Sonics’ Collison frustrated as he awaits second shoulder surgery

Published 9:00 pm Monday, February 9, 2004

SEATTLE – In his idle moments – and, heaven knows, there have been plenty of those – Nick Collison has managed to paint the bathroom and install garage door openers in his new Seattle-area home.

Good projects, no doubt. Rewarding, even, though nothing like the feeling of accomplishment Collison expects on the day he again plays basketball with two sound shoulders.

One of those ailing shoulders, the left one, has already been surgically repaired, and on Thursday Collison will head to New York for a similar operation on his right shoulder. The procedure will take place the next day.

“It’ll be Friday the 13th,” he said with a wry smile. “How about that?”

For Collison, humor has been in short supply this season, which is common to those who must endure the agonizing fate – for an athlete – of inactivity. His left shoulder has healed enough that he has been able to shoot and do other conditioning drills in a stretch of weeks between the surgeries, but these are only individual workouts. He can do nothing in a team setting.

“It’s been real frustrating at times,” he said Monday. “I wouldn’t say my spirits are down. I’m just bored. I just want to get back on the court.”

Collison’s winter of discontent began in early October, when he dislocated his left shoulder in a training camp workout. Doctors determined that his shoulder could easily become dislocated again, and that his right shoulder had a high chance of a similar injury. A few days later it was decided to have Collison undergo surgeries on both shoulders – done at different times so that he would always have the use of one good arm – with New York surgeon Dr. Russell Warren tightening the ligaments around the socket.

The left shoulder was repaired on Oct. 14, followed by four weeks with his arm in a sling. Collison then began rehabilitation, and today the shoulder “is doing well,” he said. “I don’t have 100 percent of motion yet, but it’s getting close. We’re just trying to strengthen it by lifting weights, and it’s getting a lot stronger. And in probably another month or two I’ll be able to move it 100 percent.”

Collison is looking at a similar recovery time for his right shoulder, which means he hopes to return to the court this summer and be at full health by training camp in October.

There was the option of getting his left shoulder done immediately and waiting until the summer to do his right shoulder. Under that scenario, Collison probably could have returned in another few weeks and played the last month or so of the season.

“I’ve thought about that,” he said, “but it’s kind of a big-risk, low-reward kind of thing. Getting to the play the last month and then having to go under (the knife) again, and then you’d risk not being 100 percent at training camp. So I think I’m better off getting it done now and being able to work for a couple of months real hard in the summer, and then be ready to go next year.”

As much as Collison has missed playing, the Sonics have missed him just as much. There is no question the team would be better today if Collison, the team’s top draft choice last summer,

had been healthy. He was, after all, the National Association of Basketball Coaches Player of the Year after a stellar senior season at Kansas in 2002-03, and a member of the 2003 United States team at the pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico.

While with the national team (the only college player to be included), he played well enough for teammate Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers to give Collison an early vote for NBA Rookie of the Year.

Having a healthy Collison right now “would be terrific,” admitted Seattle general manager Rick Sund. “He figured to be an integral part of our rotation. He was the one thing we really felt needed, which was somebody who could bang inside and knock people around.”

At times this season, Sund added, “there are nights that we’re getting beat up (inside) and we really need that body, which is why we drafted him.”

Instead, his season has involved showing up for practices, but watching from the sidelines. Later, as the other players are beginning to wander to the locker room, he grabs a ball and gets in some shooting, either by himself or with a teammate or two. Collison and fellow rookie Luke Ridnour, in particular, seem to have developed a nice friendship.

On game nights, he sits at the end of the team bench in street clothes, these days accompanied by Brent Barry, who is on the injured list with a broken finger.

“I feel a part of the team in (that) I know the guys and I know how things work,” Collison said. “But I don’t feel like I’m really a part of the team because I haven’t earned any respect since I haven’t had a chance to play. So there’s definitely a feeling of not being all the way there.

“It’s kind of frustrating,” he said, “because I want to get out there and prove myself in the league, and to my coaches and teammates. But obviously I can’t do anything about it.”

Though he can look forward to obvious discomfort in the weeks after his surgery, Collison is excited to know that this will be his second and final surgery. Once he mends, he can resume his basketball career.

“I am,” he admitted, “really looking forward to putting all of this behind me.”