FanPost

Ricky interview for feb.es (google translated with little improvement)

Richard Steadman, the surgeon who made your surgery, said in the last review that your knee is even better than

expected. How are you?

Yes, I feel better every day, what happens is that now reaches a turning point, which is to start running. It's when you

will really know if surgery went well and I'll be able to start earlier or not. If the knee is swollen, you have to get

some rest. We'll see how it goes.

Are you dying to come back to run?

I'm going to Minneapolis to start running. It is the most important phase. After six months without running I

can start to feel a little bit closer to being what I was. Never been so long without running.

You look confident, you are an optimist by nature kind.

Yes, I have great confidence in myself, but there's always a little scary after having been so long standing. I worked

a lot and I have tried so that everything goes well and the knee back to what it was.

Rick Adelman, your coach, predicts you will play somewhen between November and December.

Hopefully I can get back in November, but doctors have initially set December as the month of my return. I'm the first

signing to be back in November, but I know it could be negative. Doctors have stopped me a bit.

We must be wise, it is always better to miss a few games that maybe, in the end, will lengthen your career for a few

more seasons.

The Wolves' trainer Gregg Farnam, say you are one of the best patients he has treated . So well behaved?

I know all they ask is for my own good, so I always try to work the most, because I'm the one who wants to recover

and be myself again. I do what they say, sometimes even more than they do ask me and I have to stop. It's because

I have really wanted to come back and I'm trying to make a perfect recovery.

I guess if you´re that good patient you don´t complain.

There is pain, but I don´t complain much, because if you complain you have to stop a bit more and you delay your

recovery.

It´s going to be six months since you were injured. The feeling from outside is that time has flown by, but I imagine

it´s been eternal for you.

For me It´s been slow, especially watching the final games of the NBA regular season or the Olympics. I think It´s

been good for me to come to Barcelona for half of the recovery process, so I could disconnect a bit,

and in that sense to be with family always helps. But still it has been slow, because those many months without

running.

What moments of these six months have been the hardest?

Especially the first month, when the pains were stronger because I had to start flexing the leg. At first it bent

very little, we had to break some tissues, and that was based on seeing how far I could take the pain. That's hard,

because you want to hold so much, but you get to a point where you can no more. It is tough, so many days,

some of them with morning and afternoon sessions. I told myself: "Here I go to suffer again."

What hurts more, your knee or not being able to compete in the Olympics?

The recovery of the knee is physically tough and to watch your fellow Wolves or or national team teammates is

tough mentally. I do not know what is harder. I enjoyed watching them when they won the medal and not be

there to celebrate with them was very tough. It's an experience that helps you to value more when you are there.

Would Spain have had more chance of winning the U.S. with you?

I do not think so, but you never know. My teammates did a great job and it would have been difficult to improve that.

At first (in the Olympics, not in the Final) things were a bit average, but in the end the games ended as we wanted.

We could have won (the Final), and even if we didn´t, they surely now respect us more.

How is it to watch the Wolves roster making from outside?

It is working very well, we have a roster in which veteranship is mixed with the youth that we had, and that will allow

us to grow even more as a team. Last year we did a good job and this year we will try to continue this upward we

carry.

Will the arrival of Shved, although a SG, will you end up having less playing time?

I do not know, but I think he'll play more shooting guard, which is what he did at CSKA. We'll see how it evolves

around and see how many minutes I can play when I return.

Kirilenko, by his nature, can extract oil from a PG as you.

He is a player that does not need the ball a lot, but that adds a lot to the team. He rebounds and defends well, as

is evident because he has been once in the NBA best defensive team, and that will help us to grow much from

defense, it was a bit our weak point last year. Then Offensively, we all know the quality he has, has spent 10 years

in the NBA and he was MVP last season in Europe. Those are big acomplishments.

Does it surprise you the signing of Brandon Roy, with serious knee problems that forced him to retire after

undergoing surgery six times?

If he gets to be 70% of what he was when he was an All Star that´s enough for me, we'll have to see how he is

physically. It's a long shot, but he it may work. He has been a year off, but his wish to play basketball is stronger

than anything else. They have told me he has worked a lot to get back to the level he was at.

Is the return of Roy encouraging news for someone in your situation?

It is another example. Although physically not one hundred percent, the wish to play basketball cause that pain you

still have to disappear. It´s like a pain pill.

Scared? Lakers with Kobe, Pau, Howard and Nash?

It was scaring before, so imagine now. We could not win last season and it looks like it will be even more difficult.

They have made a great team, if they were one of the favorites to win the ring, I think more so now. It will be nice

to see them play together, with a PG like Nash, who is one of my idols, and see how they play with so many stars.

Playing heads-up against Jason Kidd [39 years] Steve Nash [38] or Derek Fisher [38], almost double your age,

must instill respect.

It's a dream come true to play against players who I have as idols. To defend against them helps you to learn more.

Last year, watching them play and fighting against them was a daily "clinic" for me. This helps you to learn a lot, but

with respect, I always tryed to beat them. I have them as idols, but if I have to make a foul, I´ll do it.

Victor Claver is excited about his jump to the NBA in the hands of the Blazers.

Of course, because it is a very nice adventure. I talked to him and he is very happy. Things can get very well for them.

Before it was very hard to get playing time when you came from Europe, but in recent years we have earned

that respect. 10 years ago the European who reached the NBA was "bench meat". If they give him minutes he

can adapt to a game that is suited for him.

Who certainly going to be your new traveling companion is Adidas coming years. When will the official

announcement of the engagement?

We are finalizing the deal and about to sign. Apparently, in August everyone was on vacation. When I was

they were working vacation and now I'm back, it is they who are on vacation. There's no rush.

Link: http://www.feb.es/NoticiaDesarrollo.aspx?idNoticia=44071