On Thursday the Portland Trail Blazers announced that Brandon Roy will undergo arthroscopic surgery on both of his knees. No timetable has been set for his return after surgery though some estimates state it could be 4 - 6 weeks. This announcement comes shortly after Dr. Brian Cole(Chicago Bulls team doctor) informed Roy that due to the condition of his knees he is not a good candidate for the experimental meniscus transplantation operation. Roy's knees are considered to be "bone-on-bone" with no meniscus remaining.

Arthroscopic surgery isn't a permanent solution to Roy's knee problem. Roy will still have no meniscus in his knees & the surgery is being done in an effort to clean-up his knees and hopefully reduce pain. More than likely Roy will continue to have chronic knee issues and may require follow-up surgeries in the future to relieve similar problems. Some are suggesting Roy should take what remains of the 2010-2011 season off to rest, however, rest will not regrow his meniscus or repair the functional issues he has with his knees. It would appear that just using his knees as normal is going to cause small amounts of damage that will probably need to be fixed later.

Roy's knee problems will put the Blazers in an interesting situation as to how they can use Roy. It will ultimately depend on how long it will take before Roy's knees start giving him problems. The performance of his knees after the surgery he had before last year's playoffs does not provide a very positive outlook. Roy's knees only lasted a few weeks at the start of the season before knee pain caused him to miss 3 games. He was then able to play a few more weeks, though his play was inconsistent and he continued to complain of pain. It was decided he would need to sit out for longer to rest, however a rest that was only suppose to last a few games turned into an indefinite amount of time and now a decision to go forward with surgery.

Will this new surgery allow Roy's knees to last longer than they did after the last one? That is a good question & one we will only know once he gets back. One thing for sure is that the Blazers need to be cautious in how they use Roy and introduce him back to the line-up, as well as how Nate McMillan decides to utilize him afterwards. As things stand now it would appear that the era of relying on Roy as the pinnacle of our offense is over and the Blazers will need to be focused on using him in extended minutes only when absolutely necessary(playoffs or games that could have playoff implications). I could definitely see Roy's minutes being cut down to something like 20 - 25 minutes per game. I believe due to the nature of his injury he has a finite amount of time that he will be usable until he will probably need another surgery to relieve pain in his knees. This pain does not appear as though it will go away with rest alone. So resting him for long durations is not really buying the Blazers time because his knees are healing during the rest, but more because we are not making withdrawals from Roy's "knee bank account".

Despite the negative implications of this whole situation I still believe that if both Roy & Oden can come back and have at least a single season of health then the Blazers could be definite contenders. It's too bad the possibility of that happening is looking less and less likely with each injury or surgery.