Recent Utah Jazz acquisition has been playing through pain for 5 years
Utah Jazz recent free-agent signee Rudy Gay had heal surgery this offseason, and it’s going to keep him off the floor at least into the early regular season. Recently however, Gay commented publicly on the surgery, and it sounds as if the payoff will be well worth the price.
Gay revealed on Friday that an injury on his left heal has been causing him pain for the past five seasons. From the sounds of it, he’s more-than-ready to bring that pain to an end.
“I’m a professional athlete. I don’t work a desk job. So I understand people expect me to go out there and play. This is one of those things where I want to be playing in the summer and I don’t want this to be nagging on me. So, you know, we want to make sure this is right”.
Utah Jazz fans ought to take particular note of Gay’s desire to be playing in the summer. The summer, after all, is when the NBA championship is played for.
Meanwhile, it seems as if Gay has been able to make a positive impact on the team off-the-court. Teammate and longtime NBA veteran Mike Conley certainly seems to think so.
“He’s been a great leader for us. This guy is constantly around in the scrimmage, and he’s giving advice. He’s also still trying to learn”.
Ultimately, there are more positives than negatives to take from an assessment of Gay’s current situation. For starters, a careful approach is a smart approach with a veteran like Gay. Having him potentially worsen his condition simply to get some preseason (or even early season) reps is senseless for a team like Utah Jazz with championship aspirations.
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Even more optimistically, Gay has been a solid NBA rotation player over the past 5 years, during which he’s been playing through pain. If his recent surgery is successful, and his recovery goes according to plan, the Utah Jazz could be getting even more than they bargained for when they signed him.