SALT LAKE CITY – Danny Ainge stated Thursday afternoon that Kelly Olynyk was expected to miss two weeks with a right shoulder injury. Turns out, the actual timetable is a bit longer than that.
“Maybe three (weeks) from now, four from the (date of) injury,” said Olynyk, who joined the Celtics in Salt Lake City after being evaluated by doctors in Los Angeles. “Hopefully sooner. We’ll just see how it feels day-to-day basically.”
The 7-footer, who had a few inches cut off of his infamous long hair during the All-Star break, stated that he suffered “a little bit of separation” in his shoulder during Boston’s final game before the break. DeAndre Jordan of the Los Angeles Clippers fell on Olynyk and was whistled for a foul.
“He just came down on it at a right angle or whatever it was,” Olynyk explained. “It felt like a stinger. I think it [separated] a little bit.”
The injury will not require surgery or intense rehabilitation. Olynyk outlined the recovery plan by saying, “Just getting some rest and recovery, some treatment, some strengthening and it should be alright.”
The biggest question surrounding this injury is, will the Celtics be alright without Olynyk?
The big man isn’t flashy, and he isn’t a superstar by any means, but he is a key to Boston’s offense. He is one of the top 3-point threats in the league, having made 41.3 percent of his attempts so far this season, and he sees the floor like a point guard.
The Celtics do not have another big man at their disposal who matches Olynyk in terms of skill set and size. As such, they believe they must overcome Olynyk’s absence by committee.
“Guys just have to step up as a collective group and guys have to be ready for their name to be called,” said Isaiah Thomas, who is fresh off of his first All-Star appearance.
Brad Stevens added, “I think that part of our strength should be when one guy goes down, we can, by committee, cover up what he does, or replace what he does. That doesn’t mean that one guy is going to bring all of Kelly’s skills to the table, but multiple guys can with their collective skill sets.”
Many fans and media members are clamoring for Jordan Mickey, who has been stuck in Maine with the Red Claws all season, to finally be given substantial playing time. Stevens shot that idea down, at least for the short term, seeing as Mickey just joined the Celtics yesterday and hasn’t played much 5-on-5 basketball over the last month due to a left ankle injury.
Rather than looking to Mickey for a boost, the coach indicates that fans and media should be prepared to watch Tyler Zeller and Jonas Jerebko play in more expanded roles.
“I think we’ve played well with Tyler in that spot, too,” he reminded reporters. “We have some depth there. Tyler’s been playing well in the last month. Jonas is going to continue to play more at the small four for us, and we’ll go from there.”
Even with Zeller and Jerebko, who are more than capable of filling Olynyk’s minutes, Stevens did acknowledge that Boston’s style of play will need to change without Olynyk in the lineup.
“With Kelly at the 5, that’s a really unique thing, so we’re not going to do that quite the same,” he said. The coach later added, “We won’t run the stuff that we normally run to Kelly, for Kelly, because he’s not available. We’ll run what we can to take advantage of the personnel on the court.”
Boston will likely ask Jerebko to increase his attempts from long range, where he has taken an average of 1.2 per game this season and connected on 42.9 percent of them. With regard to Zeller, meanwhile, the Celtics will likely increase their pick-and-roll play and ask him to get out and run in transition, where he is one of the best 7-footers in the league.
That’s what we’re poised to see over the next three weeks – not two – as Olynyk recovers from his bruised right shoulder.
