Meet the man who can extend the Warriors’ All-Stars careers

No longer did Stephen Curry feel any pain in his left groin. For about a week, he could complete workouts with full intensity. After each workout, Curry said he felt just as great as he did beforehand.

So after missing the previous 10 games with his injury, Curry proclaimed himself ready to play for the Warriors’ marquee game against the Toronto Raptors on Nov. 29. The Warriors’ star, though, encountered a roadblock much more difficult than facing multiple defenders at halfcourt. Dr. Rick Celebrini, the Warriors’ director of sports medicine and performance, told Curry he would have to sit after expressing concerns that a cross-country flight may complicate his progress.

“With Steph, it’s just important we didn’t skip any stages,” Celebrini said. “He was doing so well and was so confident. At the same time, there’s certain times you push the envelope a little bit maybe to get him back in the playoffs or Finals. But that’s a different context than it is with earlier in the year.”

Curry did not like hearing those words as he sat at the scorer’s table following the team’s practice in Toronto. After all, Warriors coach Steve Kerr also agreed that Curry looked ready to return. Curry also wanted to play against the Raptors for two reasons. They are a possible NBA Finals opponent. His father, Dell, also played there (1999-02).

That did not matter to Celebrini.

“You’re never going to be in a situation where we say, ‘You came back too late,’” Celebrini told Curry. “‘But you can always say, ‘You came back too early.’”

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Eventually, all parties agreed for Curry to play two days later against Detroit. Several weeks later, Curry still acknowledged feeling mad about the episode. Yet, he also admitted understanding Celebrini’s thought process.

When the Warriors’ head performance therapist Chelsea Lane left to oversee the Atlanta Hawks’ training staff last summer, the Warriors hired Celebrini for what his presence and expertise could do for their five All-Stars in Curry (30), Kevin Durant (30), Draymond Green (28), Klay Thompson (28) and DeMarcus Cousins (28) in their prime. As Warriors coach Steve Kerr said, “hopefully he helps them extend their careers with the work he has done.”

And sometimes that entails telling players something they do not want to hear.

“When I feel like I’ve gotten over the hump with an injury, I’m ready to go,” Curry said. “Your patience isn’t really present at that point. Their job is to protect you from yourself and have the big picture in mind.”

How will Celebrini extend the All-Stars careers?

Some already knew about Celebrini before the Warriors hired him.

When he served as the Phoenix Suns’ general manager (2007-2010), Kerr marveled at the work Celebrini did with Hall-of-Fame point guard Steve Nash to improve his troublesome back. When the Warriors hired Celebrini, Warriors general manager Bob Myers simply told Green that “we got a guy we think you all are going to love” given Celebrini’s extensive stints as the head of sports medicine and science with Major League Soccer’s Vancouver Whitecaps FC (2010-2018) as well as consulting positions with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, the NHL Players Association and the Canadian Alpine Ski team.

After the Warriors hired Nash as a part-time consultant following his official retirement in 2015, Curry said Nash talked to him “a little bit” about Celebrini’s work as a sports and orthopedic physiotherapist. Nash also told Curry that Celebrini “added three or four years” to his 18-year NBA career that yielded a Hall-of-Fame induction last fall.

“It’s super hard to put numbers on it. But I would say this: he extended my career and improved my career greatly,” Nash said. “He deserves a lot of credit for the success I had. He got me to my peak and he helped me stay there, or at least stay there at a high level for a long time.”

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Few believed Nash would last long in the NBA. He had nursed a spinal disorder that causes severe lower-back pain. That variable influenced Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to decline giving Nash more than a four-year guaranteed contract as a free agent in the 2004 offseason at 30 years old. So after returning to the Phoenix Suns, Nash rented an apartment for a month that summer with Celebrini in Vancouver for what he considered the most significant turning point of his NBA career.

Then, Nash completed two-a-day training sessions with Celebrini on weekdays, had one session on Saturday and then rested on Sundays. During that time, Celebrini fixed what Nash called his “default patterns” regarding his movement and postural stability.

Nash then won two consecutive MVP awards with Phoenix (2005, 2006) and eventually finished in third place on the NBA’s all-time assists list (10,335). No wonder Nash called Celebrini “a world-class physical therapist” and a “brilliant movement specialist.”

“I would not take the credit. Steve is Steve. He got to where he got to by his own commitment, work ethic and discipline,” said Celebrini, citing Nash’s focus on maximizing his sleep, recovery, nutrition and movement. “Steve, through his whole career, learned from so many different people that he came across from coaches and different trainers. I think all of that had an influence in terms of his longevity and his success.”

