Brandon Roy underwent a mid-season double knee surgery this year. According to an interview with former Portland Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard, however, that injury shouldn't have surprised the Blazers brass.
Brandon Roy Injury: Blazers Were Aware Of Knee Issues When Extending Contract
Pritchard, who was randomly fired just prior to the 2010 NBA Draft, was making an appearance on Portland radio host John Canzano’s radio show Friday when the subject of Roy’s five-year, $82 million contract extension in 2009 was brought up. Pritchard took full responsibility for the signing, but mentioned that there were plenty of injury details already known about by the Blazers at the time.
“The one thing that is not reported and people probably haven’t seen out there is did we know Brandon has issues healthwise?” Pritchard asked rhetorically. “Absolutely.”
“There are two issues you have to address: If Brandon had played the next year and been a free agent, there is no doubt he would have had 29 teams lined up to give him a six-year extension instead of the five-year that we gave him at a max deal,” Pritchard said to explain his reasoning.
“The other thing, that Larry Miller was a big part of, is one the last year of Brandon’s deal we made about a significant portion of it non-guaranteed and used that money -- that hold-back -- as a secondary insurance policy. Brandon’s fully insured.”
Regardless of Pritchard’s reasoning, considering there were reports that the Blazers may look to force Roy to retire this offseason, this doesn’t look good in retrospect.
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