Terrence Vaccaro/NBAE/Getty Images

Despite finding out Thursday that she has a tear in the meniscus in her left knee, Seattle Storm guard Loree Moore wasn’t down as she spoke about the injury after watching Friday morning’s practice. Moore is familiar with the arthroscopic surgery that will remove the damaged portion of her meniscus and clean up the area, having undergone a similar procedure before her rookie season with the New York Liberty in 2005.

The cartilage issues may initially stem back to when Moore tore her left ACL during her junior season at the University of Tennessee. Moore knew something wasn’t right with her knee early during Storm training camp, although she wasn’t sure of the severity.

“I kind of felt a little bit during the training camp,” she said, “but I thought it was maybe just achiness. (The MRI) was more a follow-up to make sure everything’s OK. Then, come to find out, it was a slightly torn meniscus, so they just want to scope it out and clean it up, then start the rehabbing process and work to come back.”

Moore described the arthroscopy as, “Something quick and simple.” She missed five weeks after the surgery in 2005, which is a fairly common timetable for cartilage removal, though it can vary significantly depending on the size of the tear in the meniscus. Because of that, a specific timeline for Moore’s return will not be set until after the procedure.

“Once they go in there and see what’s going on,” she explained, “they’ll probably have a better timetable that I can give you.”

The biggest and most frustrating issue for Moore is one of timing – with final rosters due to the WNBA next week, it may be tough for the Storm to keep Moore knowing the team won’t have her services for a few weeks.

“With an 11-player roster, you’ve got have all hands on deck,” Storm Head Coach Brian Agler said Thursday before learning the diagnosis. “It could play into our decision-making.”

“Getting here and being a part of this team, I’m really enjoying the girls, I’m really enjoying the coaching staff and just Seattle itself – it’s a great place to be, great energy, great vibe,” said Moore. “At the same time, I’ve got to get it done, because if it keeps nagging, keeps getting worse, I won’t be able to play the way I want to. So I want to get it out of the way now so I can be here and be healthy and help the way I want to.”

This entry was posted on Friday, May 7th, 2010 at 12:33 pm and is filed under moore. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.