Portland Trail Blazers president Larry Miller conducted an interview with Blazers Broadcasters Mike Barrett, Mike Rice and Brian Wheeler on Tuesday night's edition of Blazers Courtside in which he expressed strong opinions regarding statements made by sports kinesiologist Zig Ziegler. Ziegler was contracted by the Blazers to perform biomechanical tests in 2008 on center Greg Oden and other players and went public with an explosive account of his relationship with the team last week.
Here's a transcript of Miller's comments, which will be available on TrailBlazers.TV.
"I would like to address the fact that there have been unreliable reporting by some in the media that was based on some information that came from someone who was unethical, unprofessional, and some in the media took that information and ran with it. Unfortunately, painted our medical and training staff in a bad light. I want to make it clear that we are 100 percent in support of our medical and training staff. We know we have one of the best medical and training staffs anywhere, not just in the NBA but in all of sports.
"It's really a travesty that some of these media folks would pick up on something that had no substance to it and a source who was really questionable and run with that. I want to make it clear that we are 100 percent in support of Jay [Jensen], Dr. Roberts, Dr. Reis, Bobby [Medina], the entire staff, we are in 100 percent support of those guys. Our guys are constantly looking for how can we better serve our players. They are always looking for new resources, whenever there's an injury, we don't just rely specifically on our guys, we talk to doctors on other teams. We talk to people in other parts of the country. We talk to doctors on other teams, people in other parts of the country, to get multiple opinions on what's the best way to treat our athletes.
"I think it's, like I said, a travesty that our medical and training staff has been painted in this negative light."
Blazers Acting GM Chad Buchanan previously issued a statement here.
On the program, Buchanan was asked about the performance of the team's medical staff. Here's a transcript of his comments which began with the news that center Joel Przybilla had sought treatment on his ankle that involved being exposed to extremely cold temperatures.
"Our medical staff is very good about that. They're constantly searching out, whether it be within the regional market, national market, the world market, of new ways to treat players, to prevent injuries and care for injuries. That's only one example of what Jay and our medical staff do, with Joel on the trip. In Phoenix, they saw a different cryogenic machine they used on Joel. They are constantly searching out there for new ways to prevent injuries and care for the injuries.
"Jay and our doctors are not out there publicizing the efforts they are making. That's not what we're about. That doesn't need to be put out there. The privacy issue with our athletes is important to us. The integrity of that is important to Jay and all of us. Those guys are constantly, the contacts they have out there nationally and in the world, different specialists treating different parts of the body, looking for new ways to treat injuries. It's an ongoing thing with our staff and we encourage that and Jay is terrific at searching out those people.
"In past years, we've had some injuries that we've battled through but this year has been one of the healthiest seasons we've had in a long time. When you look at the rotation players on each team we've had the fewest number of games missed of any team in the league. I think Jay has done an outstanding job. You look at Gerald Wallace, he'd battled a lot of injuries kind of the nature of the way he had played. He'd hurt almost every bone and joint in his body throughout his years in Sacramento and Charlotte. He came to us, I think he played with us for 71 games and he played in 69. One of those games we sat him."
-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter