[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

At one point in time, B. Roy was considered one of the league’s brightest upcoming stars. Seems like it was just yesterday. He was considered by many to be the third best shooting guard in the league and was on the verge of joining Kobe and D. Wade in that superstar class.

At 6′ 6" 215 pounds and having the ability to play both guard spots, he was a load to handle. He had a smooth, yet sneaky athletic type of game. Great passer and excellent feel for the game.

“Roy 365 days, seven days a week. Roy has no weaknesses in his game.” – Kobe when asked who the toughest player to defend in the Western Conference was.

“I told him I don’t know of any player outside of myself that has no weaknesses besides him. If you think about it, he can go left and pull up and shoot. He can go right and pull up and shoot. He can fade left shoulder, he can fade right shoulder. He can shoot the long ball. He can finish at the rim. He can shoot free throws. He has no weaknesses in his offensive game." – Kobe talking about B. Roy

He came into the league in 2006 and made an immediate impact for the Blazers, a franchise that had nothing to cheer about the past couple of seasons. Led by him, the Blazers won 11 more games than they did the year before and he won the Rookie of the Year award.

The Blazers were so high on him, that they felt absolutely no regrets passing up on stud scoring wing Kevin Durant in the 2007 NBA Draft. B. Roy led the Blazers to a .500 record and was selected to the All-Star game.

During the 2008-2009 season, B. Roy really took off and started to show superstar clutch type ability. Up to this point in his career, he’d made 24 shots that either tied or won the game with 35 seconds or less. I’m sure everybody remembers the 30 foot shot vs Houston with less than a second left. What about the 52 points he put up vs the Suns without a turnover? He led the Blazers to a 54-28 record and their first playoff appearance since 2002-2003. He averaged 27 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, despite getting elliminated in the first round. He was named All-NBA 2nd Team and finished 9th in MVP voting.

In 2009-2010 it was no different. He was named to his third consecutive All-Star game. After leading the Blazers to a 50-32 record and another playoff appearance, he was named to the All-NBA 3rd Team. One game stood out to me from this season and it was versus the Lakers. He absolutely destroyed Kobe… Made Kobe look almost helpless. He scored 32 points on 11 shots and outplayed Kobe SIGNIFICANTLY in the 4th quarter in a matchup Kobe took personal.

After several mensicus tears, which has led to him having no meniscus in either knee, he no longer looks like the same player. The injury left him helpless during the 2010 playoffs and just completely destroyed last season. His career is pretty much over. I realized it right away when I saw him early last season vs the Clippers. He just didn’t look like the same player and I couldn’t believe it.

My question is, how good do you think he could’ve become if not for the knee injuries?

[quinned35Participant]

I remember when my wolves thought it would be a great idea to draft Roy and then proceed to trade him for the incredible Randy Foye.  Just another case of pure Kahn stupidity

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

Kahn can’t take the blame for that deal lol. That was under Kevin McHale’s watch lol.

Can’t be that mad though… Hindsight is 20/20. Foye was a big time player at Villanova and was getting D. Wade comparisons.

Plus considering the way things have turned out with Roy’s knees, I’m sure Minnesota is happy they weren’t the team who just signed him to a max deal.

[M-DYMESParticipant]

Lol people just asume every mistake the t-wolves have ever made was due to David Kahn. 

Wake up!  The wolves have been making mistakes ever since the franchise came about.  The biggest ones wwere far b4 Kahn’s time, we have the organization’s assessment of Olowakandi and Joe Smith to thank for those

[RUDEBOY_Participant]

I remember doing the 2006 college basketball season..I kept telling my friends that Foye looked more like a 6th man than nba starter…

Roy was right behind Kobe and Wade as the 3rd best sg in the nba…Despite his injury he still can be valuable to the Blazers,becuz he thinks the game better than most players….He had a few nice games during the playoffs..But at times it was sad watching him trying to run the court….I see him as a coach 1 day..He has this quiet demeanor,but wasnt afraid to speak his mind..

