Alterique Gilbert ready to go!

[businesslawyer]

Super. Andrews is well-respected. When he gets through 7 strait games without a season ending shoulder injury, which he hasn't done in 3 years, perhaps I'll re-evaluate and re-adjust expectations.

I'm guessing Andrews isn't sleeping well at night given that your personal experience as a patient might be contradictory to the knowledge he has on shoulder injuries and the surgeries involved and he might be putting out conclusions that aren't state of the art. Or maybe not.

 

[pj]

No reason he can't go out there and play 35 minutes, giving us 18 pts, 6 assists and a couple of steals a game.

I'd feel better limiting him to 20 minutes, 18 points, 6 assists and 2 steals per game. For a little while, to protect his shoulder.

 

[uconngb]

No reason he can't go out there and play 35 minutes, giving us 18 pts, 6 assists and a couple of steals a game.

You are someone who clearly understands how to keep expectations to a minimum. I think this sets the bar pretty low, everything else will just be gravy.

 

[gtcam]

This is great news for a great kid coming from a great kid
He has spunk and I am beyond convinced that a healthy AG would have made a HUGE difference the past 2 seasons
I pray that he will be able to play pain free and not have an overwhelming concern that something bad will happen - I understand that there will always be a sense of concern but he doesn't need it being the dominant issue in his mind when he's on the floor.
I am so happy for him

 

[freescooter]

I hope his optimism shows to be well deserved but I’m in the camp that says if he returns and stays healthy that will be a potentially huge bonus.

There are really 3 elements.
1. Does the repair work
2. Confidence in the repair
3. Getting his game back.

It is really easy to say those are all ok in May. December might be a different story though.

 

[fgbrault]

Alterique, all the best in your recovery. We can all learn from you. Am praying.

 

[Horatio]

Hey old guys that are on this thread talking about shoulder injuries you suffered in 1978 while playing in canvas sneakers- Please stop!!! (Exaggeration) The surgeries of today are far better and Andrews is supposed to be the best. Besides, the surgery was performed by Andrew's with Shuri in Wakanda so it’s Guaranteed to be perfect.
​

 

[mauconnfan]

Hey old guys that are on this thread talking about shoulder injuries you suffered in 1978 while playing in canvas sneakers- Please stop!!! (Exaggeration) The surgeries of today are far better and
Andrews is supposed to be the best. Besides, the surgery was performed by
Andrew's with Shuri in Wakanda so its
Guaranteed to be perfect.
​

I haven't had any shoulder surgeries but I still take offense to the "old guys" assumption. I mean we all know that if Mickey Mantle suffered that knee injury from the drain nowadays he would hardly have lost a step. Oh crap does bringing up Mantles injury in the 50's make me old?

 

[browndog319]

I've quoted my first post where I literally start my 2nd to last sentence with "I hope". In this thread.

To your second point, the entire point of posting the article I did from nearly exactly a year ago is to show that the "people who performed the surgery and the other medical professionals" and even Alterique himself said he was 100% almost exactly a year ago. That's the whole point. I posted it for that sole purpose. To show that experts are wrong. That even the player himself was wrong.

So, take all this with a huge grain of salt. I'm not sure there has even been an "unsuccessful" surgery in athletes who publicly require a good outcome to maintain their future potential professional value.

Right? So just keep expectations low. I don't get why what i said is controversial or requires multiple replies. It was just a quick, straitforward exercise in expectation setting for the kid before this board goes off the deep end and sets him up for failure.

Orthopedic guys are not all the same. I dislocated my ankle and developed a permanent condition called CRPS from it. They all said “nothing we can do” other than try a TENS machine for pain and some PT. I literally had paralysis in toes. Started seeing a guy who does plasma rich platelet stuff (and other pain management stuff). Two years later I grew ligaments back. I still have slight paralysis in my toes but I can run again with limited discomfort and stiffness and I now walk without a limp. I was cleared for skiing.

Screw orthos. If they can’t cut you, they’re useless.

