the worst part out of all that is that there is no insurance on brandons knees, in fact its an exception i believe. seriously, WTF?! why did we ever agree to that. in saying that though, we'll no doubt do the same thing with Oden.... let's hope not..
Larry Miller has singlehandedly negated 5 years of impressive rebuilding, leaving the team in about the same shape Bush left the country in.
On a related note, how many NBA teams allow their players to compete in international competitions when they are suffering from an injury?
Medical staff warned front office about high risk guys http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2011/01/trail_blazers_injury_woes_how.html I guess all that needs to be added is WTF!!!!!!!! This makes me really happy KP is gone
Gambling is sometimes OK and even necessary for teams looking to get into a position to contend, but when you gamble as many times as the Blazers have on health in recent years it almost seems inevitable that there are going to be significant setbacks; if it happens to a player or two then maybe you can work around it, but this whole roster feels like it's built on guys with shaky pre-draft physicals: Batum's heart (Father died on the court), LMA's heart condition (treated successfully), Oden with red flags on his knees and hip, Brandon with red flags on at least one knee, Williams with known congenital defects in his knees, drafting Claver after a severe knee injury the year before. Even the free agents and trade acquisitions (aside from Miller) have a spotty record: Pryzbilla has never been the most durable guy, Camby has struggled with staying healthy his whole career, ... certainly you wouldn't expect every single guy to have career threatening setbacks, but that's a lot of risk for a franchise to bear that has hopes of doing anything sustainable.
Re: Medical staff warned front office about high risk guys Well, hopefully they've learned their lessons and they'll restrict their gambling on players to guys with character concerns.
Re: Medical staff warned front office about high risk guys This doesn't upset me. To build a title contender, you generally have to take some risks...whether on attitude, talent potential or injury chance. Pritchard took his risks on injury chance, not talent potential or attitude. Whitsitt took his risks on attitude. Nash and Patterson took no risks. Hopefully, Pritchard took good risks, based on the information at the time (which I don't have a complete picture of, nor do I think anyone on the forum does). If he didn't, then he deserves to be blamed for that. But I don't think the fact that they didn't work out is de facto proof that they were bad risks. You can take good risks and fail.
Re: Medical staff warned front office about high risk guys Meh. A lot of "what if" and 20/20 hindsight. I thought it was interesting how Patterson wants all the credit for the 2006 draft, but doesn't want to be blamed for Brandon Roy's bad knees.
Re: Medical staff warned front office about high risk guys Not too mention he said he was in favor of drafting Durant as well, lol. Good one, Steve. If you were so smart you'd still have a job. Also, it's odd people kill KP for taking risks on players with potential injury problems, yet those same people kill him for not taking Blair. Funny how that works. In the end it sounds like Oden was more bad luck than anything else and Roy was the real injury risk. That said, I'm still happy KP drafted Roy as he got the best player in the draft and he is the #1 reason why the Blazers' franchise turned around. If there was no Roy this whole time Oden has been down who knows what the team would have done(I'd bet the playoff drought would still be going). At this point the only unfortunate thing about Roy is the contract the organization gave him, not Roy himself. I still think down the road Roy will be useful in some way or another, though.
Re: Medical staff warned front office about high risk guys Blair was a second round guy. Oden, Roy, Williams combined draft slots don't equal Blairs slot. Blair = 37 Oden, Roy, Williams = 29 So maybe it's not the same? As for Oden being bad luck, surgery on the lower part of his body in high school says differently
Re: Medical staff warned front office about high risk guys An injury risk is an injury risk. Besides: - Oden would have been taken 2nd anyways - Roy was either going to be a Blazer or Rocket. Blazers drafted Foye who the Wolves wanted so they got Roy. He worked out great for 4 years. - Don't know much about Williams, but Blazers took him knowing he would need surgery. I guess we'll just have to see how he plays first. You can say it's not the same I suppose, but an injury risk is an injury risk if you ask me, and the only player you can say they reached for is Elliott. We don't know the final grade the team doctors gave on Oden, but we do know his knees looked "pristine". Those were the words of Jay Jensen a month ago. They also said his bone density was off the charts and that they've done various tests before and after drafting him and everything has been fine. Jay Jensen really seemed at a loss for words as to why this is happening because they can't find a whole lot wrong with his knees other then they keep getting inured.
Re: Medical staff warned front office about high risk guys No one can convince me that with Oden's two microfracture surgeries since he has been a Blazer that Oden had "pristine" knees before we drafted him. I don't believe it for a second, and was told differently by someone who might know as well.
Re: Medical staff warned front office about high risk guys Well liked I said the team won't say what the final grade was that they gave Oden on potential injuries. I buy that the knees looked fine, though. I also buy that the team can't figure out why it keeps happening as well. They can explain the fractured patella, but not why his articular cartilage keeps chipping or however you want to describe it. It's not like they have a reason to hide anything. They mentioned Roy's red flags twice now(before draft, before max contract), yet nothing on Oden. Both are knee concerns as well. If there was something before the draft that concerned them about Oden's knees I think they would mention it, but they haven't.
Considering Cho won't have the entire Republican party and the vast Rupert Murdoch propaganda network blocking him every step of the way, if Cho were as capable as Obama his chances would be good. I doubt it.
Re: Medical staff warned front office about high risk guys What it really comes down to with Greg, is body alignment. His body just isn't made for the stresses that are put on a body in the NBA. He may go stretches, but he'll never go years, without injuring himself. I'll betcha' his knees looked great until that first injury.
What would be interesting is pulling up the threads when the board was chanting to resign Roy and what was taking so long. I was one of them asking why they are messing with Roy and he deserves the max . . . but I know I wasn't the only one. I do remember EdO being one of the few posters siding with management and wondering what the hurry was in signing Roy to the max suggesting letting him become a restricted agent (worst case you match a max contract), but he was one of the few. Most were mad at the Blazers (really putting the blame on Miller) for not resigning Roy quickly. My hat is off to Allen . . . knowing the situation, he took care of Roy (sounds like he personally insured him too) in hopes this was the right thing to do to bring a championship. He probably isn't that upset about the money, if anything I'm guessing he is upset about the fact that the now bad contract really hampers the teams ability to manuever.
I think we need to change our name. It's too easy for media types to change it to match our state of being. What would be something good that doesn't rhyme with "trail"? Portland Orange Blazers.
