After suffering three concussions in less than a month last season, Brian Scalabrine wants to play it safe. That’s why he chose not to play at all this summer.

“I didn’t play any basketball,” Scalabrine told WEEI.com last week at the USI Shamrock Classic. “I didn’t want to risk getting a concussion in that environment. So I just didn’t play any basketball and then I’ve been playing since I got back here.”

Scalabrine played it safe this summer

The Celtics forward began playing basketball nearly three weeks ago when he returned from Washington to Boston for the upcoming season. Up until that point he had been following the training routine outlined by the team’s strength and conditioning coach, Bryan Doo.

Scalabrine suffered a series of concussions over the course of a month last January through February. The first came on January 25 when he was dealt a blow to the chin by Dirk Nowitzki in a game against the Dallas Mavericks. Two days later he banged his head during practice. Scalabrine returned the next month only to suffer a neck injury, one that he would later say was “99 percent” caused by a concussion, during a February 23 game against the Denver Nuggets. Doctors later determined he had postconcussion syndrome.

He missed the remainder of the regular season and returned for the playoffs sporting a protective headband.

While these injuries kept Scalabrine off the courts this summer, he won’t let them hold him back this season.

“We’re just going to take it day by day and see what happens,” he said. “The only time you’re really going to know is until you take a blow. It’s going to happen one time or another, just how I respond to it is going to be key.”

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