Brandon Roy...

[soobias]

Roy has done a lot of great things for this team. In addition to his knees, he is dealing with a very different system and new teammates with their own agenda. That can be tough on a young player - even a very talented one.

Does anyone remember when Kobe was whining and threatening to leave the Lakers? Kobe won and got who he wanted. The rest is history. And many of the fans there were calling him selfish and even asking for his ouster.

Yeah, it may be selfish; but, you should listen to your superstar, and Roy clearly does not like the current system and personnel that has been put together to play it. Of course, you could get rid of Roy... And the Lakers could have gotten rid of Kobe too - imagine that.

huge difference there.
kobi was the top player in the game(or top 5)
already won 3 rings
had a no trade clause in contract (he controlled where he could go )
he had (has ) 2 good knees.....

brandon is not a top 100 player with no rings, bad knees and starting the 1st yr of a 5 yr deal. we would be so lucky to get an expiring for him.

[DaVoiceMaster]

Offensively, I still believe Roy can be an effective player. He won't be as effective as he has been thus far in his career, but I believe he can taylor his game as a shooter and ocassional slasher/drive to the hoop, etc. Unfortunately, he's killing us defensively. He can't stay with even the slowest players on the court. That play last night when Dallas took off on a fast break and Jason Kidd tossed a pass to whoever was ahead, Roy intercepted it and ended up getting a foul call in his favor. Basically, Roy got the ball, but his momentum took him right into the Dallas player. He got lucky the player was there because i didn't see any effort in dribbling the ball. I think Roy would have traveled on the play had the Dallas player not been standing there and Roy ran into him. Lucky call for the Blazers. The right call, but still a lucky call.

[FAB0L0US]

It is heartbreaking to watch Brandon Roy run out there. It looks like his knees are made of cement, it really sucks.

I feel bad for him, dude seems like a real class act. He is a real warrior to be out there trying to run on legs that clearly have no interest in running.

Frick guys, watching the game last night I felt like I was watching a real warrior who doesnt realize his body wont let him do the things that once made him great. He is trying to fight it but he cant; his legs look shot. Really sucks. Sucks for him, sucks for the league, and sucks for the Trailblazers.

Was there a catalyst for this? I felt like I watched him play an excellent game at the beginning of the year and I didnt remember him trying to hobble around the court like he is now.

Sad times

[southnc]

sorry but ridiculous to compare Kobe and Roy the way you are attempting, Roy has a permanently diminished physical capacity, which did not at all happen to Kobe. Surrounding Kobe, with his skills, with complimentary players was the right thing to do, it in not IMO at all the right thing to do here with Roy.

What evidence to you have of this?

[Blazinaway]

sorry but ridiculous to compare Kobe and Roy the way you are attempting, Roy has a permanently diminished physical capacity, which did not at all happen to Kobe. Surrounding Kobe, with his skills, with complimentary players was the right thing to do, it in not IMO at all the right thing to do here with Roy.

What evidence to you have of this?

you are seriously asking what evidence I have of this? not worth a further response

[TRHerm]

Is there no hope for improvement in his health? Was the injury he had in the Spring (just before the playoffs) the final straw? Or is he just playing cautiously as to not aggravate or further injure himself? I still have some confusion over this whole thing.

[DeBlazerRiddem]

Just to recap... There is a layer of cushion in the knees that Brandon has had removed from both knees. This means that when he jumps, pushes off, stops ect, he feels it much more jarringly than we would feel it, and also decreases his range of motion / explosiveness.

The only thing between the bones now is pure cartilage. It is the only reason Brandon is still able to move. This cartilage will not increase over time, and will only decrease with repeated use. Brandon is going to have very painful knees for the rest of his life, the more so if he doesn't try and adapt his game and continues to push his knees. What he is doing is about the worst thing a person could do in his situation, which is to put pride above all else and attempt to force your body to do stuff beyond its capability. One thing to remember is that he cannot reinjure himself in the same way - he has no meniscus left so he cannot tear it again, so he isn't playing cautiously for that reason. He is playing cautiously because he doesn't know his limits and he has significant pain while moving.

With the combination of his condition, and the way he is reacting to it, I have very little hope he ever gets better. He needs a strong medical team to control his playing, both style and minutes, and he needs to swallow his ego if he wants to stay in the NBA, or he needs to retire now before he continues a long decline.

[Agenda42]

Is there no hope for improvement in his health? Was the injury he had in the Spring (just before the playoffs) the final straw? Or is he just playing cautiously as to not aggravate or further injure himself? I still have some confusion over this whole thing.

Roy's knees are arthritic. Essentially he has old man knees. There's no known cure, and in most cases it is a degenerative condition, i.e. gets worse over time. Roy will likely have good and bad days. Roy has indicated that he has played cautiously at times this season.

I think Roy will need to reinvent his game, and he also will need to deal with this on an emotional level. This is all happening in a very short period of time for him -- in about 6 weeks, he's gone from thinking he's an all-world player that wants to dominate the ball even more than last year, to being a guy who can't do the things that made him a special player and needing to figure out what's next.

It may be that he doesn't figure out what he can really do until the offseason.

[Star-Lord]

Only 5 assists actually.

But I agree, Roy is deadweight. I've been trying to find a player in recent NBA history who fell off so quickly at such a young age. Rookie of the year, three time all-star, and now...well, we can all see what injuries have reduced him to. It seems unprecedented to me. Maybe someone else can remember a similar case.

Penny?

[whatchaknow]

At this time last year most everyone was saying without a doubt that Brandon Roy would end up being the greatest or at least the 2nd greatest Trailblazer of all time! Sad how quick things have changed, but i say we at least owe it to the man to see if he can progress through this and salvage his career. Lets face it, if we dont have Roy at least 80% of what he was before its gonna take awhile to rebuild. Might as well face it head on