Blazer Training Staff Guilty of what???

Dr. Shane Stant

Does EVERY player need to have surgery before you change something?

New philosophy.needed, maybe not personel.

But like coaches, im sure med staff has some stubborn, if mainstream, approaches.

Seriously…grant hill reborn.

SUCKING… that’s what!

What other training staff has had 1/2 the knee problems of this outfit in the last 3 years?

I heard a little of both Lund and Calzone so not sure who it was pointed this out to me.

It’s not about blame at this point. It’s about accountability. I don’t know who’s fault it is that Roy has no meniscus. That Joel broke his knee. That Greg broke his knee, twice, plus his acl and everything else knee-related. That Batum missed half of last season. That Pendergraph broke his knee. That Williams is done for the year.

It very well could be nobody’s fault. But we pay Jay Jensen and his staff to condition our guys so they can play as many games as possible. It’s not about blame. It’s about who is accountable. The med staff is supposed to know more about sports medicine than anybody in Vulcan, so Vulcan is just going to have to follow their gut and see where it leads them.

as well as balance training? Just because something has worked in the past doesn’t mean it will work with a new set of people. I think 20 years ago, players were more likely to have balanced musculature because people didn’t just focus on one sport. Now kids who show potential in a certain sport are encouraged to focus on that sport, which develops only the muscles that are used the most in those sports. This can lead to imbalances in strength across muscle groups and developing the strong muscles more which would likely be the focus of the old school training methods only exacerbates the problem. So if you have one set of muscles that is way stronger than another opposing set, it’s quite easy to understand how this could lead to unbalanced pressure being applied to static physiological elements like ligaments, tendons and bones. I heard an orthopedist on the radio yesterday say that recent ACL recovery methods can heal a ruptured ACL in 90 days, yet our docs determined Pendy’s injury to be season ending and he was waived. The question could be raised that he was waived to clear a spot for another able body, but that’s just a short term solution. I sure hope Pendy is getting good advice about his rehab regimen, because if it’s possible to heal that ACL in three months as opposed to six or nine, it sure would suck to find that out after the fact.

Guilty of not being able to see what is wrong with Oden.

Guilty of not knowing which risks they should take in the draft.

Guilty of preventing the least amount of season ending injuries over this AND last year.

What more do the need to be guilty of?

how can you criticize people for thinking that the training straff might be responsible?

i mean, what evidence do you have that the training staff isn’t doing anything wrong? as far as i know, none of the fans know what the training staff is doing. how have you come to the conclusion that the training staff isn’t responsible for all of these knee injuries?

none of the injuries were the result of blunt trauma, i don’t think. so, you have to wonder if it’s a structural problem. then you have to ask: are a lot of our guys just susceptible to knee injuries? if so, were the trainers taking the proper precautions to avoid injuries?

i don’t think you can call this bad luck, with the exception of Pryzbilla falling in the shower. the players aren’t getting hit by cars or having pianos fall on them. so, either we have a lot of the players with wonky bones, or the trainers are doing something wrong. or both.

i mean, coaches have lost their jobs for less. GMs, too.

Do owners have to have iron clad, irrefutable proof that a coaching staff is to blame for their team’s perennial losing in order to can them? Of course not. No matter how qualified and hard-working a coaching staff is, no matter how uncertain it is just what they’ve been doing wrong—if anything—if their results are consistently poor, they get the axe. INVARIABLY. The logic is that there’s little to lose in changing direction, and perhaps some new blood will turn things around.

Yet, for some inexplicable reason, Paul Allen and the Vulcans seem incapable of applying this same logic to the Blazers’ medical / training staff. This is mystifying to me.

My guess is that the latest Oden injury will prove to be the straw that broke the camel’s back. That is, that despite all the votes of confidence we’ve just heard from Cho, Nate, etc., Jay Jensen, Bobby Medina, Dr. Roberts, et al are on their way out. But even assuming my hunch is right, why did it take so long? Why did the injuries have to mount year after year before something happened? That’s a real head-scratcher.

Obviously for the great majority of fans all we can base opinions on The Medical and Training Staff of The Blazers, are results. And results for most of us, unfairly or fairly are going to be what # of injuries or percentage of injuries the team suffers.

Others more directly or directly tied to the profession of medicine have offered opinions on specifics and procedures.

While for myself, it is true and I will concede that I fall with those only able to offer an opinion based on perceived results, I still will not hesitate to offer my opinion.

I think there is a tipping point, where you at least reach the place where you should ask yourself….are we suffering more injuries as a team than other franchises? Then the logical next step if the answer is YES…is to ask Why?

I’m sorry, but dedicated, hard working, “buddies” with our players aside…I do think we have reached that tipping point, and I do think there are reasons to question our medical and training staff.

