No, the headline is not a joke. Brandon Roy, who leads the young Portland Trail Blazers in scoring, assists, and steals, will have arthroscopic knee surgery this Thursday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee.
With the news of Greg Oden finally being released from his injury rehabilitation, knee injuries were supposed to be the last thing on the minds of Blazer fans.
Rookies will now have to step up in Roy's absence. Let's take a look at possible situations that could replace Portland's current depth chart:
1. New-comers Rudy Fernandez and Jerryd Bayless can split playing time to make up for Roy's large playing time average of 37.7 minutes per game.
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2. Martell Webster can shift to shooting guard, with Travis Outlaw taking the starting spot. Fernandez can back-up Webster while Bayless resumes his natural position of point guard.
With Roy expected to be out for an estimated three to four months, the pressure is on for rookies to step up in the team's true time of need.
Although this can be compared to Oden's situation in the last off-season, it really can't. Roy is Portland's All-Star, their undisputed leader. It will take more than talent to fill Roy's shoes.
Will the Blazers still make the playoffs? Will they even have a winning season? What do you think Coach McMillan will do to adapt to this unlikely scenario?
UPDATE: After lots of yelling and angry feelings, I looked at Oregonlive and it said Roy will be fine. I thought that this situation would be similar to Gilbert Arenas, but in all reality it was much less severe. Roy should be back before the Blazers tip-off against the Lakers on October 28th.
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3 months ago
I hope you had fun typing this all out, in an attempt to add drama to the story. The fact of the matter is, the surgery was a COMPLETE success. Just announced on Portland's local sports radio (95.5) that the procedure went according as planned and Roy is expected to be 100% in 4-8 weeks, not months.
In fact he is expected to be on his feet walking by next week. I'll be surprised if he even misses a preseason game (not that I expect him to play much anyways). So all that "Possible Situation" jargon is pretty much hypothetical nonsense. Just sayin'.
from 3 months ago
Well when I first heard about it, people were saying otherwise. I guess this is no longer relevant, so I apologize.
3 months ago
Mike, you're a dumb ass! All they did is pull a loose bone chip out of his knee. He'll be practicing with the team in about a MONTH!
from 3 months ago
a bit sharp there, eh Elliott? Prior to hearing the actual outcome his hypothesis had some possibility and he put together a piece that pointed out some things that could happen. When you consider that last year Agent Zero had the exact same surgery...the concerns make sense. Sure, in Roy's case it was not as advanced, hence not as disastrous...but it could have been. Rather than the name-calling you would be better served to mention, as did Jim, that the actual prognosis post-surgery is much shorter. Nice work, Jim.
from 3 months ago
Sorry I wasted your time.
3 months ago
I love Mike Turnell's work. A fine social media journalist. I look forward to reading ALL about the 2008 Mighty Oregon Ducks. Keep it up, MT!
Ceeeeej
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