[外電] Wolves' McCants: Idle, but driven
http://www.startribune.com/511/story/940656.html
There he is, in the shadows.
That's how Timberwolves guard Rashad McCants says it felt, to be on a team
but not part of it. To be paid to be playing basketball but not be able to do
it.
For months McCants has been unable to take part in a game he played his whole
life, a game that gave him joy, an identity, an ego, an opportunity.
A career.
You can't know how hard that has been.
"When you're sitting around, not doing too much, that's how you feel, like
you're in the shadows," McCants said last week, after a couple hours of rehab
followed by a few minutes of work with some teammates after practice. His
right knee, operated on months ago, is feeling better by the day. His return
to the court draws closer by the hour.
But one gets the feeling it will be months before he shakes that distant
feeling.
McCants, perched on a chair outside the Wolves locker room, sat back, sighed.
What's it like when you're on the roster but not on the court? When you have
to watch while Kevin Garnett leads the charge every night and know you can't
follow?
"You feel like you're a ghost," McCants said of the early stages of his
rehabilitation. "A lot of guys I was friends with last year, you can see kind
of a distant hello or what's up, something like that. And that's from KG down
to Bracey [Wright]. It was hard, because I felt they turned their backs on
me. But you know what? It was nothing of the sort. I wasn't playing. I wasn't
really a part of the team."
Finding his way
McCants came to the Twin Cities last season with an NCAA championship ring
from his time at North Carolina, a boatload of talent, and a reputation.
Maybe more like an image: McCants was quiet, by his own admission a bit
aloof. Some saw that as arrogance; he says it was more a case of acclimation.
This season, McCants hasn't been a part of the team but he has become more a
part of the community. In June, McCants had microfracture surgery on his
right knee. Since then he has worked on the sidelines with an aim to return
to the action. But it's been a long journey.
McCants hasn't yet scored a point this season, but he may lead the team in
personal appearances. Fans who have gone to games this season have seen the
video the team runs as the fourth quarter is about to begin, where Mark
Madsen and Ricky Davis exhort the fans to make noise, accompanied by McCants.
And who was that at center court, days before Christmas, dressed in a Santa
suit?
McCants has always carried around some contradictions. After all, he's a guy
with a "Born to be hated" tattoo on one arm and "Dying to be loved" on the
other.
So don't be surprised to learn that, in a season where he hasn't been a part
of the team, he has become more connected to it than ever.
"Rashad is transcending himself," Garnett said. "He's been away from the
game, but he's tried to be a lot more connected with the team. Some guys
they're hurt, you don't see them around. He's been the opposite. He's been
around.
At the same time, he has connected with the city and with this team. He's
saying, 'I am injured, but I'll be back. I'm still a part of this team.' It's
good to see, man. It's good to see."
First pain, then surgery
The minute last season ended McCants went back to Chapel Hill, N.C., and
started working, hoping to improve on what he thought of as a disappointing
rookie season.
"And I wanted to get better, immediately," McCants said. "I wanted to work
out the whole summer, which is something I shouldn't have done."
One day, he tweaked the knee. Muscle pain, he thought, not a big deal. He
kept working. A month went by and it wasn't getting better so he had it
checked out. The doctors said he had some inflamed tissue in the knee and he
went to get it removed in June.
When he woke up, he got the bad news: Surgery revealed a bigger problem. He
had bruised the bone, and it had gotten worse. Touchup surgery had turned
into an eight-month recovery.
"I thought it was a joke," McCants said. "After a while it set in. Man, six
months, eight months ..."
Some players do so much research into their injuries they become experts. Not
McCants. He deliberately didn't do that.
Who can blame him? The specifics of the surgery are chilling. Holes are
drilled into the knee at the end of the femur, around cartilage that is
either damaged or not there at all. The goal is to have the resulting scar
tissue replace that cartilage, add some shock absorption to the damaged joint.
"I didn't want to get caught up in who had it and who didn't," McCants said.
"The one guy I talked to was Jason Kidd, and he told me to take it slow,
don't rush it. Do exactly what they said and you'll be back."
Kidd made it back. Indeed, he is the running, gunning, passing and shooting
best-case example of what the surgery can do.
McCants? He just wanted to keep his head down and work on his return.
Working hard
It's safe to say that McCants and the Wolves medical team have gotten as
close as family. But perhaps nobody has gotten to know him better than Andre
Deloya, the team's physical therapist. Hundreds of hours working toward a
common goal will do that.
And what Deloya saw was a young man channeling all his frustration into his
rehab.
"It was hard for him," Deloya said. "I think he has distinct visions of what
his role would be and when he would have achieved that status, and this was a
huge detour from that time-frame. He believes and thinks he should be an
impact player. Instead, he's had to sit and brood."
And work. Deloya said he has never had a player work harder toward his
return. Madsen spent a couple of stints rehabbing with McCants and came away
amazed at his teammate's intensity.
"However hard it's been for him -- and I think it has been very hard for
Rashad -- he's channeled all that into his program," Madsen said.
Ready for return
Already Timberwolves coach Dwane Casey is prepping McCants for his return.
Casey's message: You think your rehab was trying? Get ready for more of the
same.
"There will be times when he's muddy and foggy," Casey said. "When nothing
feels right. And he'll have to have the mental toughness to fight through
that."
No question he has the drive.
"Here was my motivation: Where do I want to be?" McCants said. "What were my
goals? I always look back to my goals. You know, I do believe in God. But all
my faith really comes from the goals I set, the things I want to do."
And McCants has a few.
"I'm very self-motivated," he said. "It drives me to see things on TV, guys
like Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, LeBron [James] doing commercials. It's not
envious, it's just something where, 'I'm going to get there.' I'm going to
have my jerseys in all the stores, not just Minnesota stores. Those are
things that drive me. And if I give up during a rehab, I just shatter all
those dreams."
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