not so much for the main rotation players though. The next 2 seasons: (pretty sure Abdelnaby and Pack only missed games due to DNP-CD) and the season after that: Drexley severely strained his hamstring against the Celtics....I remember it and the year after: Drexler started to have injuries in his 30's but that was still a group of incredibly durable BB players also, the year the Blazers won it all: Walton playing 65 games was perfect health, for him
I thought Clydes issue in 92-93 was that he needed to have his knee scoped or something, but opted to play in the olympics and it bothered him all year?
how much will gary payton improve our defense, so far we had a lot of close games and you have to think that we wouldve won majority of those with him playing
Quite a bit. He was worth about 3 pts per 100 possessions defensively last year and he'll also be taking minutes away from pretty sizably negative defenders in Shaedon and Trendon. Allowing Jerami to get off the ball more should boost his impact as well. It'll certainly take him a few weeks to get back to that level though and not sure how much Chauncey will be able to pair him with Justice, who's probably our best defender right now. It'll be interesting to see how Chauncey handles the closing lineups. Playing him alongside Dame and Ant is something we will surely see at times.
When is this guy playing? He was supposed to come back on Nov 15th. He’s practicing. They haven’t said he’s had any setbacks. What’s the deal? Trade the guy to GS already.
Portland signed him at the beginning of July and he had surgery that month so probably....maybe? I did see this, a press release in September: lol....a little bit late
What link is that from? Why is it partial? I'd like to know how they came to that conclusion? Not at all that i am questioning you for finding it. Just would like to research that a bit?
https://www.si.com/fannation/nba/fa...ce-gary-payton-ii-underwent-offseason-surgery there are many similar links from September but they all seemed based upon the official Blazer announcement
Quick had a good breakdown on the timeline in his mailbag: https://theathletic.com/4002673/202...e-a-pointless-question-trail-blazers-mailbag/ Gary Payton II perpetually seems to be two weeks away from returning to competition. When can we realistically expect to see him suit up? — Bryan T. And from Sam H: How do you think the Blazers organization has handled the communication of the injury, specifically, starting with the surgery announcement over the summer? To answer the question of when? I don’t know. I don’t think Billups knows. Heck, I don’t think Payton even knows. It sounds like he is still experiencing soreness, but it also sounds like he is able to do more during his workouts. He even went through a full practice last week. But right now, putting any kind of window on his return seems silly. Ever since October, when the team first said he will be ready for the season opener, he has blown past every timeline, or window of return. But considering how frequently he is able to return to drills, and the type of activity he’s now engaged in (full contact, full court, etc.), I think it’s probably never been more safe to say he will be returning sooner rather than later. The background for those unfamiliar: Payton was the Blazers’ top free-agent signee over the summer. A key reserve for Golden State’s title team, Payton is a defensive whiz on the perimeter as a guard/forward. He’s a great rebounder, has great instinct and anticipation, and is just a hard-nosed, pesky type who makes scorers uncomfortable. Portland signed him to a three-year, $28 million deal to be the lynchpin of the Blazers’ perimeter defense. When the Blazers signed him in July, there was no mention of the core injury. No mention of the surgery. Thinking he would be ready to start the season, the team wasn’t required, and probably didn’t feel obligated to inform the public of a procedure. So why was the procedure eventually made public, via a team-issued press release on Sept. 16, less than two weeks before training camp? My guess is it had become apparent by mid-September he would miss all of training camp, so the team felt the need to explain why its newly-signed player wouldn’t be on the court. In the release, they made public his core muscle surgery in July at The Vincera Institute in Philadelphia, and added Payton was “progressing well and expected to make a full recovery by the start of the regular season.” Then, a week before the season, on Oct. 13, the team issued another release and said Payton “continues to progress well, but will miss the start of the regular season.” They noted he would be evaluated in two weeks. On Nov. 14, Lillard noted to me that Payton had been taking part in drills for weeks. That same day, Billups cautioned that players returning from surgery are battling more than the physical scars. “There’s always two parts of any type of injury, especially when surgery is involved: the physical aspect … and then you have the mental