Webster wants to be around for the finish

Starting doesn’t ‘mean much’ as he returns from injury

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Oct 7, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

MARTELL WEBSTER

After missing virtually the entire 2008-09 season – and the Trail Blazers’ first sniff of the playoffs in six years – with a stress fracture of the left foot, Martell Webster can’t imagine there is a player on the Portland roster more eager for the team to return to the postseason.

“Not after experiencing what I experienced,” the fifth-year small forward says. “It’s one of the hardest things a professional athlete could go through – to be there when a team wasn’t good, and now that they’ve taken the turn and reached the playoffs, and you aren’t a part of that?

“That leaves a bitter taste in your mouth. I’m hungry to get there again.”

Webster has a new jersey number – switching from 8 to 23 – and a new lease on his career after going down with the foot injury in a preseason game a year ago. He tried to return on Dec. 7, playing five minutes against Toronto, before aggravating the injury and being forced to call it a season.

“Mentally, it was very tough,” Webster says. “There were times toward the end of last season where I felt I could go out there and go 100 percent. Not being able to do that – sticking to the workout regimen, staying in the pool, and taking time off – was very tough.”

Webster, 22, says he is fortunate to have had the companionship of his fiancée, Courtney Clarke, and his two daughters – Mia, 6, and Nylah, seven months.

“That was what got me through it,” Webster says. “Just imagine if I didn’t have them. I’d have been by myself, thinking about basketball all the time. With my family, I was able to escape it and relax.”

Through plenty of pool work and strength training, Webster gained clearance to begin running and playing pickup games about a month ago.

“I’m 100 percent now,” he says. “I don’t have to worry about every step I take, or if I’m going a little too fast, or having (trainer) Jay Jensen running out there to tell me to slow it down.”

Webster’s teammates like what they’ve seen during the pre-training camp workouts.

“Martell is a workaholic,” Brandon Roy says. “The guy is always doing his abs, working out with squat machines. He looks terrific. He has been out for a year, but he is maybe even bouncier than he was before. I’m just excited to see him healthy and hope he’ll be able to maintain that over the season.”

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