"Since this is Monster Medical Month for the Utah Jazz, sidelined Mehmet Okur can receive solace that a fan living in Spain can relate.

Former Atlanta Hawk and BYU guard Travis Hansen feels Okur's pain. Hansen knows what it's like to have the Achilles tendon explode and have the body hit the floor like a sack of potatoes.

He knows how the calf muscle absorbs the shock and the lock-up that follows.

Hansen knows the worries, the concern of making it back, questioning if he'll ever be the same, if he'll be able to continue as an elite athlete, playing at the highest level.

Okur had surgery to repair his Achilles tendon on Tuesday after crumpling to a heap on the floor of the Pepsi Center last Saturday at Denver during Game 1 of the first round of the Jazz's NBA playoff series with the Nuggets.

The surgery was performed by Dr. Charles Saltzman, the chairman of the University of Utah's Department of Orthopedics.

Like Hansen, by all accounts the Jazz center is in good hands, and he should make a full recovery."