 

[upstater]

Hey old guys that are on this thread talking about shoulder injuries you suffered in 1978 while playing in canvas sneakers- Please stop!!! (Exaggeration) The surgeries of today are far better and
Andrews is supposed to be the best. Besides, the surgery was performed by
Andrew's with Shuri in Wakanda so its
Guaranteed to be perfect.
​

But... Andrews said he knows little about shoulder surgeries.
So he referred Alterique to a specialist in Colorado.
Anyhow--your point still stands.

 

[intlzncster]

I’ve had 3 shoulder surgeries in the last 6 years. It’s the best I’ve felt since I was in my 20’s. I play pickup 2-4 days a week. I am thinking of trying tennis again. That said I’m nowhere near what I was was all those years ago, but I have been able to increase my physical activity without any issues so far. Everyone is different. I’ve been lucky.

I'm guessing you're also a fair bit older than Alterique too though. Some of it is growing older. 35 yr old vs a 20 year old is light years difference. You could be 24 and my post meaningless in this context, but just throwing it out there.

 

[intlzncster]

Kinda bummer that he'll be a 21 year old freshman when the season starts. I hope his full recovery will make things right for him. Kid deserves a break.

Could end up being a tremendous advantage for UCONN in a couple of years though.

 

[intlzncster]

I hope his optimism shows to be well deserved but I’m in the camp that says if he returns and stays healthy that will be a potentially huge bonus.

There are really 3 elements.
1. Does the repair work
2. Confidence in the repair
3. Getting his game back.

It is really easy to say those are all ok in May. December might be a different story though.

I'm relatively confident in #1, only because of the success rate (95%) of the Laterjet surgery. People acting like all shoulder surgeries (and injuries) are the same. Far, far from it.

#2 is going to take at least a season. After than many years out, and that many injuries, I've no doubt he'll be tentative throughout. At the least, it will be in on his mind.

#3 will take at least a year imo. He's had no 'real' offseason in three years. There's huge amounts of rust and huge amounts of lost development.

That said, if he stays healthy, his talent alone will help UCONN quite a bit. His style of play on top of that. We need a hard nose, gritty guy who gets after you. Tough leadership. He's got tremendous value in that alone.

 

[sledog]

What a fantastic story! Not only the physical, but AG has also hit the Zen-zone in a positive way. Sounds like it'll be great. Pre his op, I mentioned that Steadman Hawkins at Vail was a fantastic place for complex shoulders (and knees), and looked forward to a very positive result. He could not have gone to a better place. Voila!

 

[jibsey]

Could end up being a tremendous advantage for UCONN in a couple of years though.

In my mind it’s an advantage now having the maturity that age brings. His strengths are handle, distribution, and midrange and ?I expect that Jalen will be better because of him. He can make the 3 and I hope he works to improve on that.

 

[intlzncster]

In my mind it’s an advantage now having the maturity that age brings. His strengths are handle, distribution, and midrange and ?I expect that Jalen will be better because of him. He can make the 3 and I hope he works to improve on that.

True, I just think it's going to be a rocky year for him. Not in a terrible way, but there's a lot of hurdles for him to overcome.

 

[August_West]

I like how he admitted the team had lacked heart and toughness.

William Shea?

 

[August_West]

There are MDs here who said they think his career is done, so I don’t know how much that counts for.

Zero

 

[PAHusky]

Calling Christian Vital, your chances at making the league go up astronomically if you stick around for a year and can figure out how to get open and drain uncontested threes when JA and a healthy AG are scything through the lane....

 

[Giddyup5]

The recurrence rate for Latarjet is extremely low (<5%). In addition, the case series that his surgeon (Provencher) has reported for his recurrence rates are even lower (<1-3%).

The issue is not will his shoulder dislocate again; that is very very unlikely.

The question Hoop and I have brought up is what will be his performance secondary to the surgery. There is no literature at all looking at basketball performance after a Latarjet procedure--the data just doesn't exist yet. Furthermore, long term (I'm talking 15+ years) patients with laterjet about 50% of them develop arthritis. That shouldn't effect his playing career, but may affect him as he gets older.

 

[intlzncster]

The recurrence rate for Latarjet is extremely low (<5%). In addition, the case series that his surgeon (Provencher) has reported for his recurrence rates are even lower (<1-3%).

The issue is not will his shoulder dislocate again; that is very very unlikely.

