http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/p...-to-lineup.aspx T.J. Ford announced on the Fan 590 Thursday afternoon that he is now pain-free and plans to return to the Toronto Raptors lineup in the near future. "I'm feeling good. My body has recovered all the way and I'm not having any symptoms," Ford said. "I'm not waking up sore anymore and I'm not having pain throughout the day. "I feel I'm going to play. I know I'm going to play. It's a matter of when will I play. This is not something that will keep me out for the rest of the season." Ford suffered a stinger, a spinal injury, on a hard foul by Atlanta rookie Al Horford. It was the point guard's third stinger in the past two seasons. Ford said on the Fan that he did consider retirement during his time off the court. "I can honestly say, yeah, it definitely comes across your mind. Especially as soon as it happens, when you are laying on the ground . It all plays the part when you are not able to move or get up on your own." "At the beginning you wonder if you could play again, if you should play again. It depends on how quick your body can recover, what the doctors say and what you feel in your heart."
The fact of the matter is that he'll be playing with the same risk now that he was playing with before and has been playing with since college. I think the consecutive injuries and severity of the Horford foul kind of scared him a bit and put things in perspective but I don't think it was ever as serious an issue as the media made it out to be. There's this perception out there that Ford is incredibly fragile, when in reality, he's only susceptible to a certain type of injury. The man takes a pounding every game because of his playing style and gets up every single time. That said, I'm glad he took his time to make sure he's completely healthy.
I don't think he's coming back soon. Despite what he says, TJ still looks bad. BC will protect this guy against himself and not allow him anywhere near a court until every doctor along University Avenue says he's as good as he's getting. After the Garbo debacle, MLSE is going to play this cautious and it's the right thing to do. The Raps should be able to make the playoffs without TJ, if that's what it takes. It's a scenario that may soon play itself out and the team had best be prepared. Wasn't Mighty Mouse released or bought out? A swan song in his first city (which looks fondly at him, well as fondly as fan looks at any former Raptor), a playoff push in a defined role on a decent team might sound like a good idea to him. Wouldn't solve much but we are nearing the point when BC needs to jettison some garbage and get back some gold.
