Do you question the Blazers' medical staff?

so hire a new guy to do this and the obvious follow up question for the Canzano-ites is where is our scapegoat/fall guy? Who do we get to blame? I don't think those folks can be appeased, better for the franchise to largely ignore them and handle their business in house.

oh well, agree to disagree

STOMP

 

I'm all for ignoring Canzano and Quick, but ignoring the injury issue won't make the attention go away. It's one of the bigger story lines of the NBA this year.

 

Looking at the injuries, quite a few of them are very similar in nature. (knees,feet)
These body parts do take a pounding in the NBA, but with players going down with very similar injuries I'd be inclined to look at the training procedures and nutritionists.

I'd say art the very least you have to question them with the AMOUNT and the similar nature of the injuries.

 

Regardless of whose opinion matters and whose doesn't, it seems that Brandon Roy is getting a second opinion on what should be a relatively minor injury.

 

Where is the smiley letting me know you're joking?

Portland has suffered a lot of injuries this season. Other teams have suffered a similar amount in this and prior years. It's definitely a rough game that is hard on the body... unfortunately this is the fate of some teams most years. There have been many great talents who haven't been able to take the pounding and had their careers derailed by injury. Portland's injury woes are a footnote on the season and hardly what anyone outside of Portland is concerned with as people tend to look away from the injured.

STOMP

 

I agree with STOMP

 

That's not true. I regularly peruse NBA news from across the country and I can say without a doubt that the Blazers' injuries are a very big story.

 

I have 'questioned' the training staff for a while. I don't 'know' that they should be replaced, I just hope to hell the organization evaluates Jensen and Medina as thoroughly as they do the players, and that they also evaluate other professionals in their field and make sure the Blazers training staff is the best in the business. Just like they do with players. I'm not at all confident that's happening.

 

That is the story line for what little press the Blazers get outside of Portland, but thats not saying much. Greg going out did receive some buzz rehashing the Durant debate but that quickly faded. Nate rupturing his achilles generated some ink because it was so out of the ordinary. But Roy going out with a bad hammy has barely warranted a mention, Gasol's hammy on the other hand...

there is a similar amount of national sentiment for the Warriors who've had it even worse. A reflection of how little people care is how often Golden State's troubles are mentioned on our site. There hasn't been a single thread topic with their injury woes in the subject line and I don't think anyone (besides me) has even mentioned this fact. They've had to bring on 3 D leaguers to meet the required league minimum of 8 healthy bodies but cue the crickets here. Injuries to some other fan's teams is a bummer for them to cry about. Unless that team is on the league's marquee (Lakers Celts Cavs) the national press only gives cursory coverage... no one cares

STOMP

 

Basketball is all about stopping-starting, turning, and jumping-landing. None of those is good for joints and bones.

I'm wondering how much research there has been into alternatives to hardwood floors and if those alternatives are better or worse at ameliorating the risks of basketball injuries?

For those knocking the training and medical staff... There is some smoke, but there may not be a fire. Correlation is not causation. How do you strengthen a tendon? When is a muscle too strong for the ligaments to which it is attached?

 

No joke... It is highlighted in every mention of the Blazers, be it game recaps, previews, or weekly rankings.

This season is just the icing on the cake... If there's any pattern to be found, Webster last year and Oden the year before certainly fit it.

Not in terms of games missed. Portland is poised to smash that record. As for Golden State, 1) they've been injury riddled for years if not decades and everyone expects it ... do we really want Portland's expectations lowered to the point that no one cares? 2) Their rotation players have been less crippled by long-term injury this year, as far as I can tell.

 

right, as I noted. It's what the opposing team's press recaps going into matchups vs Portland Golden State and Detroit. That doesn't make it one of the bigger stories of the year league wide. The big national stories have been Gilbert Arenas w/guns and Kobe vs LeBron... no one outside of Portland gives a 2nd thought to the Blazers injury woes unless their team is about to play them.

