Bill Simmons and Marc Stein Rip Blazers Over Roy's Return

I love that two people without any medical knowledge can rip on a medical decision made by a team and call into question team management. Brilliant.

Seriously. You’re an idiot, go away.

Game 4 says bringing Roy back was a good gamble, as long as there were no significant medical risks with the franchise player.

Having been blown out in Games 2 and 3, what else can you try?

Well, I don’t have too much trust in our training staff, but I certainly don’t care about Stein/Simmons input on the matter. If there’s significant risk of re-injury, it’s dumb. Otherwise, its not dumb.

Brandon Roy is an adult. We are still free, for the most part, to make our own choices in this country.

they take the safe route. if he does get injured then they can say they told you so. if he doesn’t nobody remembers or cares.

You can get injured any time, anywhere. Just ask Joel Przybilla. If there was a serious risk to the knee he would not be out there. Other than that, what is the difference between playing now and playing next season? Do you hold him out until the last month of the season next year?

Also said “Barkley made a good point.”
yeesh. Turn in your media credentials boys. You’ve lost contact with planet Earth.

They see Roy’s injury and then his quick comeback and then form an opinion. They very likely didn’t see the information about Roy not being able to further injure his knee.

than wouldn’t it make more sense to play him now? Their theory basically is that roy has limited years on his knees and that at a certain point they are just going to give out. If Roy only has a few years left on those knees than his and the blazers chances at a title are numbered so any chance you have at a title (aka are in the playoffs) you play him even if the odds are against you because you don’t know how long you will have him at full strength.

I’m not agreeing with what they are saying but even if I did there are flaws in their logic.

They want attention. Big deal.

I bet tomorrow he’ll talk about how heroic Lebron and Kobe are after playing through injuries. He’s a joke.

There just isn’t a big enough pay off. If the Blazers couldn’t win the series without Roy then they are even less likely to win it with a tentative Roy, especially with the way Gentry is making adjustments. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Suns go at him hard all game.

Also, if people are so concerned about Amare elbowing Batum’s shoulder on purpose (which he did) then shouldn’t you be terrified of someone hitting Roy hard or stepping under him on a jump shot?

He nearly tweaked his knee again last game after a foul, at which point Nate pulled him for good a few minute latter. It just doesn’t make sense to me, especially since this isn’t the only injury he’s dealing with. I’m worried about the stability of his legs as a whole.

Letting the hammy get some rest wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world either.

He secretly hearts Kevin Pritchard, and wants KP to come to Beantown instead of Danny Ainge.

But for that to happen, he has to be fired from Portland first…

Is that it establishes something important: we are a franchise that faces and overcomes adversity. If we are ever to be true, a championship team, the tone has to be set from the top down that we fight for every bucket and never give up. Roy is setting the tone for Oden, Batum, Rudy, Aldridge, Joel, everyone who’s been nicked up.

it didnt seem like they knew that the doctors werent afraid of him re injuring it…

and i agree with some of the comments that say stuff about flashy stars would be praised but just cause roy isnt he is getting pounded by some people… it just doesnt seem fair

No.

It is rather dangerous to let Roy come back this early because there’s always a potential he could get injured even further, thus risking his career.

I mean, our franchise’s future was destroyed after Brandon had that career-ending re-injury of his knee after he stepped on the court in game 4. Wait, that didn’t happen, you say? He’s actually even better now? Impossible! Bill Simmons is never wrong! He wrote a book! About basketball! That was 100% accurate!

I guess Simmons would say he shouldn’t risk it, and just take the rest of the playoffs off, just to be safe. Because they aren’t winning the championship this year, anyway, right?

Did anyone see his preseason playoff predictions? Absolutely wrong on EVERY prediction. He is just a shock jock like Canzano.

After surgery. Brandon Was projected to be out 1-2 weeks. he came back in 8 days. Its not like the doctor said he would be out 6-8 weeks and came back in 8 days.

