• January 20, 2009 5:46 pm  |  34 Comments

    Links: Josh Childress Has Abdominal Tear Surgery

    “I’m glad to be home, but I didn’t want it to happen this way.”

    by Lang Whitaker

    I just got off the phone with Olympiakos (and former Atlanta Hawks) swingman Josh Childress, who had surgery this morning in Philadelphia to repair a tear in his abdomen. “They had to put stitches inside, and then it’s just a matter of waiting for it to heal,” Josh said.

    While the surgery has been reported as a hernia, Childress said it was actually an abdominal tear. Sort of.

    “It started bothering me like a month ago,” Josh said. “After the Maccabi game on the 8th, I could barely walk. It was killing me. Everybody diagnosed it as a hernia, but the specialist I saw here in Philly said it was just a tear. Actually, I’m kind of unclear, because the team doctor said he thought it was a hernia, and he was here at the surgery as well.”

    Childress had the surgery in the U.S. because he had a clause in his contract that allowed him to come to the U.S. and see a doctor if he suffered any serious injury. He went to a specialist in Philly — the same guy who treated Shaq’s strained abdominal muscle.

    While initial reports projected Josh would miss between 6-8 weeks, Josh and his medical team think the time frame could be shorter: “The doctor said he thinks we can push the envelope on the recovery and I could be back in 3-4 weeks. He actually wants me to walk a mile tomorrow to start trying to get better.”

    Instead of returning to Athens immediately, Childress will head to his home in California to rehabilitate.

    “[Olympiakos] was great about it,” Josh said. “I expected them to be like, Hurry back. But the owner of the team told me, We want to make sure you’re taken care of and you do whatever is best for you. It doesn’t matter where you do the rehab as long as you get better. He said, We have you for another two years, and we want to make sure you’re happy. So that was pretty cool.”

    This is Childress’ first trip back to the U.S. since moving to Greece in the fall.

    “I’m glad to be home, but I didn’t want it to happen this way.”

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    Tags:

    • awesomepossum Posted: Jan.20 at 5:47 pm
      get well soon josh..

    • SLAM ONLINE | Posted: Jan.20 at 5:50 pm
      [...] Childress Has Surgery [...]

    • Ben Osborne Posted: Jan.20 at 5:52 pm
      Um, has he played his last game in Greece? Either way, hope our man comes back as strong as ever.

    • dma Posted: Jan.20 at 6:05 pm
      is he still going to get paid?

    • Lang Whitaker Posted: Jan.20 at 6:12 pm
      @ben: Josh mentioned getting back because the Top 16 Euroleague and Greek League playoffs are starting soon.
      @dma: Yessir.

    • Anton Posted: Jan.20 at 6:17 pm
      get well soon

    • Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo Posted: Jan.20 at 6:19 pm
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fB5xxgQU1AY
      immortal methods to revolution

    • Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo Posted: Jan.20 at 6:19 pm
      w.youtube.com/watch?v=fB5xxgQU1AY
      immortal methods to revolution

    • Russ Bengtson Posted: Jan.20 at 6:50 pm
      He should rehab by playing for Hawks: “Hey, Chillz. You still play for Greece?”

    • G8RS Posted: Jan.20 at 7:28 pm
      I like you Josh, get well soon, and welcome home.

    • B. Long Posted: Jan.20 at 7:40 pm
      Get well soon my man.

    • Dacre Posted: Jan.20 at 8:14 pm
      heh…call Russ.
      Not that I’m Doogie Howzer MD or anything, but isn’t a hernia a result of a tear…? In the lining of the stomach or muscle around the intestines…?
      HOUSE. Get HOUSE MD onto it!

    • Waters1981 Posted: Jan.20 at 9:30 pm
      Forget House, get Blackadder.

    • chiqo Posted: Jan.20 at 9:40 pm
      ow

    • MyKal Posted: Jan.20 at 10:27 pm
      BTW, the “SlamadaYEAR?” link takes you to a picture Jarret Johnson rather than the actual dunk.

    • ANTONIS FOTSIS Posted: Jan.21 at 6:49 am
      As i told many friends of mine in the summer when we were about to sign Josh, the guy simply can’t play in Europe. This is because a)he cannot shout (you cannot be a perimeter player without a decent shout in real basketball) and b)he is too weak for the European game (which is much more physical than the NBA as Colangelo, Brandon Jennings and may others can assure you)….Of course the move was made mainly for other reasons (global exposure for the team, become respected among player agents around the world, etc.) The worst is about to come though…not only we have Josh under contract for the next 3 years but team officials are about to make a move for “STARBURY!!” to replace Josh for the time period he remains injured…If this cartoon comes in Greece i will temporarily have to favor Panathinaikos!!! (ok,that’s a joke..)

    • Plasticman Posted: Jan.21 at 7:40 am
      Abdominal tear? Dejuan Wagner is gotta be rolling over in his hospital bed.

