The NBA Finals showed how much better the Boston Celtics are with Kristaps Porzingis on the court: he played 60 total minutes and was +33, sixth best on the team.
Those minutes were limited because of an ankle injury. Porzingis played 16 minutes in Game 5 — the Celtics were +8 when he was on the court — but required offseason surgery. Recovery from that surgery was expected to drag on until the start of the NBA season. Adam Himmelsbach of the Boston Globe asked Celtics president Brad Stevens about Porzingis and his recovery.
“He is in Latvia. He’s starting to do more and more and more. He was at a disadvantage for a while, but everything indicates that he is progressing well and on the right schedule. But it will take a while.”
There is no reason for the Celtics to rush Porzingis back early in the season, Boston has the depth to be near the top of the East without him. What they need is for him to be fully healthy for the end of the season and the playoffs. At the time of the surgery in June, there was a recovery timeline of five to six months, which would have caused Porzingis to miss the start of the season and perhaps even December.
Porzingis suffered a “ruptured medial retinaculum, allowing dislocation of the posterior tibial tendon in his left leg” during the Finals, with the Celtics saying it was unrelated to the calf injury in the same leg that sidelined Porzingis for a dozen of playoff games.
It will take a while, but the Celtics can wait. They know what matters and it’s not the November games.