He had that killer mode at the end of close games…I remember several times, toward the end of games..If the opposing team scored 2 points to tie the game..Roy would come back down and hit a 3…

He was never a great athlete from the start..But he knew his comfort spots…His lack of explosiveness kept him from being great…He still is among the top 15 shooting guards of all-time though….

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

B. Roy was never an elite athlete, but he was definitely above average. I mean, the man had a 40.5 inch vertical.

He never had problems getting around defenders or finishing at the rim in traffic. I just think he was one of those players who ran as fast and jumped as high as he needed to.

One of the other things I loved about Roy was his ability to finish with either hand around the rim.

Eric Gordon told me a couple of summers ago that the two toughest players he ever had to defend were Brandon Roy and Dwayne Wade. And then he said Joe Johnson came in third.

[paradigmnParticipant]

Whats the over / under on how many more years Roy can play in the league???

I am not ready to write him off yet….he turned 27 in July….I guess around 3-4 years…hopefully….That might be pushing it though.

 

[ilike.panochasParticipant]

With all of Portland’s talent this season, I have no doubt Portland would have been in the finals with a healthy/100% Brandon Roy. Roy, Aldridge, and Wallace makes a formidable big 3. That team had great mix of youth, veteran leadership, and depth at every position. Portland seems like a cursed team.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

I don’t even think Roy has two full seasons left.

He has no mensicus in his knees. He’s 100% bone on bone in both knees. It’s the same thing that ended the careers of Jamal Mashburn and Alan Houston. Roy’s condition is worse than there’s.

[mikeyvthedonParticipant]

Leave Minneapolis and go to LA?

Brandon was a fantastic SG, and it is hard to think he isn’t still elite. But, I really do not think he can be put in that elite group anymore, and from everything I have heard, the prognosis on his career is not strong. His knees are apparently bone on bone, which leaves him with a tremendous amount of swelling and pain. While he had that incredibly heroic game 4 against Dallas, it did not carry on to Games 5 and 6. This was an ongoing trend with him this season, and I tend to think it will continue going forward.

In college, Brandon Roy blossomed from a role player as a freshman to an incredibly dominant All-American senior. The guy could get any where he wanted on the court and he could literally do it all offensively. His transition to the pro’s was also incredibly strong, so much so that people claimed he should have possibly been the first pick in the 2006 draft. But, I will remind you, Brandon’s knees had been an issue since before he was even drafted. He missed a large chunk of games as a rookie due to knee problems, and it was well known that he had a history of those issues.

Brandon had three bonafide All-Star seasons and was the best SG behind Kobe and Dwyane Wade. His ability as a half court offensive threat was incredibly impressive, probably the best behind Kobe. You wanted the ball in his hands with the game on the line and he was a solid passer, not to mention decent rebounder. However, I felt that we at times slowed the game down a little to much with Brandon on the floor. He was not a huge force in the pick and roll, often not using picks to set up isolation plays to break his man down. While I am sure every Blazer fan would love to have Brandon healthy, not having him truly showed what a force LaMarcus Aldridge could become. It was said that Aldridge playing on the perimeter was mainly as a way to free up space near the hoop for Brandon, and to set picks for him that he rarely used. When LaMarcus finally was given more of a role near the basket, he absolutely flourished. Not necessarily a slight to Brandon, but I think he was not necessarily as perfect as everyone seems to remember him being.

The other thing was, Brandon was at best an average defender. I even remember Ron Artest commenting on that while giving him praise offensively. More often than not, Brandon’s man could take him off of the dribble. Many a time I remember him giving up on a defensive possession hoping the big man near the hoop would bail him out. When his knees got shot, this became an even bigger issue. To me, this is a major separation between he and Grant Hill, for those who see Brandon filling a Hill type role for the rest of his career. Would he have become a better defender? Certainly possible, but I do not believe he would have been on the level of the two players ranked ahead of his him at SG in Kobe and D-Wade.

