Zach will always be villainized here because of his association with the Jail Blazers. I knew the guy. He wasn't as bad as everyone made him out to be. Zach was a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. Real friendly. Wanted to be an All-Star real bad. I remember thinking that we needed to trade him, but I also thought the trade that was made was horrifically bad. I still feel that way. We traded a legit 20/10 guy, still only like 25 or 26 at the time, for table scraps.
The original prognosis was 6-8 months. Given Joel's age and injury history, 8 months was probably best case. After this, I think it reasonable to assume the clock has been reset. That means 8 months + however long it takes him to get back in game shape. I don't think anyone can reasonably dispute that Joel will not contribute until the mid point of next season....and that assumes no permanent damage. Will this end his career? Maybe. We can't know. What we can reasonably know, is that the team will need to carry another competent center at the begining of next season.
This will always be a puzzle to me. I can understand feeling scorn for Miles - a high lotto pick who just never produced. Zach was a late 1st rounder who exceeded all reasonable expectations - and people hated the guy for not being a Duncan/KG level talent. If he was that good, he wouldn't have been available in the 20s!
JOEL PRZYBILLA UNDERGOES SUCCESSFUL SURGERY PORTLAND, Ore. – Trail Blazers center Joel Przybilla underwent successful surgery this evening to repair a re-ruptured right patella tendon. Dr. Don Roberts performed the two-hour procedure at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center in Vancouver, Wash. No timetable has been set for his return to the court. Przybilla originally ruptured his right patella tendon in a Dec. 22 game at Dallas and underwent season-ending surgery on Dec. 24. He re-ruptured the tendon March 6 after slipping in the shower at his home in Milwaukee, Wis., where he was rehabilitating. Przybilla, 30, averaged 4.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.43 blocked shots in 30 games (nine starts) this season before the injury. A six-year Trail Blazer, he ranks sixth in franchise history with 593 blocked shots.
This injured center curse thing wouldn't be believable in a movie. Greg, watch out man! There are meteor showers!
He was unable to include his team in his game. Still is. He has gotten better at it but not all that good. His defense is terrible. He can score and rebound, other than that he makes poor decisions on the court. Elite players make their team better. He is fortunate to have better players around him this year but he hasn't made them better.
I'm not a Zach hater but I would argue that he WOULD have been a high lotto pick if it weren't for 1) his character issues and 2) his age/development. He only stayed 1 year at Michigan State and while he showed flashes in college, I think he only scored about 10 ppg. A lot of people were surprised he came out early - it seemed he needed more time to develop. But he was a huge recruit for MSU - blue chipper and highly touted, but he had his troubles even back before college. I really never hated the guy. I was bummed out that all we could get was Channing Frye, but I do believe that was the best we could get for him. EVERYBODY knew we wanted to move him. And really, we had to move him. Clearly we were rebuilding with Roy and LA. And Zach will always be Zach - a guy who hangs out at strip clubs and shows up in a couple of off court issues every year. But on the court I appreciated his game - still do actually, especially when he's killing Lamarcus.