The Warriors do not have players facing chronic ailments to the extent that Nash did. He delayed Father Time to 41 years old after playing in only a combined 65 games out of a possible 164 regular-season appearances with the Los Angeles Lakers (2012-15) because of a broken left leg and overlapping back and hamstring injuries. But Curry (11 games with left groin), Green (13 games with right toe in right foot) and Cousins (45 games with left Achilles tendon) all had ailments that prompted Celebrini to handle them with care.

Celebrini hardly just calculated those players’ readiness for a particular game. He also factored in the long-term implications.

“It needs to be a situation with where they’re honest with what they’re feeling,” Celebrini said. “Sometimes an athlete, despite feeling the pain or symptoms, they want to play so badly that they may not be completely forthright to the extent that it is bothering them. So it’s always working with them and knowing when you can push the envelope and when you can’t.”

After injuring his right toe against Memphis on Nov. 5, Green vouched to play against Milwaukee two days later so he could defend Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. Instead, Green missed two more games. Green convinced the Warriors to let him play against the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 12. Green acknowledged that return “set me back a little bit.” He aggravated the injury against the Clippers, played 43 minutes in overtime and had an argument with Durant. Green served a team-imposed one-game suspension against Atlanta the following night and returned two days later on a minutes-restriction against Houston (24 minutes). After that, the Warriors sat Green for 11 more games.

Green hoped to return on Dec. 1 in Detroit in front of hometown family and friends. Green did not play, though, until nine days later. Celebrini wanted Green to allow for more recovery time after completing shooting workouts. After all, Green had missed a combined 12 games last season because of overlapping ailments with his right shoulder, right elbow, back and knees. He also skipped three exhibitions with a sore left knee. Since his return, Green has reported feeling fully healthy.

“His whole thing was, ‘Let’s get over the hump. Let’s not get there, toss you back out there and then we’re chasing it again,’” Green said of Celebrini. “We took the right amount of time off. I was appreciative of his approach.”

Cousins did not always feel that way. Cousins had wanted to play as early as during the Warriors’ five-game trip that had stops in Toronto, Detroit, Atlanta, Cleveland and Milwaukee. The Warriors, including Celebrini, said no.

Celebrini said Cousins “hadn’t had any setbacks” since injuring his left Achilles tendon last year with the New Orleans Pelicans. At that point, though, Cousins had only participated in limited contact scrimmages. The Warriors do not normally have full-court scrimmages with their core players out of preservation. So, Cousins scrimmaged with the Warriors’ G-League team in Santa Cruz for a full week in mid December. Cousins then scrimmaged with the Warriors in late December and early January.

During that time, Celebrini said he monitored “the quality of his movement, strength, reaction and explosiveness.” The reason? As Celebrini put it, “make sure he’s bulletproof when he comes back and is a success.”

“He does what’s best for you regardless of how you feel or how much you complain or how much you disagree,” Cousins said of Celebrini. “At the end of the day, he’s about helping the athlete and bringing out the best. You have to appreciate a guy like that.”

How Celebrini has handled his players with care

The Warriors also appreciate Celebrini’s style, which involves spending both time on the practice court to study players’ movements and in the training room to help with their recovery. Celebrini has also emphasized maximizing core work, sleep, recovery and nutrition.

“The players are very comfortable with that,” Kerr said. “He won’t let anybody go overboard, but he’s always listening. So it’s a good combination.”

So when Celebrini joined the Warriors, he hesitated in sharing his credentials with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, his chief therapist role at the Vancouver Winter Olympics or his personal training with Nash. Celebrini did not brag about his physical therapy degree (1992) or his PhD in rehabilitation sciences at the University of British Columbia (2011).

Instead, Celebrini said he wanted to know the Warriors’ players first.

“It’s not coming in and all of a sudden trying to make sweeping changes. It’s understanding why they’ve done what they’ve done,” Celebrini said. “What might appear to be something that is changeable, there may be a really valid or important reason why they do what they do.”

Therefore, Curry said Celebrini deferred to him on his offseason regimen he has performed with his personal trainer, Brandon Payne, as well as the in-season routine he had developed with Lane. Given Curry’s lack of experience with groin injuries, though, he deferred on Celebrini’s expertise. So, Curry embraced his undisclosed exercises that he said “shock the body a little bit.”