Portland was around the league average for injuries last year. The same pattern of having a rotation player or two miss most/all of a season is found on teams across the league most every year... it's a rough game.

you are wrong... Golden State is far ahead of Portland's pace in games missed. I'm not sure where you look it up but GS passed 200 games missed mark the Blazers are bellying up to now a few weeks back. Randolph, Azubuike, Wright, Claxton, and Bell are all out for the year. Biedrins has only played in 15 games of their first 40 and Turiaf 12. Their 4 best Bigs have either missed most of the season so far or won't be back on the court this year at all.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/GSW/2010.html

STOMP

 

I didn't know Randolph is out for the year now... I forgot about Azubuike. I'll grant you that significant one. The rest are of minimal to moderate consequence, though...

Perhaps I'm going out on a limb here, but I consider big men in Nellie's system to be a dime a dozen. Turiaf and Biedrens are nowhere near the absence-impact of Oden and Przybilla, in my opinion... Turiaf was a decent bench player for the Lakers and suddenly looked great in the no expectations run 'n gun Nellie ball, and Biedrens similarly exploded on the scene.

Arenas has only been an issue the last couple weeks, and Kobe vs. LeBron is only a story twice per year. There's lots of room for other stories to fill in the gaps as "big" stories... Any state of the league type article is sure to mention the Blazers injury situation.

 

Wright is either their starting or main backup PF... he was certainly being counted on as a rotation player this season. I think a healthy Claxton or Bell would be in their rotation too. Thats 5 rotation players out from here on

Last year at the ripe old age of 22, Biedrins averaged 30 MPG posting a 19.1 PER over 62 games. Turiaf averaged 21.5 MPG and a 14.5 PER over 79 games. Last year Greg's respective numbers were 21.5/18.1/61 while Joel's were 23.8/15.4/82. Neither Greg or Joel have ever averaged close to 30 MPG... basically, the statistics don't support your observation.

I assume you still live in the Salem area... have you heard anyone discussing the Warriors injuries this year? It's mentioned in their upcoming opponents media prior to every Warriors game and in the recapt and every state of the league type article mentions how decimated they've been. Did you overhear anyone discussing the Clipper's many injuries last year? Are/were those similarly big national stories? I'm sticking with the thought that no one outside of Blazer fans care about Portland's injury issues.

STOMP

 

Matter of perspective... As I alluded to, I believe that any competent big will put up similar numbers in Nellie's system. I don't expect Turiaf or Biedrens would look nearly as good on most other teams.

About the same as every other year since the early 90's for the dubs... I think everyone has gotten calloused to the point of not caring. I really don't want to see the Blazers sink to that level of apathy, so I refuse to acknowledge any relevance to the comparison.

Seriously, though, I think Oden is one of the biggest stories of the past 3 years (if for no other reason than Bill Simmons has made it so), and not just in Portland. Combining Pryz's knee injury with Oden's magnifies the significance.

 

your point used to be that Portland had more games missed then any other team. I showed that to be wrong and now their stud center and rotation players are irrelevant because thats your opinion... okay

I live in SF which is one of the closest NBA cities to Portland. If I stumble across a comment about the Blazers in the local media or an actual conversation it's more likely to be a Jailblazer joke then anything else. The local sports talk slaps their collective foreheads all day about the W's dumb luck with injuries, entertains Laker, LeBron, and Guns n Gilbert talk ad nausea, but there is never a mention of the Blazers since Greg went down.

the state of Oregon has about half the population as the Bay Area, and you don't want to sink to the GSW level of irrelevance? I've got bad news for you...

STOMP

 

Thread drift... Like I said, I wasn't aware that Randolph is out for the year. That changes things significantly as far as who will break the record by the most for most games missed.

 

Been saying this for quite sometime. The nightmare continues.

 

I think you have to at this point lol

Stuff like this doesn't happen to every team.