Will Jay Jensen and Dr. Roberts be taking a voluntary leave of absence "to spend more time with their family"?

by JasonT on Nov 18, 2010 1:34 PM PST

Did the team management back itself into a corner by throwing their unsolicited support to Jay Jensen and Dr. Roberts?

Jay obviously cares deeply about Greg. Yet, at a certain point there has to start being some accountability for all the injuries to players on this team. Whether it is the training staff for not keeping the players healthy or the medical staff for not identifying the red flags of potential draft picks, someone or some people are dropping the balI. Last season was a disaster with injuries and we all said well that was so freaky, nothing like that could happen again. But what happens? I would argue this season is worse. First we lost Pendergraph for the season. Next it's Elliot Williams gone for the season. Then Greg...done for the year. And that's not to mention the potentially worst injury of all...Brandon Roy. This is no longer coincidence. It is a pattern. And this pattern needs to be altered.

The thing that sealed it for me, was when Jay Jensen said they had no idea why these injuries keep happening to Oden. That right there was the nail in the coffin for me. It is the training and medical staff's job to figure this out...and they have failed to do so in 3+ years working with Oden. Which does not give me confidence for how they are working with our other players.

I don't care what they said publicly, you can bet there is going to be some internal discussion about the medical and training staff. Since the Blazers management just backed themselves into a corner at the press conference, they can't very well fire the training and medical staff outright. Do not be surprised at all if Jay Jensen "voluntarily" decides to leave the team to "spend more time with his family" very soon. The same goes for Dr. Roberts.

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Should the Blazers hold the training and medical staff accountable for the rash of player injuries in recent years?

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Comments

It may not be the training and medical staff's fault

But, at a certain point when disaster keeps on hitting the same ares you make a change. You don’t know if it will help the problem, but it certainly won’t make things worse. I would hope the Blazers will start vetting new training staff and medical staff asap.

by boppitywop on Nov 18, 2010 3:39 PM PST reply actions

Oh, things could be a lot worse.

Things can always be worse.

But I agree that evaluation should take place, but if that evaluation shows that things would have been worse without them, then they are doing their job, and need to be kept.

"Love may forgive all infirmities and love still in spite of them: but Love cannot cease to will their removal." - C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, 1940

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by T Darkstar on Nov 18, 2010 3:55 PM PST up reply actions

Didn't they already fire KP for taking to many risks on

injury prone players? Also a lot of medical phenomenon can’t be explained, I am sure the Blazers have discussed things with a lot of other teams medical staffs.

by Escrote on Nov 18, 2010 3:58 PM PST reply actions

Fire all of them

What have they got to lose.

by Planet29 on Nov 18, 2010 4:34 PM PST reply actions

When a team suffers two or three dismal, losing seasons in a row, the coaching staff almost invariably gets the axe

Why? Because there reaches a point where ownership figures, “why not make a change and see if the team improves.” No one says, “Well, we’re not 100% certain that the coaching staff is to blame, so we’ll stay pat indefinitely.”

So why on earth is there apparently a different standard for medical/training people? Granted, Jay Jensen, Bobby Medina, Dr. Roberts, et al are probably fine people who have been doing their absolute best. But has that ever saved a coach whose team is underachieving year after year?

I just don’t get it.

by hurryup09 on Nov 19, 2010 10:55 PM PST reply actions

knees

knees take a lot of abuse in a sport like basketball. injuries can occur just from normal wear and tear. fortunately, you can take measures to avoid injury. stretching helps. so does strengthening key muscles.

when a knee injury occurs that doesn’t involve getting whacked in the knees, it can be attributed to improper training, or a player that is, for some reason or other, susceptible to cartilage/bone defects. (obviously, improper training can have an effect on players who are prone to knee injuries.)

when it seems like, out of 30 teams, one team has an inordinate amount of knee injuries, it either means that there is a high concentration of players with bad knees on the team, or the team has bad trainers.

i think for most people, it makes more sense that we just have bad trainers.

by DefenderOfPants on Nov 20, 2010 2:09 AM PST reply actions