Daniel Theis has torn his meniscus and is missing for the rest of the season. His extremely successful rookie year ends tragically, but it fits in with the Boston Celtics’ epidemic season – which also includes Kyrie Irving and Marcus Smart, who are scared and somehow drag themselves towards playoffs.
When head coach Brad Stevens had gathered his boys for training on Monday, he began with a speech that he had to make far too many times this season: he explained to the players – at least those who are currently fit – that there are two new failures to mourn: Marcus Smart and Daniel Theis.
You’ve known it all season,”he said to Boston Globe,”but now more than ever, we’re counting on each and every one of you:”What sounds like a standard phrase is a bitter reality at Celtics – hardly any team is injured so badly this season, hardly any team has had to revolve the lineup so often and get from one game to the next”.
The drama already took its course on opening day, as it is well known, when newcomer Gordon Hayward was seriously injured against the Cavaliers on the leg and ankles and – even if he himself hasn’t given up hope in this regard – failed for the rest of the season. In the ensuing period, Kyrie Irving shouldered the team and led them to 16 consecutive victories, which Celtics still live on today. They lost the top seed to the Raptors, but behind them the goblins are in second place.
This is remarkable, considering the numerous failures that have occurred outside of Hayward, especially at the moment. Irving missed several games with his problem knee, Al Horford was already missing seven times, Smart cut his hand on a piece of glass from a picture, Jaylen Brown had luck with his heavy fall against the Timberwolves but is currently going through the Concussion Minutes. This list could be continued for a long time to come – and now Theis must also be put on it.
The German Big Man had injured his knee against the Pacers on Sunday in the final phase. The team’s medical staff initially assumed that this was just a classic “knee-to-knee”collision of a particularly painful kind. A later MRI examination, however, taught her better. Diagnosis: Meniscus tear in the left knee.
The franchise has already announced that it expects the rookie to run out of season. The fact that there is still a “probable” one in the game is due to the fact that the type of treatment and rehabilitation has not yet been determined. According to ESPN, Theis is still considering various treatment options before a definitive prognosis can be given. But no one can count on him this season.
For Theis and his team, this is a major breakthrough. After all, the 25-year-old has managed to develop into a very valuable rotation player for Stevens. An average of 15 minutes per evening before the season, not many experts had expected him. However, the Big Man had no problem getting used to NBA basketball and developed into that part of the successful rotation – and a crowd favourite, too.
“He is like a sponge,”said his teammate Terry Rozier recently,”He learns incredibly fast, but it was certainly not easy to come over from Europe and play here. He’s making the best of it.”
“The best” will presumably also lead to Theis remaining a goblin even after the summer despite this setback. His salary for 2018/19 ($1.3 million) will not be paid until the 10th month of his life. However, according to the current state of play, there are few arguments for Celtics to part with him.
Because in the minutes that Theis was on the field, he always brought in the maximum of his energy. In the offensive, he captivated as a consistent and hard dispenser in the pick-and-roll, later he also sprinkled in the pick-and-pop and profited from his touch behind the three-line. Even after offense rebounds, Theis was always on the spot and scored points with some spectacular putbacks, often generating decisive momentum for his team.
Greg Monroe’s arrival in February did not mean an impact for Theis during his season. Coach Stevens is someone who adapts his rotation from game to game to the opponent and moves the minute sliders as often as he likes, and often enough Theis proved to be a better building block. He himself did not consider Monroes’ commitment to be too “threatening”anyway, but rather positive for the team:”He is a completely different type of player and I can play in position 4. He is an excellent post player and will be able to help us a lot,”he recently wrote in the latest issue of his column on SPOX.
In any case, Stevens appreciated Theis’ defensive abilities even more than the offensive ones. He was particularly impressed by the variant of a small ball lineup with Theis on the five:”I like the fact that he is able to switch and take on smaller players,”says the coach.
Therefore, Guerschon Yabusele’s minutes may now be able to jump up, as he is more likely to catch Theis’ loss than Monroe in the defence. Yabusele was recently ordered back from the G-League by Maine Red Claws to replenish the thin Celtics squad, just like two-way player Kadeem Allen.
In any case, the rest of the season will be marked more than ever by young players. Celtics benefit from the fact that their lead to third place (now Pacers) is still a comfortable seven games. There’s probably nothing burning, which is why Irving and his knee in particular have time for a halfway extensive rehabilitation.
According to ESPN insider Adrian Wojnaworski, you don’t really worry about Uncle Drew’s knee within the franchise. Irving himself had announced that “a few games break” was probably the best thing for his damaged knee to avoid surgery. However, this is not the case – it remains with the diagnosis of tendinitis in the knee, i. e. an inflamed tendon. With a little bit of calmness this should be done and Irving in the playoffs should not influence any more.
With Smart the situation looks a little different. Just like Theis in the game against the Pacers, he had hurt his thumb in a Hustle-Play and had suffered a ligament injury in this one. Here too, much depends on which treatment methods the doctors will ultimately choose.
So many top performers are no longer left, so Celtics cannot use the rest of the season to find their rhythm and gain more self-confidence. The only victory in this calendar year against a contender was on the 3rd. January against crisis-stricken Cavaliers, otherwise there was hail of bankruptcies against the Warriors, Rockets, Raptors and the “new” Cavs.
Also, the recent game against the Pacers has shown that Celtics go on the gums. After a 10-point lead at half-time, things continued without Irving after the change of sides, Horford and Brown were not there anyway. That’s how the lead went quickly. In the end, it was Rozier who had to take the Buzzer Beater to the potential OT to save the evening – without success.
Now it is hoped that the hospital will empty itself a little bit in addition to the playoffs. If all goes well, only Hayward and Theis are missing in the postseason. Of course, this would still be a significant weakening, but compared to the Celtics season so far, it is almost a luxury situation. If there are more breakdowns, Stevens has to make his speech again:”You already know it…”