Otis Smith's press conference regarding Nelson's injury

Here are excerpts from Brian Schmitz's BasketBlog on orlandosentinel.com regarding the afternoon press conference GM Otis Smith held Tuesday about Jameer Nelson's torn labrum:

Opening statement…

Anytime you lose one of your starters, a point guard in particular, you don’t replace an All-Star, just by saying, ‘OK,’ picking up the phone and calling one of them up and they’re available. So, we have to do what we have to do in the short term and go from there

On his sense of the injury…

At some point and time he’s going to have to have surgery. That’s a given. There are no if’s and’s or but’s about it. There are two schools of thought here: one, you rehab it, you get the range of motion back, the strength back and you go out and play and then you do surgery in the off-season. The second school of thought is you do surgery immediately and you are done for the year. Either way, he’s going to have to have it repaired.

On what school of thought he is in…

It’s a decision we are going to have to come to as a group. He’s going to have to decide and we are going to have to talk about it. Jameer is not a non-contact basketball player by any stretch of the imagination. He s a pretty physical basketball player so it’s something we are going to have to look at. He’s going to have to explore and talk about it.

On the long-term effects…

The long term effects are that, if he rehabs it and plays, you’ve known the players that have gone through this: Lamar Odom, Dwyane Wade. If you rehab it and play, the likelihood that it comes back out again is pretty significant. So, then you start dealing with other issues from there. There have been guys that have rehabbed it, played and dealt with it in the off-season, both Lamar (Odom) and (Dwyane) Wade from that standpoint. If you just do rehab, you are talking anywhere from two to six weeks, if he does the rehab then goes back on the floor.

On winning a championship without Nelson…

That actually makes it tougher. I find that kind of funny, because just a couple of days ago, we couldn’t win one with him. Now we can’t win one without him! So, I just kind of find that interesting in and of it self. So, we’ll see. I think we have enough guys on our team to get the job done. Are we going to miss Jameer? Sure. You don’t really replace an All-Star as I’ve said, by just picking up the next guy that’s available. But we have some pretty talented guys on our team and I have a lot of confidence in our coaching staff given time, they could put things into place to get us by.

On making a deal for the end of the season or getting by with what you have…

I think you explore all those opportunities. I don’t think there is anything that’s off the table yet. You look at ways of making our team better. We lost a point guard, a position at which we were already shorthanded at this point. It’s a matter of trying to make the best deal that’s available for us. Whether it’s to find a free agent that’s available or do it through a trade. We are actively [considering options] and have been, since last night.

On second guessing himself for not signing a third point guard…

Zero. I don’t think that’s an issue. I don’t think that’s an issue at all. Had we signed another point guard which we did in Mike Wilks, you’d still be sitting there saying, ‘you lost your starting point guard.’ And we still have an issue there. So I don’t think you can second guess yourself there. He (Jameer Nelson) still has had an all-star season to this point, so that did not change our thought process going into it.

On weighing a trade for a veteran...

You have to look at everything. I don’t think its just one option. I think you look at the opportunity to make a trade for it. I think you look at an opportunity to find a free agent. I don’t think it’s a one single, ‘this is what you do’ and you move forward from there. There are still 14 guys in that locker room over there that we believe in and have confidence in to be able to do this. We are just missing a major cog right now and we have to try to move forward from there without the major cog.

On the extent of Nelson’s injury…

From what I understand, there’s not a bad or medium tear to your labrum. If you tear your labrum, you tear your labrum and it needs to be repaired. That’s the only thing I know about it. To what degree, I don’t think it really matters. At some point and time it’s going to need to be repaired. Whether it’s in the short term or long term, at some point and time it has to be repaired.

On signing a guy with character issues…

I think you have to evaluate everything but some things we’ve stood by. We’ve stood by the type of guys that we like to have on our team. It’s about changing the culture and winning for years to come. It’s not about changing the culture and winning one year and you go away. We still have a plan in place and we’re going to stick to that plan. That hasn’t necessarily changed.