Do the Blazers have a chance to win an NBA Championship this year?

No, I wouldn’t have played him

Now I really hope Roy dominates game 6 and 7 just to make them shut up.

I guess he must have been way off base when he said this.

Take the Rose Garden-colored glasses off, people.

“Blazers will be 41-41”.

Let me explain.

1. Paul Allen is a Very Smart Man Who Likes His Money. We know from the reporting that he gave his blessing after the careful consideration of his star, his coach, his GM, the medical professionals involved, and Paul’s contractual obligation to pay Brandon boatloads of cash. This is the same Paul Allen who is still paying Darius Miles. Cancer clock or not, Paul is no fool and would not have given his blessing unless he came to the rational conclusion that this was an acceptable and reasonable move under the circumstances.

2. Brandon Roy is a straight arrow and is also Not A Fool. He did push himself more than he should of with the hammy strain, and it seems clear that he learned his lesson. He understands his role not just this year but for the next five. When Brandon opted for surgery initially, he based that on the assumption that he would not be a valuable contributor to his team without it. So when Brandon concluded that he was ready to play, he did so with a mostly clear mind. However, we know Brandon is a fierce competitor and a proud man, so I rank his judgement a little beneath Paul’s.

3. Charles Barkley is neither an intellectual in general, nor a student of the Trail Blazers in particular. However he is a successful and storied basketball player with a long career and his perspective on the health and psychology of an NBA player is valid. His thesis is simply that a player who doesn’t fully trust his body is exposing himself to further risk by moving unnaturally as a counter-productive kind of defense mechanism. While there is no medical research I know of to support this idea, it seems reasonable on it’s face and is worthy of consideration. Brandon was quoted today at practice about wanting to “get back into a rhythm.” Before Game 4 he also spoke about feeling confident about his legs. So Brandon has clearly pondered the Barkley Hypothesis™ and came to his decision in spite of it.

4. Simmons & Stein are not medical professionals. They have no experience as high-level athletes either. They have no financial stake in Brandon’s future. They are probably Smart Guys, but being smart never stopped a person from saying stupid, uninformed things. Their opinions are not crazy or unreasonable, but they are clearly just as ignorant of the details of Brandon’s recovery as Sir Charles is. Their opinions can be safely ignored in this instance.

5. The forum trolls on O-Live have absolutely nothing to do with this argument. However, I do believe that Simmons & Stein do respect and admire Brandon Roy, and that their hearts are absolutely in the right place when they formed and shared their opinions. I can’t say that about the O-Live forum… even for the trolls who are genuine Blazer fans. So I wanted to give S&S a little credit by finding even less credible people to compare them to.

I think they both missed the memo didn’t they? I could have sworn team doctors specifically told Roy that he couldn’t further damage the knee by playing. That’s not good enough for the media? Meh..

Dr.’s said the knee was healed, that is fine. The risk of injury comes from playing out of shape, which he had to risk so he could get back in shape before this GIANT game 6!

(see what I did there?)
…the national media isn’t allowed to opine about the Blazers? That’s the impression I get around here.

I agree with them anyway. The potential rewards aren’t worth the risks here.
 
No they aren’t doctors, but how many of you are basketball coaches? It doesn’t keep many here from making bold claims.

They may not get much further in these playoffs, but all the attention will help next year. The NBA is a star-system league, and this will help make Brandon Roy an even bigger star – as he deserves to be.

who’s always saying NOT to wait to make your team better and that going for it NOW is the way to go.

Only not in this case, I guess.

BRoy and the Blazers want to go for it NOW. And if they can muster the testicular fortitude to pull out a gritty series win against Phoenix, I think they have just as much of a chance against the Spurs and the F@kers (assuming they both win) as anybody when considering (WARNING: cover your eyes, ‘experts’… relevant facts about to be used!!!) actual games played this year.

they are mostly doofuses that watch mostly Lakers and Cavs games.