BOSTON -- Before the start of the season, the NBA put into effect a program designed to address a seldom-acknowledged problem around the league—concussions, an issue that isn’t as widespread as in the NFL or NHL and one that was thus easily overlooked. As Celtics coach Doc Rivers, who played in the NBA for 13 seasons, said, “When I played, we would just play the next day. And Mike Fratello (Rivers’ coach in Atlanta) would yell at me for not playing well. ... But really, it’s amazing what we didn’t know back then and what we know now, and I am glad we know it now.”
The concussion problem has hit home for the Celtics in the last two years. Last year, Marquis Daniels suffered a season-ending concussion in February, and both Daniels and Glen Davis suffered concussions during Boston’s run to the Finals in 2010. Now, the Celtics have Mickael Pietrus out with a concussion after he took a hard fall against the Philadelphia 76ers on March 23.
Pietrus, according to Rivers, has a Grade 3 concussion, the most severe classification, and was not even able to emerge from a dark room until today, when Pietrus made an appearance here at TD Garden. Rivers also said that Pietrus has recently begun texting, something he could not do in the days after the injury.
“He’s coming, but he’s not going to stay,” Rivers said. “The light. This is his first day coming into the light, literally. He’s going to come in and say hi to the guys, and then we’re going to get him into the car and get him back home. He has not responded very well.”
Rivers would not rule out a return for Pietrus, saying he would not be surprised if he returned next week and, at the same time, would not be surprised if he didn’t play again this season. Pietrus has a long road back from here, though. The Celtics have yet to begin testing Pietrus. According to the NBA’s new protocol, the next step for Pietrus would be to get clearance from the league’s concussion program director, Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, a neurology professor at the University of Michigan.
After that, Pietrus will have to return to his neurological baseline, which was tested before the season. He will then have to complete a series of tests of exertion—first a stationary bike, then jogging, agility drills and strength tests. If he were to remain free of symptoms after those tests, he would be able to return. Neither the Celtics nor Pietrus himself have a say in when he returns.
“We recognize that there might be some pressure sometime in individual circumstances to accept a player’s determination to go back into a game, saying he was ready to do it, and put himself at risk, and we're not going to do it,” commissioner David Stern said during All-Star weekend in Orlando. “I think the teams have been very supportive of that. They may not agree with every single instance, but collectively they agree completely, because they wanted a uniform policy, and competitively our policy is there. Everyone gets treated the same, players and teams alike. And honestly it arms the teams with the ability to say to a player who wants to make an imprudent decision, ‘You can’t do that, the league won’t let us.’”
Thus, there is hope for Pietrus to return. But with the new protocol, it’s going to take some time.
“He is going to be out a while,” Rivers said.
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