I thought this part of a recent interview was interesting when he talked about why he decided to retire in December 2011 He suggests that the Blazers doctors/trainers talked him into retirement Now he doesn't make it sound like they were trying to pressure him to retire, but it's just kind of interesting that his own doctors hadn't told him the same thing. Given that the Lakers passed on Roy I think that tells you that the Blazers probably gave him the best advice.
Its really really sad man. I only wish him the best; but I think he's going to permenantly destroy his knees. It's going to suck seeing him have to walk with a cane or be in a wheel chair.
This makes me respect the doctors more. They gave him the best advise for his best long-term health, as opposed to shooting him up and putting him on the court until he is used up. Good for them.
This theory is shot because we went ahead and amnestied him anyway. What was the motivation for our doctors to lie to him? It's not like it was a Darius Miles situation. I guess he could say we wanted him to retire so it didn't look so bad when we amnestied him, but I don't think that was the case. I think Roy is just in denial.
I really don't think he's blaming the doctors for his retirement. I think he's saying that he thinks his condition got better after resting for a year. However, he makes it sound like this opinion from the doctors was out of the blue. That's what I thought was odd. Wouldn't he have had these same discussions with his own doctors? Or does he just see the Blazers doctors?
I think he's misunderstanding why his condition improved. He didn't get better, his knees probably felt better because they were no longer taking the every day beating that they had sustained for five years in the league. I suspect that his "improvement" will fade away as soon as he starts to expose his knees to the rigors of the NBA once again.
Oh yeah. He's in denial. I just don't think he was blaming the doctors who told him he should consider not playing basketball.
If there was ever a season for Roy to sit out, it was this past season. His knees were obviously struggling to maintain through the 2010-11 season. And this past year would have been absolutely brutal on his knees. Resting will probably allow him to come back and play some games, though I'd imagine he'll need to rest quite a bit(and perhaps avoid back-to-back games). That being said.... with no meniscus, and with outside doctors that have no connection to Roy or the Blazers saying that an athlete with no meniscus is perhaps a walking timebomb.... I just can't imagine Roy being more than a 15-22 minutes/game guy. If he is, his career won't last long and will be plagued by chronic pain and swelling. Science and medicine is constantly advancing, so with him coming back and being so confident, I'd like to believe he could be the best 20-25 minutes/game player in the entire league. But I'm not sold. It just defies science and medicine up to this point.
Oh, well I guess I thought since you posted that he thought that the Blazers talked him into retirement that there was some implied blame. I just think that Roy is going off of how his body feels, but his body is deceiving him because he thinks he feels good enough to play, but in reality he feels better BECAUSE he's not playing. I guess only time will tell, but I suspect Roy will only play this season and will start out strong but will fade as the season wares on.
The title is more my speculation based upon Roy's comments. I think the Blazers doctors DID have to talk him into retirement to a certain extent.
