Image via WikipediaPortland Trail Blazers’ star guard Brandon Roy has yet to play a full season since entering the league in 2006 and a lingering knee injury doesn’t give hope that he will ever fulfill a full 82 game schedule. Roy left Saturday’s game against New Orleans after playing just over 20 minutes and is questionable for the remainder of the week.
Expect young Wesley Matthews to fill in the interim alongside Andre Miller. The Trailblazers like Matthews’s length on the perimeter and his streaky scoring ability which has produced four games of 13 points or more off of Portland’s bench. Once Roy returns it wouldn’t be unreasonable for Portland to give him ample time to recover and thus delegating more minutes to Matthews.
About 600 miles down California’s interstate 5 we see a similar situation for the Golden State Warriors whose star forward David Lee has missed the past week due to an elbow laceration. Lee suffered the injury after connecting with New York’s Wilson Chandler who lost two teeth in the incident but Lee is expected to make his return this weekend.
Unlike Brandon Roy’s recurring injury, Lee shouldn’t feel any affects of the injured elbow as the season progresses so expect him to return back to his double-double form as the Warriors chase a coveted playoff seed in the highly competitive Western Conference.
As if the loss of Lebron James wasn’t enough to crush the hopes of Cleveland Cavaliers fans, the groin injury suffered by star-by-default Mo Williams has shelved the guard once again. This same groin injury sidelined Williams for most of the pre-season so the Cavs may need to look for alternative options since there is no timetable for his return. This should open opportunities for players like Ramon Sessions who’s seeing steady floor time at 26 MPG and Daniel Gibson who’s outside shooting has opened the floor for Cleveland’s post players.
