The Portland Trail Blazers have named Jesse Elis as their Director of Player Health and Performance, it was announced today by President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey. Elis will lead all facets of the Trail Blazers medical staff to collaboratively provide preventative maintenance and rehabilitative health care to Trail Blazers players. He will work closely with the team's athletic trainers, physicians, strength and conditioning specialists, nutritionists, psychologists and therapeutic specialists to integrate rehabilitative concepts into performance training. "The addition of Jesse is another step toward developing the finest health and performance staff in the NBA," said Olshey. A native of Dickinson, N.D., Elis joins the Trail Blazers from EXOS in Phoenix, Ariz., where he served as the Director of Physical Therapy for the past two years. Prior to joining EXOS, Elis had extensive experience working with athletes as a concierge physical therapist for professional tennis players and working in China with both National and Olympic-based teams. Elis received his bachelor's and doctorate degrees at the University of North Dakota, and completed a three-year post doctorate fellowship in the area of orthopedic manual therapy through the Evidence in Motion program. He also is board certified through the American Physical Therapy Association in both Orthopedics and Sports while also carrying the designation as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. Maintaining his involvement in continuing education programs, Elis teaches on multiple levels of both lecture and clinically-based courses.
Chris Stackpole out. @HCP, any insight you can provide? Did he travel with the team or just stay in Portland and fold bandages?
I can't believe it wasn't HCP! He was robbed! If there's a Blazer employee that screams "Health and Performance" more than John, I can't imagine one.
Whilst injuries were limited under Stackpole - I feel the team wasn't as athletic. Guys have gotten stronger but they don't seem as agile. There's probably some trade off between injury prevention and peak performance - and perhaps the Blazers feel that Stackpole wasn't finding the optimum balance between the two. Personally I'm excited to see if the new guy can get a bit better athletic performance out of the guys.
Dame and CJ are considered deceptively athletic. Harkless is an athletic freak. Aminu is an above average defender, largely due to his athleticism and length. Nurkic is way more nimble than most expected. Guys like Davis and Vonleh came in with reputations of being more bruisers than high flyers. Where's the lack of athletic development? I hope Stackpole didn't wear out his welcome or price himself out of the market. He had a great reputation within the industry, and as far as I can tell, the team benefited greatly from his time here. A North Dakotan from the lecture circuit doesn't sound like an improvement.
Simply an observation whilst watching the games. I don't think there was a lack of development, but rather the way they developed changed. My observation is that guys that were here a handful of years ago, looked more agile. Lillard, whilst being stronger and having an improved first step, doesn't weave through traffic and screens the same way he did his first two seasons. Leonard looks way stiffer then he did initially. Most of the roster, whilst looking stronger, don't look as agile or quick IMO. (Guys like CJ and Nurk weren't here before Stackpole so can't comment on their development) I actually think Stackpole did an exceptional job. Any physician/trainer that keeps an NBA roster on the floor for extended lengths of time IS doing a great job.
