http://celtics.bostonherald.com/celtics/vi...rticleid=180396<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>Tony Allen made his first appearance at TD Banknorth Garden last night, three weeks to the day since ending his season with a blown-out knee on a meaningless post-whistle dunk attempt against the Pacers. And he was just as brash coming in as when he trash-talked the Indiana bench while being carried out. Allen, crutches beside him, sat at his locker before the C?s 111-98 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers and assured that he?d be recovered from ACL surgery in time to participate in training camp. Once the game began, he was a loud force at the table beside the Celtics [team stats]bench. ?I expect to be back next year at full force,? he said, adding doctors told him it would be a 6-8-month recovery from the Jan. 13 surgery. ?Leon (Powe) is a big motivator for me,? Allen said of his teammate who had two ACL reconstructions. ?I look around the league, too, and I see the big guy from Denver, Nene. I saw him take off the other day and hit a big jam. The dude from Philly, (Willie) Green, I saw him take off the other day and hit a big jam. So I?m basically just staying in tune with (trainer) Ed Lacerte. Once I get healthy enough to get with Bryan Doo and Walter Norton, the strength and conditioning guys, I think I?ll be great.? It wasn?t so great viewing the dead-ball play on which his season came to a crashing halt. ?I try not to watch it as much, but I saw it,? Allen said. ?I don?t know. I could say if I shoulda, woulda (held up on the whistle), but I didn?t. Unfortunately I didn?t, and now it?s just time to move on and get through the injury. It happened. You can?t take back time. It happened. You?ve just got to deal with it. ?I knew (the injury was bad) when I fell. I normally just jump right up. I knew when I couldn?t get up. When it happened, I was like, ?Why me?? But it happened for a reason, so I?ve just got to get through it.? Allen puts in at least two hours of rehab a day. After games, he said, ?I e-mail the guys and text them about some of the things they did good and some of the things they did bad. I just let them know I?m watching them.?</div>Source: Boston Herald
Of course I would absolutely love 06-07 Tony Allen next year, but.. I don't see it happening. If it does, it won't be right away. I don't see him really starting to turn it on until after the All-Star break, and I don't see him being back to where is was until 08-09, if that. But, get well soon, TA!
The good thing is he seems extremely motivated to get back to where he was. I have faith in Tony, he's gonna be a key part of this team in the future [I hope].
