"I hope I'm not becoming some sort of medical freak." Those are the words of Atlanta All-Star Theo Ratliff on reflection of his latest injury, reports Jeffrey Denbergh of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  Ratliff, who last season missed over half of the season with a fractured right wrist, had arthroscopic surgery to repair torn cartilage and a bone chip in his right hip one week ago.  

"Maximum of eight weeks," he said, speaking of recuperation time. "Four weeks on crutches and then two weeks to get around a little and two weeks of being back on the basketball court. No definite timetable, but that's what we're looking at."

As he is the first NBA'er to have such an injury, he has no real cases for comparison.  Ratliff however is still thinking positive, stating "at least I know what it is. They've dealt with it, and I'm on the way back."