Hot off the twitter press is the news that Anderson Varejao will undergo surgery tomorrow to repair a “split” in his quad muscle. Some are referring to it as a “knee-surgery”. There has already been an attempt to clarify that this surgery will repair a “split” and not a “tear”. Apparently a “tear” is more serious. Varejao played 38 minutes in the Cavaliers’ loss to the Toronto Raptors on December 18th – this, despite suffering numerous hard falls and receiving a flagrant foul from Amir Johnson in the 1st half. In the second half he was visibly hobbled and had trouble moving laterally. This was most evident as the Raptors exploited the Cavs lack of interior defense to the tune of 64 2nd-half points – blowing out the Cavs in possibly the worst loss of the season. Varejao was a DNP the next night against Boston with a “bruised right knee” and has been out ever since. It seems that the bruise was not healing properly and a second look revealed the need for surgery.
Here is the NBA Press Release on the Injury:
Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao was injured during the Cavaliers game against the Toronto Raptors on December 18th at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. Diagnosis was a right knee contusion, specifically to the vastus medialis which connects to the medial (inner) border of the patella. As Varejao’s treatment and recovery process continued, an MRI revealed the contused area included a small longitudinal split in the vastus medialis. Despite continued, gradual recovery of the contusion, symptoms also continued in the specific area of the split. Another MRI revealed an increase in the split and symptoms persisted. Dynamic ultrasound imaging also revealed tissue from underneath the split was herniating and pinching with knee flexion.
A second opinion was recently obtained with Dr. J. Richard Steadman of The Steadman Clinic in Vail, Colorado, which confirmed Cavaliers Head Team Physician Dr. Richard Parker of the Cleveland Clinic’s recommendation for surgical intervention. Varejao will undergo surgery this Thursday (January 10th) at the Cleveland Clinic and is expected to be out for six to eight weeks.
Here are some tweets to get you up to speed:
“Varejao’s surgery will be Thursday. He received 2nd opinion at The Steadman Clinic in Vali, Colo. that confirmed need for surgery [Jason Lloyd - Akron Beacon Journal]
“Re: Varejao – surgery will be on leg, near knee. Quad muscle near right knee is split & “herniating and pinching with knee flexion,” per CLE” [Jeff Zillgitt - USAToday Sports]
“Cavs emphasized quad has lengthwise split, not horizontal tear. Scott called Varejao’s problems last 2 years “freaky injuries.”" [Marla Ridenour - Akron Beacon Journal]
“Byron Scott calls Varejao “heart and soul” of#Cavs, says no setbacks in his recovery, severity just discovered when he wasn’t healing well.” [Mary Schmitt Boyer/Jodie Valade - Plain Dealer]
“Byron Scott on Varejao: “He’s our heart and soul. … Just disappointed for him and for our team.”" [Sam Amico - FSO]
“Smh man, worst news I’ve heard all day,#getwellandy” [Kyrie Irving]
“Scott on what he will say to Varejao: “I’ll go up, give him a big hug & tell him it’s going to be OK.”" [Marla Ridenour - Akron Beacon Journal]
“It has to be said- by not trading Andy the last 2 years, the Cavs rebuild is set back.” [Rick - WFNY]
“Cavs should have dealt Varejao 2-3 weeks ago at peak of value. They needed to sell high when he was healthy – he gets injured too often.” [Bill Simmons - ESPN]
“And nobody makes major trades in December anyway!” [Conrad Kaczmarek - Fear the Sword]
“Not saying the Cavs were 100% trading Varejao. Cleveland felt they could hold out for their asking price. Obviously it all went to hell.” [Probballdraft]
“Though Cavs were on the fence about trading Varejao, this almost certainly removes him from market. Was having a career year.” [Brian Windhorst - ESPN]
@Nathan – I think K.f.D. was referring to Cols’ post. The one where he spelled it Varejoa three separate times….
Cols, he’s not irreplaceable, but he’s not chopped liver. He’s about the only loyal above average player to cleveland I can think of outside of Big Z since I’ve been a fan, He has never once complained about being underpaid on a terrible team during his prime, and hes a class act. Yet every time I hear anyone talk about him they make him sound like the money in their wallet, nothing valueable on its own, just valuable in terms of what he can buy us. Its revolting. A lot of people actually are like “I’m excited to watch the cavs because OMG Andy is playing” myself one of them.
It really isn’t his fault he keeps getting hurt, so using that as justification to regard him as meat for auction is derogatory at least. You make it sound like its his fault he gets hurt. People get hurt, it happens to everyone. It has been an alarming trend the last 3 years, but was a non-issue before that and none of the injuries are career altering or commonly reoccurring.
Rodney Mac, No way. If we get the #1 lottery slot we should use it. Gay is good, but he’s a low end all-star at best. I’d much rather have Nerlens or Shabazz and cap space. If gay was getting 4-5 million a year? then sure.