Leon Powe Tears ACL, Done for the Year

Leon Powe was diagnosed with a torn ACL and meniscus in his left knee earlier today. The injury will obviously sideline him for the rest of the playoffs and into next season. There's never a good time for a player to suffer a serious injury, but when you think about, this quite possibly might have been the worst time for Powe to go down.

From the team's perspective, Kevin Garnett's injury has already left the rotation incredibly thin up front, and statistically speaking, Powe's (17.2 PER) was the most productive big man off the bench. And from Powe's perspective, the injury all but guarantees that he'll miss out on scoring the first big contract of his career.

League-wide interest for restricted free agents is generally muted in the first place, and it should be even more underwhelming for an injured player like Powe, especially when you consider this is the third time he's torn the ACL in his left knee.

When you factor in the personal hardships he's been through growing up (TrueHoop has a good roundup), it's just heartbreaking to see a guy get so close to being set for life before having the opportunity snatched away. There's still a chance the Celtics tender him an offer and keep him around one more year, but even that's not a guarantee.

As for the rest of the playoffs, expect to see a lot more of Glen Davis and Mikki Moore, for better or worse. If Garnett ever needed even more motivation to figure out a way to return, this is it.