In late January, Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso suffered one of the ugliest injuries of the season when he was knocked out of mid-air by Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen and went spinning to the floor. Though he played the rest of the game, further evaluation later revealed a broken wrist that required surgery.
Earlier this month, after sitting out for seven weeks, Caruso finally returned to the Bulls lineup. He also resumed doing media, and on Friday he joined JJ Redick on his podcast, "The Old Man & The Three." During his appearance, Caruso said he still hasn't heard from Allen.
"So just statement of fact to make sure we're accurate with our history here, I never actually had a conversation with him, or a text or phone call, so that's still up in the air," Caruso said. "Past is the past, it is what it is, don't really expect one."
While Allen obviously did not mean to injure Caruso on that play, it was still a dangerous foul. And regardless of your intentions, if your actions cause someone else to need surgery and miss nearly two months of the season, you should at least reach out to them. Allen's decision not to do so will only worsen his less-than-favorable reputation among fans and other players.
Caruso, who is one of the more athletic players in the league, also tried to explain what it feels like to get knocked off balance in mid-air.
"Once you get to a certain planar degree there's a small sense of panic, because it's just like you're out of control -- there's no control over what happens now," Caruso said. "I try to do my best because I fall a lot, of not putting my hand down and bracing my hand. ... But yeah man, just a slight sense of panic because you don't know when it's gonna end, you don't know where you are, and then eventually you get the nice little thud on the ground and you never win those battles."
Although Caruso is now back on the floor for the Bulls, he noted that he's still not fully healthy. He offered some interesting insight into the recovery process for a broken wrist, and noted the monotony that can set in as you try to progress through the various stages.
"Yeah, I mean, I'm cleared to play and I'm playing but I'm not 100 percent," Caruso said. "You couldn't expect to be after six weeks. There's rehab that goes with it, getting the strength back. I didn't shoot a basketball, I didn't dribble a basketball for five and a half weeks, then you come back in and expect to be shooting 30 footers, that's not realistic."
"The progress I made was like, the first day I was allowed to touch a basketball I shot 50 form shots and I was like, 'it's way too painful, I can't do any more,' " Caruso continued. "Then a week later I could shoot corner 3s, then four days after that it was top of the wing shots. The process of it is just meticulous. There's a lot more that goes into it than you just sit for six weeks and then you're back to normal. There's a whole process of getting the mobility back, getting strength back and then being able to bear contact, bear weight on it."
In four games since he returned, Caruso is averaging 6.8 points, 1.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists on 37 percent shooting from the field and 33 percent from the 3-point arc. It's clear that he's not all the way back, and will need some time to regain his rhythm on the offensive end.
The good news for the Bulls is that he's already making an impact with his work on defense, and there's still a few weeks left in the regular season for him to get comfortable shooting the ball again.
