Derek Smith’s Injury Not as Bad as Clippers Feared

Just as the Clippers had hoped, the injury to guard Derek Smith’s left knee was determined in arthroscopic surgery Friday afternoon to be an extensive cartilage tear, not a potentially career-threatening ligament tear.

Dr. Tony Daly, the Clippers’ physician, removed the damaged portion of the cartilage during the one-hour surgery at Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital in Marina del Rey.

Daly later told team officials that Smith will be out for at least four weeks, which is considerably less than the Clippers had initially feared.

The Clippers have signed guard Jim Thomas, formerly with the Indiana Pacers, to fill Smith’s place on the roster.

Smith, who injured his knee in the final three minutes of Wednesday night’s loss to Seattle, was the NBA’s fourth-leading scorer at the time of the injury, averaging 27.1 points.

“To be on the safe side, and knowing that Derek relies on power and quickness in his game, I’d say it would be a minimum of four weeks,” Clipper trainer Mike Shimsensky said.

Daly termed Smith’s tear as extensive--”We removed a good-sized piece,” he said--but he said the entire cartilage did not have to be removed.

“It’s always hard to say how long a person will be out,” Daly said. “It depends on the person’s motivation and prior condition. Derek certainly has both those things going for him. I’m hoping Derek will be back sooner than planned, but we don’t want to jeopardize his career.”

As soon as most of the swelling in Smith’s knee subsides, he will work on regaining the range of motion in the knee and strengthening his leg muscles with various exercises and bicycling.

“We’ll determine when Derek can start practicing again by giving him a Cybex test, which measures strength of quadriceps and hamstring muscles,” Shimsensky said. “He can start playing again when the tests show his injured leg is within 15% of the unrestricted (right) leg.”

All Clipper Coach Don Chaney knows is that Smith will be missed during his rehabilitation but that it could have been worse.