<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'># On Al Jefferson?s arthroscopic ankle surgery on Thursday: "We have been keeping an eye on him. It?s a fairly minor procedure. Kind of like what Paul (Pierce) is doing with his elbow (later this week), although it is a foot, which is a little more weight-bearing, of course."But Al is going to be fine and we think he will be ready for training camp. It is just something that we wanted to have cleaned out because he has been having pain with it off and on since he injured it in February."# On Kendrick Perkins? recovery from shoulder surgery on June 1: "Kendrick is doing great. He is working out and getting his shots up. We are just trying to hold him out of contact drills right now, for obvious reasons, giving it as much time to heal as possible. He is doing a lot of shooting and running, and should be ready to go (by camp)."# On Tony Allen?s offseason: "Tony has spent a lot of time in the gym and has been up (in Waltham) working out with the coaches all through July and (will continue) into August."His legal situation (a pending assault charge from a Chicago area shooting last summer)," he noted, "I am told they are supposed to get some things resolved with that in August."# On Wally Szczerbiak?s recovery from the knee surgery that ended his season in early April: "I just saw him down in Orlando at Doc (Rivers?) golf tournament and Wally told me he is feeling the best he has in years. He is doing plenty of shooting. He looked great."Ainge also dismissed the notion that Szczerbiak could suffer chronic effects from last season?s knee injury on top of the pounding it has taken over the course of his career."Wally is still a very young guy (29 years old)," he said. "I don?t think there are going to be any longterm problems with the knee. I think Wally is going to be capable of playing a high level of basketball for the rest of his contract (three years remaining at approximately $36 million), and beyond."There are a lot of guys in the league with knees a lot worse than Wally?s who have played at a very high level.</div>as it turns out, Wally's surgery was very successful. damn you tanguay..
Some good things to hear, but there is no way he would say anything wrong about this stuff in public anyway. When Ainge talks to the press, it's relieving zero inside info and it's all optimistic talk. So even if Wally or Al weren't doing great, he wouldn't say it. But yea, Tanguay is a loser either way lol.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (nba dogmatist @ Aug 6 2006, 02:42 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>good point. i was thinking he might have said that about wally to raise his stock a little bit.</div> Yeah, I mean what do you expect him to say? "Wally doesn't look too good right now, his knee could hurt him next year, and he might not be able to play a complete season." 45 minutes later: Ainge: "Hey Billy (King), I have an offer for you. You give me AI, I'll give you Jefferson, Scalabrine, Szczerbi...." King: click Ainge: "Billy? Are you still there?"
