Big Man Sees The Big Picture

It is customary to regard a torn anterior cruciate ligament as a two- year injury, divided into physical and mental hurdles; the first year spent on regaining strength and flexibility, the second year spent getting over the residual discom fort and learning to trust this fragile human hinge to do the explosive stuff again.

Nenad Krstic seems to have an innate understanding of this timetable, and the fact that he hasn't played a game in more than nine months isn't making him restive.

But he is keeping an eye on the calendar.

"I really believe that's my goal, opening day," the Nets' center said yesterday after the team's first practice of training camp. "I don't know how long -- maybe ten minutes, maybe less, maybe more. But I'm going to be getting ready for the game."

Remarkable patience, you might say. But Krstic has myriad reasons why he should keep his distance from the court until his left knee is near 100 percent healed.

For starters, he's playing for a contract, and the numbers could nose dive if he doesn't return at full strength. Secondly, he is the team's best big man, which means he could be the difference between a long playoff run or a quick exit. Rod Thorn has said it, more than once: "My feeling is, if we had Krstic, we would have beaten Cleveland," the team president said.

Third, Krstic had a scare this summer, when he sprained the MCL in the same knee, which set back his rehab for a month. And finally, Krstic trusts the people who have more experience in these mat ters, so he takes orders without protest, and follows a routine that is different from teammates: He took part in 5-on-0 drills yesterday, but he may be weeks away from absorbing contact.

"It's going to be a process," coach Lawrence Frank said. "I have no timetable. It's all basically how his body adjusts."

"Some days I feel great. I feel right now I can play with some contact," Krstic said. "But obvi ously Tim (Walsh, the trainer) knows better than me, and he just tells me to be patient. So I don't know if I'm going to play five or six preseason games or two. We just go day by day."

Pain is part of the process, al beit a small part: "Maybe sometimes it's tender, but I can get through it," he said. "It's not really like a big thing at all."

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source : nj.com