Marquis Daniels close to clearance for contact drills

(Editor’s note: Jessica Camerato’s piece on Marquis Daniels, from which these quotes were taken, is a good one. Check it out.)

Marquis Daniels feels better. Not the kind of better where he’s ready to play in an NBA game tomorrow (if there were NBA games tomorrow, that is), but the kind of better where — six months after being temporarily paralyzed — he can now shoot, lift weights and run, although he has not yet been cleared for contact. (CSNNE)

“I’m a guy I don’t get too high on the highs or too low on the lows,” he said. “If that was going to be it for me, I was willing to accept it. But I knew that I still had love for the game and I still could play, so I’m always going to work hard to try to get myself back to the things I love doing and get back on the court.”
It’s a message he sums up in less than 140 characters every time he tweets to his more than 30,000 followers. His signature #beleedat hashtag has taken on a special meaning since that afternoon in February.
“Basically whatever you believe in, it can happen,” he said. “With my situation, I know a lot of people probably think, ‘He’s done. He won’t be back.’
“But #beleedat I will be back.”

Daniels will consider the Celtics if and when he makes an NBA return, but the important thing is his health. He hopes to be cleared for contact drills this month, and the next step after that clearance will be how he handles taking a hit.

“I’ve got to see how I react to it first,“ he told CSNNE. “I know it’s going to hurt. . . . Once I get that first hit, that first bump, I’ll be ok.”

I don’t want to pour water on Daniels’ return. I don’t want to be the asshole who says, “Guys, returning from a sprained ankle is tough enough — returning from a serious spinal cord injury, after being temporarily paralyzed, when you still can’t participate in contact drills yet,” is almost impossible. But I’m going to be that asshole. Daniels faces steep odds to come back. I hope I’m wrong, but I can’t imagine suffering a severe spinal cord injury and then returning to full strength.

But I’ll be rooting for him. Beleedat.

Celtics Blog, News & Notes | Jay King | August 9, 2011