The expectation for Brandon Roy was indeed that he would be the player that Portland built around to make Portland a championship contender. He may not have been Wade or Kobe, but he honestly could come close to competing at their level. If LaMarcus Aldridge improved (check), Nicolas Batum blossomed into a nice defensive/offensive combo at SF (Juries still out, but he has looked solid) and Greg Oden was healthy (D’oh!), than Portland felt that Brandon would be the ultimate guy to put everything together, the team leader and main offensive option. He was doing an excellent job up until this year.

It is hard to believe that had Brandon not been hurt, he would have been a consistent All-Star and made quite a few All-NBA teams (he made a 2nd and 3rd team). Had he lead the Blazers to a title, or kept them constantly contending, he more than likely could have gone down as the best Blazer player of All-Time. The Blazers had two players make the 50 Greatest who had prominent careers on the team, one being Bill Walton and the other being Clyde Drexler. If you compare Brandon and Clyde’s first 4 years, Brandon comes out looking more advanced. If he would have just continued on, I believe he would have had a bunch of 23-25 ppg seasons. Clyde had two seasons where he averaged 27 and while Brandon maybe could have done the same, I do not think he would have had to with the team Portland was building around him. The ultimate hope, of course, was to build a team around Brandon that competed for a championship. Before we had the grim diagnosis on his knees, this certainly looked like a possibility.

I guess this does not exactly answer how good he would have become, and I have my doubts about him becoming a better player than Kobe or Wade. But, on an All-Time scale, he was looking like a possible Top 10, and maybe even fringe Top 5, SG. I ranked Clyde at 5, and I honestly feel that Brandon could have been near that level, and I felt possibly even above with visions of him winning a ring with a well constructed Blazers team full of hope and youth. Now, it is just sort of sad talking about Brandon, I feel horrible for him. He was a very fun player to watch with a definite winning attitude. It is impossible to tell what the future would have held from him had his knees been at full health, but his future now is to the point where he looks to go down with players that make you wonder "What if?" at an incredibly young age. He is not the first, but he certainly seems much to young to have been struck with something like this, completely unfair. But, for a few years, he looked like he could have been one of the better SG’s ever to lace them up, which is more than a number of players can say.

[TRC1991Participant]

being from seattle, a lot of people met him that i know and everyone ranted and raved about what a fantastic person he was. always friendly, always signed autographs, always happy, great with kids… its a shame because he deserves better.

[WizardofOzParticipant]

 ^^I’ve many people in the NBA call him a diva on the court though.

[I May Be WrongParticipant]

 I hope he has a Grant Hill-like role for these next 5-6 seasons. I would seriously look for a way to leave Portland because I’m superstitutious and there is some REAL bad luck there lol. But as in a Grant Hill role, I hope he becomes a solid 3rd or 4th option and has a PG who can make it real easy for him.

[Wavy BagelsParticipant]

I think Roy’s best bet to have a lasting career is to learn to accept his status as a 3rd-4th option and learn how to play off the ball and become a reliable shooter. His condition does not allow him to defend to the best of his abilitites and does not allow him to drive to the rim like he used to. Becoming a shooter will still make him a valuable threat, considering he has had great shooting percentages throughout his career, but only on the offensive end.

[Wavy BagelsParticipant]

If it weren’t for the injuries, Brandon Roy would be in the discussion of top 3 SGs in the league right now.

[IndianaBasketballParticipant]

@mikeyvthedon

I agree with everything you said about Roy, except the part about his game keeping Aldridge on the perimeter.

Until last season, Aldridge showed no interested in playing with his back to the basket or being a banger. He was more interested in shooting fadeaways and letting Roy run the show. He didn’t want to be that guy and self admittedly was comfortable playing off of Roy. Even when Roy missed games (before last season that is), Aldridge never stepped up and showed he could be that guy.

And I thought the pick and and pop between B. Roy and Aldridge was their best set… Pick and pop between Roy and Aldridge with other shooters on the floor for spacing.

The only knocks I had on Roy was that he was a below average defender and he wasn’t comfortable playing off of the ball.

