Hip Surgery to Revitalise Sharpshooter

Phoenix sharpshooter Cam Gliddon is eyeing a return to his elite best after undergoing hip surgery earlier this week.

The 31-year-old bravely played through a tear in his hip for the final month of the NBL21 season, an injury that limited his impact on the court.

Gliddon was piecing together a strong debut season for the Phoenix before the injury, averaging 12 points and playing stellar defence, ranking second in the league for steals.

Despite the obvious challenges of playing through a serious injury, Gliddon still managed to pose a two-way threat and played an integral part in the qualifying for their first finals appearance.

Gliddon expects to be back on court with 100 per cent freedom of movement in about two months and to suit up for the start of the NBL22 season.

“With about 10 games left in the year I felt a lot of pain going through my hip and I got an MRI which showed an extensive tear and that my bone was dis-shaped and needed to be scraped down,” Gliddon said.

“I wanted to keep playing because we hadn’t secured finals yet. I missed one game against Melbourne United then came back and played the rest of the year until I had to leave for my son’s birth.

“I got the tear fixed (earlier this week) and some bone scraped off and reshaped.

“It’s a pretty common surgery for our doctor and he’s pretty confident after some rehab and time for the swelling to heal, I won’t only be back to full health but should have more range, flexibility and strength in the hip than I ever have.

“It’s one of those weird surgeries where I’ll come back, rehab it and be better than I was.

"I’m looking forward to getting back because I love hoops and I love playing with the South East Melbourne boys. I’m looking forward to being at my best when this hip heals.”

Gliddon also opened up on the Semi-Final experience in Sydney, where he flew in to re-join the team the day before Game One following the birth of his son, Jimmy.

A usual starter at the shooting guard position, Gliddon came off the bench in the best-of-three series more due to his lack of touch and fitness from his time away from the team rather than his injury.

“My wife and I planned for the baby to come quite well, it was covid that came and disrupted the plan by pushing our games back,” he said. “Everyone knows family comes first at a time like that. I think majority, if not all, would do the same thing I did.

“I was just ecstatic to come back and join the boys and give whatever I could. I thought I played some pretty good defence at times, I just couldn’t give what I wanted to on the offensive end. I wish I could’ve contributed more but that’s just how things go sometimes.

“I thought the boys did awesome and I think we’re all looking forward to building on this and making a run at it again next season.”

In a vast contrast to this time last year when Gliddon entered a new-look Phoenix squad, the club has re-signed majority of its core group after a much-improved second season.

(Gliddon took on big defensive assignments all season)

Mitch Creek, Ryan Broekhoff, Kyle Adnam, Izayah Le’afa, Dane Pineau and Reuben Te Rangi are re-joining the veteran in the upcoming season in what is now a team familiar with eachother’s games.

Gliddon has played in the NBL for almost a decade and believes continuity in a team is the difference in contending for championship glory.

“It’s hugely important,” he said.

“Perth win a lot of their championships because they’re extremely talented and well coached, but also because they keep the same guys around that are battle tested. Melbourne had a bit of that this year too - they had some stars come in to join their team but they had a nucleus that’d been there for about three years.

“We’ve signed some of our guys back which is great and helps the following year if you can get off to pre-season with a faster start because you all know your roles and what’s going on in the system and the organisation. It’s only going to give us a head start having guys back.

“What’s going to take us from being good to great is probably just making sure we get a great pre-season and regular season in so when we get to the finals, we’re a very well drilled and well gelled team.”

NBL22 memberships are now on sale.

Sam Bunn for Phoenix Media (22/07/2021)