Brandon Roy is Playing Without Knees

Brandon Roy returned to the Trail Blazers’ lineup last night and the question now is, what to do with him?

Analysis: If you were unfortunate enough to pick up Roy in this horrible injury plagued season then I really feel for you. He normally puts up reasonable fantasy numbers and doesn’t hurt you in any particular category. In the previous two years Roy has averaged over 20 points per game, 4 boards, and 4 assists, while not hurting you with his percentages. This year has not been good at all, as losing his knees has obviously affected his performance. He is shooting less than 40% on the season, which is horrible even among high shooting guards.To top it off last night’s game was only his 24th appearance of the season, making him less injured than Greg Oden, but not many other players. You can’t ever doubt Roy’s heart, because boy does he play with a lot of passion, but was he really ready to come back? Something seems to be amiss with the Portland training staff, because they just can’t seem to keep their key guys healthy. With their injury history they should attempt to steal the Phoenix Suns training staff who keep an elderly Steve Nash going strong. Brandon Roy is only 26 years old, so hopefully we haven’t seen the last of him, but knees play some importance in this game of basketball.

Projection: Portland has been doing just fine with LaMarcus Aldridge becoming their new go to guy, and I’m not sure why they rushed Roy back. If you can convince one of your league mates to trade for Roy, then do it, but otherwise in most leagues a waiver wire pickup is a better option right now. Roy’s knees aren’t getting any better and besides there will be even less touches going around for Portland with Gerald Wallace joining the club.