Joel Freeland returned to practice today after missing 26 games with a sprained MCL. He sustained the injury in a loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder 8 weeks ago. The Blazers have struggled without him, and have dropped to a 5th seed, and it looks as if they will be staying there, win or lose. His injury has caused head coach Terry Stotts to insert second year power-forward Thomas Robinson into the rotation, which hasn’t been a bad thing all of the time, but sometimes Robinson appears to be clueless about his whereabouts on the offensive end.
The center from England played in full-contact practice today, noting that “I started off with a little bit of pain, but as I played it got warm.” Freeland also told reporters that he doesn’t have a return date set as of now, but he would like to return for the second to last game of the season for the Blazers, versus the Golden State Warriors. He was told that at this point playing won’t do anything to further damage his knee, but it will cause pain. Freeland said that he will play small 3-5 minute shifts when he returns, and he he’ll wear a brace on his injured knee to prevent another injury. The feeling of instability has diminished, and he doesn’t hear a clicking in his knee anymore when moving laterally.
Freeland’s return will largely reduce the number of minutes Robin Lopez has to play in the playoffs. Barring something drastic, the Blazers will play Houston in the first round of the playoffs, and they will need as much time as they can manage to squeeze out of Freeland. His presence will also help with the rebounding, and hustle plays on the Blazer bench. Also, expect to see Thomas Robinson’s minutes decrease drastically, and the few appearances of Meyers Leonard will disappear.