<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">We have to tread lightly here. The last thing we want to do is affix a label or reputation on a young player prematurely. It's not fair, for starters, since there hasn't been enough evidence accumulated to be certain. And once affixed, labels are almost impossible to shed. But the lingering injury to Carlos Delfino's right knee has been a curious case, to say the least. It typically does not take a 22-year-old athlete three months to recover from arthroscopic surgery. A 22-year-old athlete does not typically go outside his team's medical staff to get a second arthroscopic surgery in Argentina, either. Yet, here we are, three months since Delfino's first scope, and he's still not playing. The Pistons' medical team is befuddled, certainly, and the coaching staff is well past impatient. But it's not really an issue for the Pistons, and that should be troubling to Delfino. You can't miss what you've never had. But for 13 insignificant games early in the season, the Pistons haven't had Delfino, a promising guard-forward on whom they were counting to be a major contributor this season. He has essentially rendered himself irrelevant to his team. It has moved on without him, and successfully. It's to the point now where the Pistons are seriously considering shutting him down for the rest of the season. Coach Larry Brown made it clear before the All-Star break that if Delfino wasn't back in the fold by early March, he would be hard-pressed to work his way back into the rotation. Strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander estimated that, if Delfino returned as an active player today and practiced hard every day from now on with no relapse, he probably would get back into actual game condition by the time the playoffs started. That doesn't even include the time it would take to reincorporate him into the rotation. Obviously, time is running out. It was enough of a concern for the Pistons to consider making a pitch for recently waived guard Wesley Person, who is expected to sign with Denver. </div> Source
