Kelly Olynyk is recovering from shoulder surgery for an injury that derailed the end of his season in Boston and prevented him from representing the Canadian National Team as they tried to get into the Rio Olympics.
In a 1-on-1 interview with “Kamloops This Week”… Olynyk went into the decision to get surgery…
That was probably one of the toughest decisions of my life. I’ve played with the national team eight years now. The goal is to get to an Olympics. That’s a goal for not only me, but all my Canadian brothers and family. Together, we want to do that, to help this nation get back there. I talked to five, six, seven doctors, hoping one would tell me I didn’t need to do surgery and I could play, but a lot of them advised that this was the best way to go and the healthiest way and, if I played, I was at bigger risk for doing further damage.
It’s admirable that Olynyk would want so badly to represent his country, but there was no reason to jeopardize his NBA season in pursuit of that. Firstly, he’s young enough to get Canada to the next Olympics. Secondly, he’s at a pretty important place in his NBA career, and anything short of a noticeable step forward could cost him dearly.
He’s entering restricted free agency next summer, and he’ll have a chance to significantly cash in with a breakout season. Remember, back in January and February, he was shooting so well we were pushing for him to get into the 3-point shootout. He’ll have to that much more consistently this year, especially since it seems like he’ll be a pretty important floor spacer on this team. A big step forward could mean big things for Boston.
As for his last season, he addressed that too…
It was the third year under coach [Brad] Stevens and you know what to expect. For me, it was going out there and trying to be consistent every night. Sometimes, it’s tough. It’s a long, grinding season with matchups and your minutes are up and down. We didn’t have superstars. We had a lot of players on the same level. Some nights, I was playing great and I would play a lot more. Other nights, someone else was playing great. It was fun, but it was tough because you want to play as much as you can.
I’m thinking his role will be better-defined this season, but a lot of that is really up to him. He needs to show a level of aggression as a scorer that he’s only displayed in stretches so far.
Personally, I have high hopes for him, but I’ve always been higher on Olynyk than many others. This is the last year, though, of waiting. He needs to move forward to be a part of this rebuilding process, or else he’ll become a victim of it.
Olynyk said a lot more in that interview… so go check out the whole thing.
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