Brandon Roy should have sat out all of this season to rest his tired knees. Just like he should not have pushed himself so hard the previous season to come back from surgery for the playoffs.
But that is not how Roy is wired, he is as fierce a competitor as the NBA has right now. Witness Game 4 against Dallas as evidence. The man does not quit.
But the Portland Trail Blazers may want him to, according to a new report. And if true, that organization has more disconnect with reality at the top than I had realized — and after firing two top GMs inside 10 months, we knew things were pretty screwed up.
Here are the money graphs from John Canzano of the Oregonian.A source familiar with the situation said Thursday that Portland figures it must deal with Roy’s future if it’s truly going to rejoin the league’s contenders. Retirement for Roy is among the options they’re considering….
Roy told me on the day of his season exit interview that he’d spend the summer healing, getting stronger and resting his knees. He wondered what coming back healthier would mean. Also, he planned to do platelet-rich plasma therapy again this summer, hoping it would help his knees.
Doesn’t sound like a guy wanting to retire.
Roy has four years, $68.7 million left on his new deal, the one he got coming off an injury just before last season. It is possible that if the new Collective Bargaining Agreement will have an “amnesty clause” where a team can jettison one player and not have him count against their salary cap (that player would still get paid the remainder of his contract, he just would not play for the team and his salary would not count against the team’s cap).
But if they are seriously thinking Roy would retire they are more disconnected from reality than those actually disappointed the rapture didn’t happen last weekend.