component, which no fan thinks about when you are coming back from surgery,” Billups said. “These are just regular people, they have that like a normal 9-5 worker who has a surgery, there’s both the physical and mental point. So with Gary … he’s had this (injury) a couple times. It’s just not easy. We want him to be his best self when he does come back.” Four days later, on Nov. 18, the team issued a release saying “throughout progressive levels of rehab in preparation to return to game play, Payton has experienced intermittent soreness.” They again said he would be evaluated in two weeks. On Dec. 7, we learned that Payton took part in his first 5-on-5 practice, after which he again experienced some soreness, according to Billups, but nothing that sounded like a setback. So to answer Sam’s question about how the Blazers have handled this from a communication standpoint? I think they’ve tried to be transparent once they realized he would miss practices, etc. The team made Payton available to the media on Nov. 1, but I think he would be even better served to be more freely available as his injury has be elongated. I asked to interview him this week but had no luck. I think if fans could hear from Payton, and the obstacles he has encountered in his recovery, it would help answer their questions why he hasn’t played. And perhaps it would help fans better understand why it’s difficult to pinpoint his return, and therefore stop the incessant questions about his return. Players often complain that fans don’t see them as human, but nothing helps us see them as human more than hearing from them. So yeah, it’s been an odd start to the Payton era. It’s been a frustrating process, probably none more so than for Payton. But we all must respect Payton and his body and let him return when he feels right. Talk about Gary Payton II likely role/impact, whose minutes he takes, what dynamics off the court this raises? — James L. When Payton does return, I imagine they will ease his playing load at first to get him acclimated — maybe 15 to 20 minutes at first. I think those minutes will be shaved off the playing time of Justise Winslow, Trendon Watford and Shaedon Sharpe. As far as the off-the-court dynamics that James refers to, I don’t think anyone will be upset about a new guy taking their playing time. I am more curious whether a team that has had such great on-court chemistry would be affected, but Damian Lillard told me he doesn’t think Payton’s return will be all that complicated. “Because of the kind of player he is, and how high his IQ is, (his return) will be very seamless,’’ Lillard said on Nov. 14. “I just don’t see it being tricky at all. It’s not like you are adding somebody who in an 18-point per game scorer, or something like that. He’s a defender, a rebounder, somebody that is a playmaker in the middle of the defense. And most important, he’s been getting into all of our drills for weeks, and his understanding for what we need him to do, and first into whatever is happening out there, is at a high level. He just understands who he is and what he brings to the team.” Billups was as unconcerned as Lillard about Payton rocking the boat. “The more you can have winners on the floor who know their role and know who they are, it’s an advantage,” Billups said. “It’s always tough bringing somebody into the lineup, into the rotation, after you’ve finally gotten what you think is the rotation you are comfortable with, but if you know Gary, he’s always been one of those (team first) guys anyway. It’s the way he was able to have the year he had last year. His personality is fun, and people love him, so he’s always been that guy anyway. So you are just adding another one.”
I kind of missed this earlier: On Nov. 14, Lillard noted to me that Payton had been taking part in drills for weeks. That same day, Billups cautioned that players returning from surgery are battling more than the physical scars. “There’s always two parts of any type of injury, especially when surgery is involved: the physical aspect … and then you have the mental component, which no fan thinks about when you are coming back from surgery,” Billups said. “These are just regular people, they have that like a normal 9-5 worker who has a surgery, there’s both the physical and mental point. So with Gary … he’s had this (injury) a couple times. It’s just not easy. We want him to be his best self when he does come back.”
So we're nearing the halfway point in the season and no GP3 still. With the lack of communication on this, I'm not buying the "season conditioning" excuse. Dame was back for preseason, and if I'm not mistaken, both he and GP3 had the same abdominal surgery at the same time. This to me sounds like there's more to what ails him than what we're being led to believe. Is there an ancillary injury I'm forgetting? I know we're in this for the long haul with GP3, but this season started with so much promise and he would have been a difference maker in 10 games or more. I'm just frustrated - we need him.
