Throughout the offseason, Celtics fans have been anxiously awaiting a verdict on whether Kevin Garnett will be going at full speed as the 2009-10 season approaches.
The suspense is over. According to head coach Doc Rivers, he's good to go.
"Right now, there are no medical restrictions on any player, and that's good," Rivers told Boston.com during Celtics media day on Monday.
Rivers told reporters the team will forgo two-a-days and practice one per day this preseason. Garnett will take part in most drills, but Rivers joked that he might have to convince the fiery forward to sit out some reps.
"That's going to be a pain in the butt," he told the Web site. "Kevin likes to do it all and go 1,000 miles an hour. And that's a good quality. We want everybody in all our jobs to do that. And for me, it will all be in what I see. If he thinks he's handling it well, then it's not a big deal. If I don't think he's handling it well, then I'm going to ask him to slow down some."
Garnett, who underwent a number of procedures this offseason to repair his injured right knee, told the media he expects his rehab to continue to be on schedule.
"I think everything was pretty much straightforward with the procedures," he said. "They took me through what was going to occur, post and prior to, and everything's been just like that. Everything's been right on schedule."
Garnett also indicated that he didn't expect his knee injury to be quite as bad as he discovered it was, which may explain his hasty attempt to return to the hardwood in March.
"It was just what we thought it was, but it was more than that," he said. "Put it like this: A bone spur the size of this tape recorder ended up being the size of this microphone…It's pretty severe, but the best thing about it is I got it out of the way."
Most importantly, Garnett said he expects to be perfectly fine once the season starts.
"I'm almost 100 percent going forward," he said. "The best thing about it is I'm playing without any pain, which is something I haven't had in quite some time."