I would question on specifics as much as I possibly can. No one from The Blazers has offered or given an explanation to me about Elliot Williams. From what little information that has been offered, it sounds very much to me like Elliot Williams suffered from a condition with his knees that made his knee cap stability in both knees questionable. Even before playing for us, this has resulted in him needing surgery to correct this condition on both his knees. This sounds very much like a condition that should of been discovered before drafting him and if anyone knew he had this condition nobody is admitting it today. To me either The Blazers knew he had this condition and it was “X” degree of risk in drafting him, knowing that there was a good potential that he would need the surgeries that he has come to need and have performed…inwhich case The Blazers should of been upfront and honest about being aware of that risk OR The Blazers did not know this condition existed when they drafted Elliot Williams and discovered it only when he arrived in Portland and almost immediately started to suffer with knee problems. Either scenario needs to be questioned. Because either scenario represents a degree of failure…

Keep in mind that during recent Oden press conference it really should not suprise anyone that The Blazers closed ranks with solidarity and total support for their medical and training staff. As an organization they have no choice. We are talking agents and contracts and literally 100’s of millions of dollars at stake, along with the careers and livelihoods of players and The Doctors and Trainers themselves. The potential legal mess that could ensue? Means even if an individual within the organization did have a doubt about the compentency of either the medical staff or the trainers or training methods? The organization cannot afford to publicly admit it….

So I don’t ever expect Rich Cho, Nate McMillan, or Larry Miller…or the principals themselves…to say…“I think we failed” or “Yes, we missed something”. They simply would not open themselves up to the liabilty mess that type of admission could result in…

And again, specifically, I do think there are reasons to question. While it quite true that as a detached fan my direct exposure to the medicine applied, the training methods applied, and the rehab procedures applied is very, very limited, I would say during the Jay Jensen portion of the Press Conference, there were a couple of moments or comments that made me question.

Again nobody has given me good explanation as to why 6 month old MRI results were deemed the optimal tools to offer an outside specialist to get a 2nd opinion. And outside of a defensive and almost stubborn, “We Will Take New MRI’s When The Team Deems It Neccesary” statement…I have to wonder why it took several weeks and Brandon Roy very publicly removing himself from an active N.B.A. game before The Blazers shut him down and FINALLY deemed it necessary to take new MRI’s. Regardless if the results of those new MRI’s evidently revealed nothing new.

The other personal opinion I have, is very- admittedly very subjective, I’m simply not happy with the vagueness of The Blazers definition of the timeline of Odens latest injury. Yes, injuries can randomy and spontaneously happen with athletes…or with humanity as a whole. But it’s part of this medical and training staffs responsibilty to be as pro-active in knowing about the condition of there athletes…even if injury occurs that they cannot prevent. What I find troubling about this latest problem with Oden, is that Oden was complaining of discomfort and pain…and it sounds to me like Dr. Roberts and Jay Jensen both assumed that Odens complaints or discomfort was due to “The Hardware in His Knee”…or his existing patella recoverey and rehab. They seemed to make this assumption because at least at the very first…Oden was not exhibiting a lot of swelling in his knee….

  It may of been a situation where nothing could of been done to prevent the damage. Or even at the earliest complaints of discomfort by Oden…it was already too late to change the inevitable. But “assuming” that a player rehabing from Patella Knee surgery is experiencing pain in his knee and assuming that pain is the “normal” pain and suffering one would get with rehab….is still an assumption. And it seems that once again…no new MRI’s were taken with Oden…until his knee became swollen repeatedly and to the point where repeated drainings were not helping. Even then by Jay Jensens admission, the MRI’s were taken with the Assumption that they would reveal a Patella related conditon….and Dr. Roberts and himself were both evidently “shocked” and stunned when it revealed the cartilage damage.

  Like I said, I don’t know if anything was avoidable..but I wonder why Oden was encouraged to work out…even while expressing that he was experiencing discomfort in his knees…and why MRI’s weren’t taken either immediately upon Odens admission that he wasn’t comfortable, or at least simply on a timeline…like "We don’t care if your knees feel fine, or appear to be healing perfectly…we would like to take new images every 3 months regardless…just to be sure…..

  Now on this last point I will admit, I’m speculating a LOT…and medical professionals can tell me why “Things just aren’t handled that way”. And I’ll listen.

  But I’ve reached the laymans tipping point…I will question.

Has anybody ever heard any player say this about the Trailblazers medical and training staffs? I don’t know if the knees of CP3 and BRoy are in similar states, but it would definitely raise some questions if CP3 continues to play like he is with his knee supposedly bone on bone, while we see Roy struggle to see playing time. I think it’s valid to ask questions at least. If not now, then when? Would it be more acceptable if the injuries continue for another three years? I’m of the mindset that asking questions doesn’t hurt, and I would rather ask 100 stupid questions that lead to no solution and get the one that does, than simply accept the status quo because it’s the easy thing to do.