Lassiter left Manila for San Francisco without seeking permission from either Smart-Gilas team manager Frankie Lim or coach Rajko Toroman to be examined by doctors for nagging pain in his left knee last month. He was diagnosed by Dr. Matthew Rivera of the Rivera Chiropractic Group in San Carlos and Dr. Stephen Lombardo of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic in Los Angeles to be suffering from patella tendonitis and quad atrophy. The cause was traced to misaligned hips. Lassiter was referred to Seto for treatment at the Select Physical Therapy in Los Angeles.
For leaving without permission, Lassiter is being fined $2,000, deducted from his paycheck over the next six months. He will also be fined for every practice he has missed since Aug. 23. Smart-Gilas official Butch Antonio gave Lassiter a deadline of Sept. 27 to be in Manila, “ready to practice” and said the cost of airline tickets for his return will be deducted from his salary over five months. Additionally, Antonio said Smart-Gilas will not pay for Lassiter’s medical expenses in the US.
Lassiter said Seto’s recommendation will mean continuing his therapy until Oct. 1 or five days after the deadline set by Antonio.
“Ms. Seto has evaluated my progress and determined that I am not ready to be released,” said the former Fullerton State guard. “She feels that I will need to continue the therapy for two more weeks. I realize that this interferes with the deadline I was given to be back in Manila. However, I feel this treatment is imperative and will definitely make an impact on my game.”
Lassiter said he couldn’t get rid of the pain in his knee and sought help from specialists in the US. “At first, doctors told me to just strengthen my knee but I later found out my body was never aligned to begin with,” he said. “I did all that strengthening just to make my body worse. I saw help from the Lakers doctor and I’m paying for my own medical bills. I’m the one who looks like the bad guy because I went AWOL but I’ve apologized for the miscommunication.”
Lassiter said he’ll be ready to play in the Asian Games this November.
“The pain is far less than when I first started therapy,” he said. “The major problem was my hips were not aligned. My knee felt so bad during the Jones Cup and Beirut tournament that when I would run, it would hurt more. Thankfully, I don’t have this pain in my knee as much as before. I think I’m making very good progress and I think I can make the Asian Games. My therapist told me it’s impossible to recover from four months of being injured in just two weeks of therapy. Yet she feels I can be back in time for the Asian Games ready to play, which is my goal.”
Lassiter said he predicts Smart-Gilas to keep improving with every tournament.
“We, as a team, have grown up a lot and we’ve made very large strides into getting where we want to be,” he said. “We still haven’t proved anything yet but I truly believe when the time comes to qualify for the Olympics, we should be in good shape.”
On Toroman, Lassiter said it took a while to adjust to his style but he’s convinced the Serbian’s system works.
“All my life I’ve had American coaches who had different styles,” he said. “This is the first I’ve played for an international coach so it took a long time to adjust to his style. He has a good system that he implements and it works. Can he coach? Yes.”
Lassiter said at the moment, the countries to beat in Asian basketball are Lebanon and Iran.
“We need to win the Asian championship in 2011,” said Lassiter who singled out Golden State guard Stephen Curry as the NBA player with a style resembling his. That will secure our ticket to the Olympics. My main goal is to qualify for London in 2012. That’s my focus and also to help contribute towards that goal. So far, I feel I’ve helped in many different ways, day in and day out for the team. When I recover from my injury, I expect to continue to do so.”
Lassiter said he foresees settling in Manila with his US-born Filipina girlfriend Jerlyn Pangilinan and their 18-month-old boy Montae Izaiyah. “If the time is right and the situation is good, then, of course, we’ll live permanently in Manila,” he said. “As of lately, my family is living with me in Manila and don’t mind having them staying on for good.”
Lassiter’s mother Alexandria Eshabarr is Filipina and she has first cousins – his uncles and aunts – who live in Manila.
Asked to name the PBA players he’d pick to reinforce Smart-Gilas, Lassiter said that’s Toroman’s call but he dreams of building a dynasty with his so-called “Big Three” – Gabe Norwood, Sol Mercado and himself. “You got Sol at the point, Gabe at the three and me at two-guard,” he said.
by Joaquin Henson | philstar.com
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