PORTLAND — Guard Brandon Roy is returning to practice and wants to rejoin the Trail Blazers as soon as this weekend, but he will have to prove himself first.
Portland’s three-time All-Star had arthroscopic surgery on both of his knees just three weeks ago and coach Nate McMillan doubts that Roy will be ready to play this weekend.
Portland, coming off a 109-103 victory over the Chicago Bulls, had the day off Tuesday. The Blazers will practice at home today before heading to Toronto for Friday night’s game against the Raptors.
“I can’t really predict the future, but right now they (the knees) feel good,” Roy said. “The biggest thing is once I start playing I have to keep them at a level where I feel good about going out there and helping this team.”
Roy was averaging 16.6 points in 23 games before he was sidelined indefinitely by the team. He says now he is nearly pain free, but still needs to practice at full speed.
Nate McMillan told Mike Barrett, Mike Rice and Brian Wheeler on Blazers Courtside Tuesday that he does not envision Roy returning this weekend despite the guard’s intentions.
“The plan right now is to limit his time in practice, slowly work him back. he’s been off for two months,” McMillan said. He will be allowed to go live in practice for about 30 minutes. After a day or so that will increase a bit and we’ll see how he feels.
Could he possibly ready Friday or Sunday?
“I don’t foresee Brandon playing this weekend,” McMillan said. “We need to get him some time on the practice court and see how he responds to that.”
In an interview with John Canzano on 95.5 FM, LaMarcus Aldridge was asked if he is ready to maintain his leadership role upon Roy’s return.
“Of course. I am. I think I’ve had time in this role, I’ve grown in it,” Aldridge said. “But we all know that this is his team, so when he comes back, I’ll do whatever the team needs me to do.”
Last season, Roy had arthroscopic surgery to repair the meniscus in his right knee two days before the Blazers opened their first-round playoff series against Phoenix. He made a remarkable comeback and played in the fourth game of the series, which the Suns eventually won.
Some suggested that perhaps he returned too soon from that surgery, and is being too hasty this time around, too.
Roy has said the problem is too little cartilage in both his knees. Although Roy was hopeful to be on the court against Toronto, or perhaps in Detroit on Sunday, he vowed to listen to doctors after testing his knee at practice. And when he does return, he said, he’ll ease himself back.
“I’m going to try to get through these practices and when we’re in Toronto I’m sure we’ll sit down and come up with an amount of minutes. I’m sure he (McMillan) is going to want to keep it low when I first come back,” Roy said.
Roy has not played since Dec. 15. That was when Portland started to go to Aldridge, who has averaged 25.4 points and 10.2 rebounds since then.
The Blazers are 16-10 without Roy.
In the victory over the Bulls, Aldridge had a career-high 42 points. He said afterward that the Blazers need Roy back.
“A lot of guys have been playing a lot of minutes, so getting Brandon back should be good for us,” Aldridge said.
Roy weighed in: “I think we are always just going to try to help each other play well. The goal is always to try to win. I don’t know how we’re going to run plays or anything yet. I just want to come back and get out there and get my legs back.”
McMillan suggested that Roy wasn’t the only one coming back — center Marcus Camby would be practicing this week, too.
Camby had arthroscopic surgery on his right knee on Jan. 20. He was averaging 5.9 points and 11.3 rebounds in 39 games this season.
The Blazers have been dogged by injuries for the second consecutive season.
In November, the team announced that center Greg Oden, the No. 1 draft pick in 2007, would miss the season because of microfracture surgery on his left knee. Oden missed his rookie year because of microfracture surgery on his right knee.
Second-year forward Jeff Pendergraph injured his knee in the preseason and required season-ending surgery. And rookie guard Elliot Williams has undergone surgery this season on both knees.
Last season, Blazers players collectively missed more games than any team in the NBA except the Warriors.
