Hoiberg Could Be 1st To Play With Pacemaker
MINNEAPOLIS -- Former Bull Fred Hoiberg should know this month whether he can play basketball again despite a heart condition that required surgery and the insertion of a pacemaker last summer."I don't want to get my hopes up too high," Hoiberg said Wednesday after shooting baskets at the Target Center before the Bulls and Timberwolves tipped off. "There is a chance I'll never play again. If you get too far ahead of yourself, there's going to be tremendous disappointment if the doctors say no."
Hoiberg, a 10-year NBA veteran, played his last two seasons for Minnesota before a physical exam revealed he needed surgery to repair an enlarged aortic root in his heart. He said he will be examined by Dr. Barry Marin, one of the world's leading heart specialists, Jan. 20.
Marin is the specialist with whom the Bulls consulted on Eddy Curry's heart condition. Marin did not clear Curry to play, in part because he determined Curry's evaluation was incomplete without DNA testing.
Specialists from the Mayo Clinic believe Hoiberg can resume his career, the 33-year-old said, but other questions loom.
"Playing with a pacemaker, I'd be the first one ever to do that," Hoiberg said. "There's no evidence out there to show how much risk there is because nobody ever has done it before. The good thing is that I have the best doctors in the world looking at my case."
Hoiberg played four seasons with the Bulls before being released in 2003. If he is cleared to play and decides to return, Hoiberg cannot play for the Timberwolves this season because of provisions in the league's amnesty clause, which the team used to release him.
posted by Lil Dice @ 1/13/2006 03:05:00 PM
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