IF  not for injuries, I feel Roy would’ve gone down as the best Blazer of all-time and also a top 5-10 shooting guard. IF not for injuries, I have no doubts he’d have put himself in the Kobe and D. Wade discussion. I thought he was above Joe Johnson (during his best years) and was nipping at D. Wade’s heels.

[aamir543Participant]

I hope he can play, but If not, than I think should become sort of like a mentor, or a guy that develops young guys, and trains guys in the off-season.

[RafterParticipant]

Yeah Roy was a shame, the Blazers were considered to be a future dynasty, and Roy was the ace in the pack. I remember when he was considered to be in Kobe’s and Wade’s class, i still felt he lacked the ‘eye of the tiger’ but he had huge talent nonetheless. Roy was the kind of player that had a lot of fans, myself included and it’s just the way he played which looked so effortless at times that made me a fan. When you talk about a smooth player, he was certainly smooth, incredible awareness and IQ on the floor also. Since he played with a solid and consistent motor, no one expected he was that athletic, he wasn’t slam dunk contest athletic but he surprised alot of people with his hops.

Like i said at the start of my post, it’s a shame that such a talented player had such a bad injury, he’s not the same player anymore, even that 18 point outburst in the 4th quarter against the evantual champs the Dallas Mavericks wasn’t enough to convince me. He wasn’t the same player, he was very casual during the regular season last year with some outstanding performances here and there but not as consistent as the old B Roy, even blaming his Point Guard for hogging the ball couldn’t hide the fact he wasn’t the same. His game doesn’t require much speed and athletic ability but he needs the ball in his hands to be effective, since he’s not the same player he once was, do the Blazers still have trust in him going forward?

And his contract, at the time may have been the right call to tie down Roy for his best years, but they had to expect he’d get badly injured due to his history of injuries, Roy has never played a full season so it was the Blazers’ duty to monitor Roy’s well being, considering he was the face of this new look Blazer team. In terms of what i thought Roy would’ve evantually became, a multiple allstar, a regular all-team NBAer and the leader of one of the best teams in the West. That may sound like a lot but Roy was that good to garner that type of positive thinking.

 

[marcusfizer21Participant]

This is just so damn sad… Everybody likes Brandon Roy’s game… including me… His offensive repertoire is nearly unparalleled in the NBA except for guys like Kobe… It’s a shame that he’s a ticking time bomb waiting to happen… I would have wanted him to finish an NBA career in HIS own choice… Like tezo said, it’s tough when you are completely bone to bone because any moment in the game of basketball, your knees are going to give in and I dont want to see Brandon Roy struggling just to walk straight up… He’s definitely one of those amazing NBA players that I wish to see last his career for more than 10 years but that’s pretty unlikely right now even if he keeps on saying that "my knee is fine" because there’s that certain difference between what the doctor is telling rather than what the athlete tends to believe…

[Mr. JewboyParticipant]

 So sad..

He was slowly becoming my favorite player while my other favorite, T-mac, was out for about a year with his career pretty much over (I don’t pick my favorites too wisely..)

I just loved his shot, his smoothness at all times and the way he played with confidence, wish only the best for him

[omphalosParticipant]

This is really disappointing for me, I thought Roy could have had an MVP season this year if he was healthy, with Lebron, Wade, Kobe out of the running more or less. Seeing people fail to reach their potential because of injury or circumstance is very frustrating, the pro game is very fickled and unforgiving; there is no such thing as a safe bet.

[PurpleMonkeyDishwasherParticipant]

Kevin McHale’s reason for making the ROY/FOYE trade was the concern for Roy’s knees even at that time.  I don’t feel bad for Roy he’s made enough money to take care of 10 generations of his family.  It’s just part of his life now and I’m sure he still considers himself blessed.

[PulseGlazerParticipant]

If he were healthy, then at this point, he would be better than Kobe.  Whether or not his team would be favored, I’m not sure, as a lot of Alridge’s development was because Roy was out, but they would at least be closer to actual contention.

[Author]

Posts