Wilcox Out Indefinitely With Heart Ailment

LOS ANGELES — Chris Wilcox is out indefinitely after the results from routine cardiac tests showed a need for additional tests to be performed.

Wilcox is expected to meet with team doctors early next week, which means he will not play in tomorrow's game against the Los Angeles Lakers, or Monday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers.

The 6-foot-10 big man did not play in Friday's win over Portland to attend to what team officials described as a "personal matter."

Wilcox did not travel with the team to Los Angeles and it is unclear if he will join them at some point during their road trip that kicks off on Sunday.

Not having Wilcox because of heart-related tests will certainly remind Celtics Nation of Jeff Green, whose $9 million contract with the C's was voided after it was determined that he would need heart surgery.

Green underwent successful surgery for an aortic aneurysm and is expected to be back playing in the 2012-2013 season. He is doing his rehabilitation in Boston, and has been a regular of late on the C's bench during games.

It is too soon to know the extent of Wilcox's situation, one that C's head coach Doc Rivers will likely shed additional light on prior to Sunday's game against the Lakers.

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How Wilcox's absence impacts the C's
By Chris Forsberg

The loss of Chris Wilcox could mean even more floor time for Greg Stiemsma.
LOS ANGELES -- While acknowledging that the most important thing at the moment is Chris Wilcox's health, a few thoughts regarding the on-the-court impact for the Boston Celtics amidst news that Wilcox will be out indefinitely due to a cardiac issue:

* The Celtics are in a tough spot with the trade deadline looming on Thursday. The team already needed some big-man help with Jermaine O'Neal's future uncertain and now they must move forward without one of the few players capable of playing the center position. The hard part is that, even if this turns out to be a mere scare for Wilcox and he's able to resume basketball activities soon, the Celtics still have to make a decision in the next five days about whether they will aggressively pursue more size (all while likely waiting for the results of Wilcox's follow-up testing that isn't expected to be administered until early next week). It adds another layer of difficulty to the deadline for Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge.

* You can't help but wonder if Boston will need to make a move at the back end of its roster this week to at least free a roster spot. If Marquis Daniels is struggling to get on the floor, you can't help but wonder if the team would be better served to free a spot that could be used to bring in a big man on a 10-day contract. As we've stressed in this space before, it's got less to do with Daniels -- a truly inspiring story in coming back after lats year's spine injury -- and more to do with the Celtics having a glaring need to add a big body at the moment, even if it's nothing more than emergency depth. The fact that Boston hasn't added a big man for the rest of the season seems to indicate that there's no one available out there that likely deserves more than a 10-day tryout (but maybe they can find another intriguing young big man like Chris Johnson turned out to be last season).

* For the moment, the Celtics will likely be forced to lean a little heavier on rookie big men Greg Stiemsma and JaJuan Johnson while kicking off a season-long eight-game road trip in Los Angeles on Sunday. Stiemsma has seen his minutes jump up this week, including a season-high 27 minutes of action in Friday's lopsided win over Portland. Sure, he was 0-for-9 with only one point (he did grab seven rebounds, dish out three assists and block two shots) before fouling out, but he had a decent week (previously chipping in a total of 12 points on 6-of-11 shooting with three rebounds and two blocks in games against Houston and Philadelphia). Johnson could see more floor time if the Celtics go with smaller lineups.

* The biggest area Boston will need to pick up without Wilcox is rebounding. Sure, you look at his season averages and losing five rebounds per game doesn't seem like much. Alas, Wilcox has been outstanding on the glass at times, helping to ignite this recent stretch of success by closing February with back-to-back double-digit efforts on the glass. For a Celtics team that somehow emerged with two wins despite being devoured on the glass in three games this week, finding a way to remain competitive on the glass is key. Expect Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo to be reminded about needing to pick up their efforts on the boards moving forward.

112288

F-in great. Just what we need, more cardiac issues.

It's bad enough having chemistry problems, now we have biology problems.

bob

.

This will press Danny into making a move for a big.

112288

112288 wrote:This will press Danny into making a move for a big.

112288

112288,

Or it will force him to confront the fact that, even if he trades for a big, chemistry will be an issue in the remaining games and therefore maybe he should pull the trigger on trades for the 3 (4?) Amigos and start the rebuilding now and not next year.

bob

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Hope he's OK.

What are the odds?