Before the season started, the Portland Trail Blazers were running out of room in their bandwagon. Hanging their hats on young rising talent and depth at every position, the Blazers set a goal to win the Northwest Division and quietly plotted a Western Conference takeover. But these days, the bandwagon is looking more and more like an ambulance.
Add (the now-starting center) Joel Przybilla to the list of Blazers casualties this year. In the first quarter of tonight’s game against the Dallas Mavericks, Przybilla came down awkwardly on a defensive possession and came crumbling down to the floor gripping his right knee. His diagnosis would later be revealed to be a ruptured patella tendon, accompanied by a patella dislocation. Although the Blazers haven’t provided a timetable for Przybilla’s return, this injury was worse than that of Greg Oden’s – who is done for the season. I’ll let you do the math.
Przybilla joins Oden, Travis Outlaw, Nicolas Batum, Rudy Fernandez and Patty Mills on the Blazers’ injured list.
The injury leaves the Blazers incredibly thin in the frontcourt, with no true center on the roster. If tonight’s game is any indication, the Blazers will be playing a more up-tempo style of play with a small-ball lineup. The Blazers will rely on the trio of LaMarcus Aldridge, Juwan Howard and recently re-instated rookie Jeff Pendergraph to man the center position.
Aldridge has frequently been criticized for his lack of intensity in the paint, especially in the defense and rebounding departments. Aldridge will have to turn his focus to prowling the paint and crashing the boards on defense, and work on establishing more of an inside presence on offense instead of floating around outside of the paint and lofting up mid-range jumpers. It’s a challenge that Aldridge has to meet and surpass if the Blazers hope to be successful on a regular basis.
As we’ve said before, even with the injuries, at least the Blazers still have all-star level players like Brandon Roy and Aldridge to rely on. As long as they remain healthy, the Blazers will at least be competitive. But the Blazers certainly have had to readjust their expectations for what is possible this season. While they certainly aren’t out and done, they will be lucky to find themselves squeak into the playoffs with the severity and quantity of injuries they’ve endured this year.
Click here for more thoughts on the Joel Przybilla injury from Oregon Sports Live’s Andrew Theen
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Stu’s comments are very insightful on this subject.