an early practice to receive treatment on his knee from team orthopedist Dr. Lyle Mason. He will travel with the Jazz on the upcoming trip, but will not be available to play as team personnel evaluates how his knee responds to treatment.
The 26-year-old has struggled since joining the Jazz, his career averages dipping to 8.9 points and 3.5 rebounds per game. However, he has been a key defender and timely shooter.
The Jazz are 0-4 in games without Williams, who was sidelined in late November and early December by concussion-like symptoms.
Williams did not dress for the Jazz’s Dec. 30 loss against the Clippers in Los Angeles. Team doctors hoped to reduce inflammation in his knee with that break, and Williams said swelling did go down. Approached at his locker Monday night, Williams said he would be fine and that his knee had just begun to swell.
He finished the game with 3 points in 16 minutes.
— Bill Oram
Last edited by Xiao Yao You : 01-08-2013 at 01:31 PM.
I liked what I saw with Burks pushing the ball into the frontcourt and getting them into their offense where he, Hayward and Foye can all feed the post or make plays for themselves or others. Leave Watson on the bench. Maybe try starting Demarre at the 2 once Marvin is back.
They need a smaller combo guard( or two) that could play off of Burks and Hayward and match up defensively with the opposing small guard. Foye's not the guy. Mo would be better. They definitely look better with Tinsley starting than they did with Mo.
Big thing in the Australian Football League now in the off-season is to do "high altitude" training, so there have been a few teams that spend time in places like Arizona and Utah doing their training
Re: 2012-13 regular season!