The question Hoop and I have brought up is what will be his performance secondary to the surgery. There is no literature at all looking at basketball performance after a Latarjet procedure--the data just doesn't exist yet. Furthermore, long term (I'm talking 15+ years) patients with laterjet about 50% of them develop arthritis. That shouldn't effect his playing career, but may affect him as he gets older.

Good stuff.

If he gets a solid pro career out of it, whether here or in Europe, I think that's a trade off most, if not all, of us would take.

Besides, who knows what medical advances will happen in that time frame? Might just grow him a new shoulder. haha

 

[EBonz30]

I won't believe this until Chief confirms it

@chief where you at??

 

[UconnU]

This title is misleading he is not anywhere near ready to go.

 

[Husky68]

Not sure why so many need to "limit expectations to avoid disappointments". I have no problem with being disappointed because my team wasn't able to get to where I wanted/expected it to get. I've heard good news on the kids physical and mental outlook and knowing how talented he was out of high school look forward to a really good year for him. Turns out other wise, too bad.

 

[HHusky]

We should keep in mind that there's a big difference between "painfree with full range of motion" and that plus the weight training strength and desire to play with all out toughness. Gilbert probably hasn't had the time to accomplish the latter yet.

 

[dennismenace]

Seems to me that he had toughness when he got here. That's quite a crucible he has been through. If he can (please!) stay healthy he may possess a whole new dimension on "toughness" and character. Go Alterique! We need you.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I've quoted my first post where I literally start my 2nd to last sentence with "I hope". In this thread.

To your second point, the entire point of posting the article I did from nearly exactly a year ago is to show that the "people who performed the surgery and the other medical professionals" and even Alterique himself said he was 100% almost exactly a year ago. That's the whole point. I posted it for that sole purpose. To show that experts are wrong. That even the player himself was wrong.

So, take all this with a huge grain of salt. I'm not sure there has even been an "unsuccessful" surgery in athletes who publicly require a good outcome to maintain their future potential professional value.

Right? So just keep expectations low. I don't get why what i said is controversial or requires multiple replies. It was just a quick, straitforward exercise in expectation setting for the kid before this board goes off the deep end and sets him up for failure.

Once a person uses a term like "goes off the deep end," however colloquially, he generally forfeits a sense of mystery as to why people don't get him.
Just as unrealistic expectations are a setup, so too is exaggerated language. Might not seem fair, but the dynamic is too often on display here to overlook or deny. No criticism, simply a frank response to your claim of not getting why you're not gotten.

 

[Hans Sprungfeld]

I think you're being too hard on @bmayuc. Every one of us on this board is pulling for AG. Every one of us hopes the kid's shoulder is 100%.
It's great that the docs who did the surgery said this and that about how his shoulder is now from Krpyton, or whatever. It's great that those in the know are uniformly, publicly positive.
I have zero medical expertise or even basic passing knowledge of shoulders.
But I know people and their tendency toward hyperbole, doctors or ditch diggers.
I hope the kid is fixed and never has to go through the heartbreak of reinjury, which, at this point, would likely be career ending.
But, I'm a realist, and I don't care what the number one expert in the world said - I'll be holding my breath every time the kid dives to the floor hard, 8893 - as will you, notwithstanding all that you've written.

The true realist doesn't invoke Krypton. It undercuts the gravity of the message and can, figuratively, muddy the waters.

 

[buddy]

We should keep in mind that there's a big difference between "painfree with full range of motion" and that plus the weight training strength and desire to play with all out toughness. Gilbert probably hasn't had the time to accomplish the latter yet.

I agree with you. It is likely that his pain has been relieved and his range of motion has improved. It is highly unlikely that he will be like he was prior to his injuries. I don't think it is fair for anyone to put unrealistic expectations on him. We will see what happens at his pace, and if it is better then that's great, but if not, then that is what has to be accepted.

 

[willie99]

Gilbert will bring energy and ball hawking and ball handling and leadership, I saw that in the few games he played last year.

I trust his shoulder will be fine, I'm certain the best doctors have given him the best advice

There are many examples of people who look to be injury prone that turn it around. If it were his knee(s), I'd be much more concerned