Counterpoint: Roy Should Play
Rob Simonsen | Friday, February 19, 2010 at 4:05PM 
I’m guessing this won’t be a popular opinion around here, given some of the posts over the last couple of days, but here goes: Brandon Roy should play ball.
Pretending we know more than the doctors, trainers, advisors, coaches, players, and sooth-sayers employed by the Blazers and Roy himself is an amusing pastime, but patently wrong.
Logic, numbers, and common sense all trend against some secret cabal forcing or pushing Roy into playing against his will. If the Blazers thought Roy was in danger of blowing out his hammy, there’s no way they’d let him out there. He means too much to the organization to be our sexy sacrificial lamb, especially when the only goal within legitimate reach is a 6-seed or so. There’s precious little, other than a possible lottery pick next year, to be gained from angling Roy into risking a season- or career-ending injury.
Roy is the face of this franchise right now, especially since Oden’s knee/leg/karma is ranging from funky to foul. The Blazers know it, Roy’s advisors know it, he knows it. Dude’s smart. He has to know that there’s little to be gained in the eyes of management, and everything to be lost. I have to believe that Roy would shut it down if the injury were really that bad. I have to.
Sure, Roy has the warrior spirit. You can tell, watching him sit restless on the bench, or that off-key note of frustration in his voice during interviews—he’s raring to get out there. Roy is the anti-Stephon “Chinese Franchise” Marbury. But as much of the cold-blooded killer he’s channeling these days, Roy’s savvy enough to know not to risk his career fighting for the right to play Denver instead of Los Angeles in a few weeks. And you have to believe his handlers would do nothing short of roofying his Gatorade in warm-ups if they truly thought he was endangering his career.
So why not rest him until the playoffs, with the hope we even get there? Look, I love that we love our players so much. Love them to the point of second-guessing expert opinions from people who make many, many millions of dollars in order to keep guys like Roy making even more many, many millions of dollars. But for chrissakes, we’re approaching helicopter-parent levels people.
Why put him out there? Apparently Nate (or Kevin, or Brandon himself) needs to evaluate what, exactly, this injury is. Is it just a painful nastiness that limits him to 80% effectiveness for 20 minutes a game until we lock up a playoff spot? Is it, despite all the experts’ opinions, something much, much worse? Unless and until someone says so, I say let the man play. Let him figure it out. Until then, I’ll be over here enjoying my dinner of fingernails and cuticles. Oh, God… PLEASE.
Reader Comments (4)
Is the statement about Oden's knee/leg/karma a reference to his third leg?
Roy was out there tonight looking pretty rusty. So hopefully Roy gets back into game shape.
However, even though paid the BIG BUCKS, I have very little faith in the Blazer's training staff at this point. I've seen too much to not want Bobby Medina FIRED.
It started with Joel's wrist. Seemed to me like he was still busy using the one handed shot that he perfected last season while his wrist was healing. WHY DIDN'T THE TRAINING STAFF WORK WITH JOEL TO STRENGHTEN HIS WRIST? Joel's catching and holding onto the ball was WORSE this year.
Next..Outlaw. Who BRANDON ROY noticed was having a problem before the training staff did. Oden...why are his bones so brittle? Or his hamstring putting enough pressure on his knee to SNAP HIS KNEE CAP? Then there is Nicolas Batum. Who according to Nicolas, was diagnosed with a fractured shoulder LAST SPRING..and yet he goes to France to play ball during the summer...comes back here and YES, IT IS FRACTURED...but go on back and play with it Nic. And Rudy...who had back spasms since Ariza took him out ALSO LAST SPRING. Rudy played through the pain and went to Spain to play over the summer..where he had accupuncture treatments which allowed him to play well over there. But comes back to the harder hitting NBA and FINALLY is allowed to have BACK SURGERY...to fix the problem.
Now it's Brandon...who has had a hamstring injury that is not healing correctly. WHY NOT? Perhaps there is another problem that is causing this. Could the training staff possibly look INTO this? Someone on BE mentioned that it may be Brandon''s knee...that he needs to strengthen his knee...well maybe someone should whisper into MEDINA'S ear so that he can catch on ....
REALLY...someone needs to look into the Blazers' training staff. It seems like a no brainer.
Check out Phoenix's head trainer:
"Phoenix Suns Trainer Aaron Nelson Named Athletic Trainer of the Year"
by Seth Pollack on Sep 18, 2009 2:18 PM PDT
No real surprise here based on what Aaron's did to keep Steve Nash, Grant Hill and Shaquille O'Neal on the court last season.
Phoenix Suns Head Athletic Trainer Named Athletic Trainer of the Year by National Basketball Athletic Trainers Association (NBATA)
Aaron Nelson is recognized as the 2008-2009 National Basketball Association Athletic Trainer of the Year by the NBATA for His Success in Working with Suns
Phoenix, Ariz. (September 18, 2009)— The National Basketball Athletic Trainers Association (NBATA) announced the Phoenix Suns very own Aaron Nelson as the 2008-2009 Joe O’Toole NBA Athletic Trainer of the Year. This honor is bestowed on Nelson by his fellow NBATA members because of his accomplishments in injury prevention and the effective rehabilitation of Suns players throughout the season.
"Aaron has shown immense dedication to the league and the safety and health of its players," said Wally Blasé, NBATA chairman. "For well over a decade he has used his education and experiences to not only advance the skills of players on the court, but to help improve the abilities of the trainers around him."
"
The training techniques used by Nelson and his team are part of the National Academy of Sports Medicine’s (NASM) Corrective Exercise and Optimum Performance Training (OPT) models. Designed to not only look at what’s wrong with an athlete, these models ask "why is it injured?" The OPT-based training program is safe, progressive and personalized to meet each player’s needs and specific goals."
KEY PHRASES:
Designed to not only look at what’s wrong with an athlete, these models ask "why is it injured?"
"For well over a decade he has used his education and experiences to not only advance the skills of players on the court, but to help improve the abilities of the trainers around him."
I'd REALLY like the Blazers to consider signing on one of the "trainers around him"
remember when they brought Darius Miles back too soon from injury and he just jacked himself up even more? that type of stuff happens all the time under the watchful professional eye.
Im no doctor but when you look at a guy that clearly cannot move correctly and is limping all over the place with a fierce scowl on his face we have a freaking problem. We don't need some multimillion dollar idiot doctor to tell us that its all good, all you need to do is watch the game
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