    • Nik Posted: Jan.21 at 7:58 am
      It’s a disgrace to use the name of a Panathinaikos player to write bull…. Thank god Olympiacos has these owners who make European basketball interesting and exciting. If they consider bringing Marbury, they can really do it!!!Let’s see if Stephon comes to Greece. This would be something!

    • Catalonista Posted: Jan.21 at 8:21 am
      lol nice touch trying to convince people you re an Olympiacos fan… isn t fotsis a Panathinaikos player??? arch rivals of Olympiacos? ‘when WE were about to sign Josh’ LMAO

    • Jukai Posted: Jan.21 at 9:38 am
      You wanna hear another joke? Euroleague basketball!

    • [...] News that Josh Childress is back on US soil after tearing an abdominal muscle. Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery are being sent to Mr. Childress. - Indiana Pacers. [...]

    • ciolkstar Posted: Jan.21 at 11:20 am
      I really didnt think Chillz would be a great Euroleague player anyway. His jumper is just so inconsistent, and his slight build keeps him from being able to really bang inside. And its not that Euro league players are more physical, its just that they don’t call hand checking there. So its much harder to drive to the basket, another reason why shooting is so valubale there. I’m happy Josh got his money and I wish him all the best and a speedy recovery, but I see him back in an NBA uni before those 3 years are up.

    • Darksaber Posted: Jan.21 at 11:45 am
      Damn shame. Watched every greek league game featuring olympiakos this season (fantastic british commentators btw, superb b-ball knowledge & humour). Josh was finally playing freely, hitting more jumpers ( a weakness early in the season) and is easily the most exciting player in europe this season. Hope he returns to form.

    • Darksaber Posted: Jan.21 at 11:48 am
      good luck favoring Pana, fotsis. That loss that sent them to 12-2 revealed a lot of problems on that team.

    • Darksaber Posted: Jan.21 at 11:51 am
      oh and the real Fotsis? Hate his guts. Lackadaisical waste of talent player. Diamantidis though? Total stud.

    • Darksaber Posted: Jan.21 at 11:58 am
      shame also that a russian team (kimki) assembled an array of ex nba players and national team stars (garbajosa, moiso, Delfino!!!, lampce etc) and plays in second tier eurocup comp. Wow, what a waste.

    • Ben Osborne Posted: Jan.21 at 1:09 pm
      Russ: that was really funny.

    • ANTONIS FOTSIS Posted: Jan.21 at 2:45 pm
      @Darksaber: happy to see somebody here actually knowing what he’s talking about in relation with European ball. I totally agree with you on Fotsis and Diamantidis. Fotsis had the talent to be an NBA All-star and he choose to just be top-10 in Europe without really trying…his father has a lot to do with his situation and on the other hand he ain’t the most inteligent man around either…Diamantidis has been a top-20 guard in the world for the last 5 years…Kimki has real problems and most of its players are about to leave,the same is also true for CSKA (Russian billionaires lost a lot during this crisis…).The problem with Panathinaikos is propably his coach that has a Red Auerbach like status in Europe and has made his star players last years afraid to take any kind of initiative…i am favoring Olympiakos, i am just using names of the best greek players. Next time i will be Theo Papaloukas for you (unfortunatelly past his prime…)

    • ANTONIS FOTSIS Posted: Jan.21 at 2:51 pm
      @Jukai….:with 2500000 lost jobs in the states and with youR talend i can really feel you my young friend….BUT, there is always a job waiting for you here in Romania!!!

    • [...] Slam Online… “It started bothering me like a month ago,” Josh said. “After the Maccabi game on the [...]

    • Darksaber Posted: Jan.22 at 4:36 am
      wow. “there’s always a job waiting here in romania” was the funniest comeback in ages. Fotsis burned ya on that, Juks

    • Steph Posted: Jan.22 at 7:48 am
      Hope Josh gets well soon. ..Euroleague games are 10x more interesting than regular season games in the NBA. There are actually some systems being played and you see the basics of the game, kinda like the Celts played under Auerbach, just more physical. There is a huge ignorance in the States about the level of the European game. When Spanoulis and Schortsanitis took apart one of the “dream teams” in the semis of the last world championships (the real ones, not the fake US “world” championships), that apparently didnt teach you anything, did it? There is more to basketball than the NBA has to offer and basketball does not mean just “mad skillz” and wanabe gangsta attitutes.. Josh is a nice guy and has some skills flying around the basket. But for serious basketball you need basic skills like shooting, dribbling and understanding tactics, which he (like most NBA players) lacks.

    • [...] to several reports, Josh Childress (abdominal tear and all) might have to move aside as another hoopster from the NBA joins his Greek team. Stephon [...]

    • omardenia Posted: Mar.11 at 2:44 am
      steph - agree with you 100 per cent… they just say something is bad if is not american you know…i really apreciate the good player doesnt matter where he came from.

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