Martell to Miss Road Trip
posted: 10/18/2006 at 10:52 PM
The Trail Blazers are in Salt Lake City, where they continue the exhibition season with a game against the Utah Jazz on Thursday night. Following the game at the Delta Center, the Blazers will fly to Seattle, and Friday night take on the Supersonics for the second time in this pre-season.
Most of the time during the exhibition season, teams have many more players than they need. Final cuts haven't yet been made, so you often see players in the box scores who will never make an opening-day roster. This is not the case with the Trail Blazers. Injuries have taken their toll, and now the Blazers are dealing with another one.
Not travelling with the team, are LaMarcus Aldridge, Darius Miles, Raef LaFrentz, and Martell Webster. Tuesday night, for their game against Golden State, Ime Udoka was not with the team due to the death of his father. It's a terribly tragic situation for Ime and his family, and basketball has taken a back seat for him, and rightly so. Portland will be very shorthanded for the trip to Utah and Seattle.
Webster's injury is being termed a "back sprain." I talked to Martell at the Blazers' practice facility in Tualatin Wednesday morning, as he was flat on a training table, getting treatment. He told me as he was going to the hoop, and about to jump, someone grabbed his shoulder, just as he was turning to the basket. He was held to the ground, and his back was twisted with the downward force. It's not thought to be serious, but he'll stay behind to get treatment and to rehab. I'll update his condition Thursday night, when I talk to him again.
LaFrentz, Aldridge, and Miles continue to work to get back on the floor. Raef is getting very close, following his rehab from a small tear in his calf muscle. He's been taking part in running drills, and has been active in certain portions of practice. He could make his Blazers debut as early as next Monday night against Utah at the Rose Garden. Aldridge is still shooting for a mid-November debut. His surgically-repaired shoulder is healing, and he's doing more and more with his right arm. Miles continues to work very hard on his conditioning, as he is trying to get his knee strong enough to play. He has been shooting, and going through conditioning drills.
The game against the Jazz will be live on the Trail Blazers Radio Network, with Brian Wheeler and Antonio Harvey. The broadcast will begin at 5 o'clock on Thursday evening.
Thanks for all the comments following Tuesday's loss to Golden State. Many of you loved the hustle and desire shown by the team, and nearly all of you commented on the Blazers apparent ability to be a running team, and put up big numbers. Nate McMillan has been asked about that a lot, and even though he still maintains that this team is better suited in the half court, at least for now, he was encouraged by his team's ability to run the floor. Keep in mind, Don Nelson-coached teams have never played defense, and that contributed to the Blazers scoring 120 points. Young teams tend to adjust to their opponents, more than the other way around, so I'll be very inteterested to see where they go for offense against the Jazz, who do play defense. Stay tuned.
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Well, it's good to rest all of our players before the regular season. But then again, it would be better to have them all playing more preseason since there are 7 new faces. They need to get used to playing with each other and build chemistry. It's hard to do that with the injuries we have. Maybe we'll actually keep some guys around for a few years so they get used to playing with each other instead of trading everyone just because we aren't winning at this moment. It takes a good year or two with the same group of guys together to build good chemistry. Look at the Spurs.. They've had Duncan, Parker, Ginobli, Horry, Barry together for years now. No wonder they make the playoffs every year.
It is crazy to hear with as big as the payroll is that there are so many people injured.
Hopefully all our injuries will hit us in the preseason and we will be healthy for most of the regular season.
The blazers are my favorite team. I think they're really keen. But Martell Webster being gone will really hurt the team.
WOW! i'm on Barret's Blog
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