Last night during the TNT broadcast, Reggie Miller said he talked to McMillan about Roy's struggles on the court, and McMillan told him the problem was all "between Roy's ears." In other words, it's a mental thing. I almost fell off my chair. If McMillan actually believes this, then it means he thinks Roy is okay physically, and is just afraid to push himself for fear of hurting the knee. If so, this is a very different scenario than the one I had imagined, which is that Roy's knees are in such bad shape that he's physically not able to play the way he used to. Is it actually possible that Roy can return to his old form simply by getting his confidence back?? This is certainly what Miller seemed to be suggesting.
It's "in his head" IMO as far as the difficulty he or anyone would have to adjust to a new physical reality. He simply has to learn to play a different way to what his knees/body allow. It's both mental and physical and I can understand why it is a difficult adjustment.
Roy said his knees feel great. It's certainly possible that, with some more confidence and trust in his body, he can push himself to perform better. But he sure looks slow to me. He can't get around his man on offense, or stay in front of his man on defense. I don't know how much of that is mental.
If any of you have sprained your ankle bad, you know it takes a long time to get back out there and attack it like you used to pre-injury.
IMO when he says his knees "feel great" I think we have to put that in context of his "new physical reality". I certainly don't know for sure but that's my guess. He is simply not as quick or explosive as before, and i doubt that changes.
HCP, do you really think he'll ever be able to get back to where he was? I don't, but I do think he may be able to adjust his play to be a significant off the bench contributor, assuming he knees do not worsen too fast or too much from where they are now. IMO this is not comparable to a sprained ankle as it is a permanently reduced physical condition in both knees.
Yes, but that's assuming your ankle is fine after you give it some rest. Roy's knee condition is not like that (from what I've heard). He's supposed to have a chronic condition which will make it difficult if not impossible for him to ever regain his speed, flexibility, and quickness.
I hope it's in his head. It literally hurts me to watch him struggle out there because he's physically unable to jump higher than 5 inches.
In my opinion seeing him day in and day out at shootarounds, he will not get back to the level he was at. He has enough basketball IQ to be very valuable to us though.
I suspect that the real truth is somewhere in the middle. That while Roy's knees are feeling pretty good, they'll never be the same as they were before his injury last season, but he can be expected to play much better once he gets his confidence and timing back. He probably can't be counted on to contribute at a high level for too many seasons, but there's no reason to conclude that his career is over right now. As far as the confidence thing goes, this is pretty normal and we've seen it in many athletes. It just takes a while to figure out how your body is going to respond and to learn to trust it enough that you can play without thinking about the injury. Hopefully, Roy can kick it in gear and contribute in the playoffs.
Roy's problems with turnovers and shooting is definitely "between his ears". He has lost some athleticism, but he can certainly still play "smart" and hit open jumpers if he gets his confidence back.
I'll take this a step further, for the Blazers as a team the question is do you possibly hamper the team's future and pay a guy for an all-star level for 4 more years when he's now (nor will be) no where near that level - please note this is NOT Brandon's fault but it is the reality of the situation. This situation may or may not be solved with a new CBA. Here's my question to all posters - if the new CBA allowed us to get rid of Roy's contract in the sense it would not be applied toward a lux tax or perhaps a new hard cap - would you let Brandon go? Note that he would still get paid.
I was saying that it might be in his head. Myself having injuries playing ball in the past, i know how scared I was to go full speed. Scared I was going to get hurt again. So maybe Brandon was easing back in. Somebody else asked in my opinion would Brandon ever return to his all star level, i said no. 2 different answers to 2 different questions. What don't you understand?
Nate has a soldier mentality. His saying it's all in Roy's head just means don't acknowledge any physical shortcomings. Mental stuff can be dealt with.
Guys he shouldn't even be playing this season! The dude wants to come out and play. Whatever we are getting now is icing on the cake. Yeah he's playing poorly since his return; but the kid is a top notch warrior. Anyone else in the league would take the season off and rest his knees as much as possible.
Unfortunately rest won't help his knees Mags, he only has so much mileage left and that tread is worn down badly.
