A year removed from Basketball, Brandon Roy has been working as hard as possible to get himself in shape for a comeback with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Talking with the Associated Press on Thursday, he discussed the road to recovery, and how the three-time NBA All-Star sees 'no setbacks' that will prevent him from playing this season.
After years of issues with his knees, Roy now finds himself in a pleasantly unusual situation, playing without pain.
"That's the biggest thing I'm excited about is I'm in the gym, I'm working hard and coach has to tell me to stop playing instead of me saying, `OK that's enough. I'm feeling my knees."'
Brandon Roy's presence isn't just about what he brings to the table for a team in need of scoring from their guard positions, but also a work ethic that permeates the entire organization. It's easy to forget just how young the Timberwolves are, until you realize that Roy is an elder statesman, and he's only 28. From the perspective of Wolves assistant coach Shawn Respert, his presence has been noticable at workouts.
"With Brandon it's just a healthy attitude where he wants to see how much he can push himself to that limit before we have to shut him down and be smart about it," Respert said. "He's been spectacular so far as far as the mentality, his toughness, his willingness to do what we ask him to do and still find that little bit of room to do a little bit more."
Minnesota's approach to team building may be a little more haphazard than other young teams around the league, but thus far the decision to bring Brandon Roy into the fold has been a sage one. With a young nucleus of Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio, and Nikola Pekovic, now bolstered with the likes of Roy, Chase Budinger and Andrei Kirilenko, the organization got decidedly older, but also more mature. No longer simply the next young team in line, the Timberwolves look to place themselves in position to make a run in 2012-13, and with Brandon Roy's knees feeling good, that run will be a lot more comfortable.
For more on the Minnesota Timberwolves check out Canis Hoopus.
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