“With Steph, it’s so easy,” Celebrini said. “He’s so interested in wanting to understand the details and not just the what, but the why.”

So despite Curry’s frustrations in sitting out of the Raptors game, he had already anticipated it.

“He was understanding that there was going to be a time in my process that I would feel great way before I was ready to play. He prepared me for how that was going to feel like and how frustrating that was going to be, even though I still did get frustrated,” Curry said of Celebrini. “He set out a pretty solid timeline and we pretty much hit every checkpoint. There weren’t any surprises.”

Green said he felt Celebrini worked just as closely with him. When Green realized he returned too prematurely from his right toe injury, Celebrini did not say, “I told you so.” Instead, Celebrini encouraged Green to be honest both about his pain and what rehab routines work best for him.

“The best thing about Rick is also the humility that he brings,” Green said. “He’s not someone who thinks he knows everything or that he has all the right answers. He’s all about trying to work together and find the best solution for that particular individual.”

Even if it involves Cousins showing his temper.

“He’s heard it all. He can deal with any personality,” Cousins said, chuckling. “He’s consistent. He’s bullheaded as you. But at the same time, he cares.”

How Celebrini’s soccer history influenced him

Celebrini’s belief system stems from abruptly stopping a professional soccer career before he could really even begin it.

He played on the Canadian national soccer team in the 1987 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile and the PanAm games in Indianapolis. Celebrini then trained with the Canadian national team in South America in 1988 in preparation for the 1990 World Cup, only to suffer a stress fracture that he said happened because “it wasn’t diagnosed properly and it wasn’t managed properly.” Celebrini returned to the national team two years later only to have multiple ACL injuries shortly afterwards.

“I believe my lack of an athletic career was for a purpose,” Celebrini said. “It was to make sure that other athletes don’t go down the same track that I did.”

So that spurred Celebrini to complete his PhD in rehabilitation sciences. It gave him extra insight on how movement affected a players’ long-term health.

“If an athlete just isn’t moving well, looks fatigued or is not performing well,” Celebrini said, “those are often the same times they are vulnerable to injuries.”

That insight essentially salvaged Nash’s career.

“When I thought maybe I knew, eventually I realized that he knew more. But when you’re playing, it’s difficult,” Nash said. “You’re still learning and you’re still growing. You’re still in an impressionable stage of your life where you’re putting together all of these pieces together that are coming fast. You’re under a microscope and under pressure.”

Yet, Celebrini said he and Nash were “both learning and developing together.” During their offseason training in 2005, Celebrini said he and Nash outlined how to correct his movement patterns. With Nash struggling to cut to his left, the two studied what contributed to those issues. Less than a decade later, Celebrini helped Nash with more movement patterns during his pervasive injuries with the Lakers. During the 2013 offseason and four separate visits in Vancouver in 2013-14, Celebrini helped Nash decrease the nerve damage in his back and hamstrings by helping him with his cutting and jumping. That helped him squeeze in 15 games for the 2013-14 season before formally retiring after the following year.

“He doesn’t say I know best and this is what you should do. He takes into account where you are psychologically,” Nash said. “Instead of trying to take you to the whole path at once, he brings you along at the rate you are prepared to get there. I think that takes a deft touch, understanding and ability to work with people.”

No wonder the Warriors wanted to hire Celebrini. Yet, neither the Warriors nor Nash expected Celebrini would accept the offer.

Celebrini had what he considered “three dream jobs” with his work with the Canucks and Whitecaps as well as being the co-founder of Fortius Sport and Health, an athlete development center in British Columbia. He also remained devoted to his family.

Celebrini eventually considered “the opportunity was too good to pass up” because of the Warriors’ championship equity and collaborative culture.

“He fits right in. He’s so dedicated, humble, loves his job and loves his work,” Kerr said. “He loves being part of a team. So he’s immediately become a favorite. He’s just somebody who ties it all together.”

Will that be enough for the Warriors to keep their core roster together long term? Who knows. The Warriors face an uncertain future with Durant (2019), Thompson (2019) and Cousins (2019) because of their pending free agency this summer. Green will be an unrestricted free agent in the 2020 offseason. Yet, the Warriors sounded at least confident Celebrini will help them maximize their odds in keeping their All-Stars healthy.

“With where we all are in our careers now, it comes at a great time for us,” Green said. “You just got to continue to use and take advantage of what we have in him and his expertise that he brings.”

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