English Bulldogs In Miami Florida

Lockout puts injured players in odd position for rehab work

The Bulldogs, an 11th grade elite team coached by West's brother, Dwayne, were competing in the 11th grade national AAU championships in Orlando, and West has been a loyal follower of the team for years.

The Bulldogs lost Sunday, but came back Monday morning with a win that gave them the top seed in their pool. And the trip to Orlando has been a welcome respite from the hours of rehab that West is doing in Raleigh, N.C., as he continues his recovery from a torn ACL in his left leg suffered last March 24 in Salt Lake City. Two to three times a day, five or six days a week, West is at the Athletic Performance Center in Raleigh, making rapid progress in his return. After his last visit two weeks ago to New York to see Dr. David Altchek, who performed the surgery, West's prognosis is now that he'd be ready for the start of the 2011-12 season -- if it starts on time.

"The way I'm looking at it, by October, I should be fully healthy," West said Monday morning. "When I go see Dr. Altchek in October, he should be giving me clearance to go out there and do my thing."

The lockout has been an obvious impediment in so many areas, but few are as crucial as the roadblock it presents to injured players trying to rehabilitate their injuries. Players and their agents are forbidden from having any contact with their existing teams, including their teams' medical and training staffs. A player coming off a serious injury, like West, would normally spend hours at his team's practice facility, working with physical therapists and trainers that have spent years gaining that player's confidence and trust. That trust is especially necessary when a player is vulnerable, uncertain if he'll return to past form.

But now, players are on their own, paying for doctors and trainers out of their own pockets -- one more expense with no paychecks coming in.

West, though, has no choice. The 30-year-old opted out of the final year of his contract -- which would have paid him $7.5 million next season -- after suffering the injury. It is a gamble, to be sure, when no one knows what the new rules are going to be in a new collective bargaining agreement. But West believes he will get paid what a two-time All-Star should.

"He knows he has to be ready because it's such a big year for him," said West's agent, Lance Young.

West and Young insist that their decision to opt out will be vindicated when the lockout ends and West goes on the market.

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