Sad Brandon Roy Quote

[aporel#18]

Portland should have traded Roy when his value was at top. He's a good player, but he demands the ball a lot, and now injuries have reduced his abilities.

What he tells to the press shows lack of compromise with the team. I don't think McMillan is a good coach, but he's doing the right thing with Roy. Roy needs to recover from his injuries to try to be the same player, or even a good player. Look at Grant Hill, and you'll realize there's a chance to rebuild a career if you take enough time. That's his chance, and he's crying over not being on the rotation... not very smart.

Roy needs to learn how to live without that big explosion, if he's patient he'll get his minutes. He's earning a big paycheck, and he should think about the team.

LarBrd33, TP for a great great post, and I agree Roy wouldn't fit in the Celtics style. In a few years, when he matures, he could be a great role player for a contender.

   Portland lost their starting center Greg Oden for the entire season.  They lost their back up center and their best player for a large part of the season in Camby and Roy.  La-Marcus Aldridge has developed into an all-star player this season.  The Trail Blazers went into the Play-offs as the 6th seed in the Western Conference.  McMillan should be in the running for coach of the year. 

Portland has a very talented roster, they're thin at the big department but have lots of talented wingmen in Batum, Rudy, Matthews and now Gerald Wallace. LaMarcus is a beast, and Miller is a great point guard. Roy could be another case of "Ewing theory" for them.

Anyway, McMillan has done a very good job this year in managing his team, but he was awful in the last two years, giving the ball to Roy as the only offensive way. He deserves to be in the COY run... ok, but no way he can beat Thibs.

[indeedproceed]

Portland should have traded Roy when his value was at top. He's a good player, but he demands the ball a lot, and now injuries have reduced his abilities.

What he tells to the press shows lack of compromise with the team. I don't think McMillan is a good coach, but he's doing the right thing with Roy. Roy needs to recover from his injuries to try to be the same player, or even a good player. Look at Grant Hill, and you'll realize there's a chance to rebuild a career if you take enough time. That's his chance, and he's crying over not being on the rotation... not very smart.

Roy needs to learn how to live without that big explosion, if he's patient he'll get his minutes. He's earning a big paycheck, and he should think about the team.

LarBrd33, TP for a great great post, and I agree Roy wouldn't fit in the Celtics style. In a few years, when he matures, he could be a great role player for a contender.

   Portland lost their starting center Greg Oden for the entire season.  They lost their back up center and their best player for a large part of the season in Camby and Roy.  La-Marcus Aldridge has developed into an all-star player this season.  The Trail Blazers went into the Play-offs as the 6th seed in the Western Conference.  McMillan should be in the running for coach of the year. 

Portland has a very talented roster, they're thin at the big department but have lots of talented wingmen in Batum, Rudy, Matthews and now Gerald Wallace. LaMarcus is a beast, and Miller is a great point guard. Roy could be another case of "Ewing theory" for them.

Anyway, McMillan has done a very good job this year in managing his team, but he was awful in the last two years, giving the ball to Roy as the only offensive way. He deserves to be in the COY run... ok, but no way he can beat Thibs.

Definitly do not agree that Nate Mc has been doing anything but a stellar job the last 2 years. Last season he had 13 players who averaged over 20 minutes per game when they played for the Blazers. That's a massive roster overhaul combined with massive losses to injuries, including 2 starting caliber centers. Nate McMillian has consistently been handed a roster that has been ravaged by injury and turned over by trade, yet he's still getting them to the playoffs by making the most out of what he has.

You call the Blazers' roster 'talented', and cite Batum, Rudy, and Wes Matthews..but every single one of those players has had pretty HUGE questions about them since last offseason. Whether it was the Matthews 'over-bid' (which we've learned to be a necessity), or Rudy and Batum's uninspired (and I'm being kind) play earlier this season, I think once again, this is just a case of McMillian doing the best he can with the cards he's been dealt.

[LarBrd33]

#5 Funny to realize that Danny Ainge also supposedly was the only GM who would have taken Kevin Durant over Greg Oden... for many of the same reasons.

Good post overall, but much in the same way the "we gave up Randy Foye! Brandon Roy!" thing was a bit of a pet peeve of a lot of people, the "Danny would've selected Kevin Durant" myth is also false.

Is it?  I'm pretty sure I've heard Chad Ford, Marc Stein and Bill Simmons all agree on this in a podcast that Danny was totally going to take Durant.  But whatever... not that important, i guess.

[indeedproceed]

#5 Funny to realize that Danny Ainge also supposedly was the only GM who would have taken Kevin Durant over Greg Oden... for many of the same reasons.

Good post overall, but much in the same way the "we gave up Randy Foye! Brandon Roy!" thing was a bit of a pet peeve of a lot of people, the "Danny would've selected Kevin Durant" myth is also false.

Is it?  I'm pretty sure I've heard Chad Ford, Marc Stein and Bill Simmons all agree on this in a podcast that Danny was totally going to take Durant.  But whatever... not that important, i guess.

I was going on Doc Rivers saying recently that the Boston Celtics would've taken Greg Oden. Gimme a minute, I will find the quote.

    But the Celtics, despite having the second-worst record in the league, slipped to fifth in the lottery. They flipped the pick for Ray Allen(notes), which helped lure Kevin Garnett(notes), and the franchise's 17th title soon followed. Had the Celtics landed the No. 1 pick, Rivers said, Oden would have been the choice.

    "Even though everybody changes now, we were all for Oden, and I think 98 percent of the league,'' Rivers said. "But now I hear it all over our staff, I hear it everywhere, ‘Oh, no, we were Durant guys.' I don't believe that. I think we would have drafted Oden.''

[LarBrd33]

fair enough

[17wasEZ]

I forget the exact specifics of the 2006 draft, but I remember that the Timberwolves had the 6th pick and really wanted Randy Foye... but for whatever reason they worked out a trade in advance where they'd take Brandon Roy 6th, Celtics would take Foye 7th... Celtics would trade Foye (and Raef's bad contract) to the Blazers for Sebastian Telfair (and Ratliff's key expiring contract that helped us land KG)...and then the Blazers would flip Foye to the Timberwolves for Brandon Roy....

I think the incentive for the Timberwolves to cooperate was that they got the guy they coveted (Randy Foye), but get to pay him a little less by having him selected 7th instead of 6th.  Basically their involvement was irrelevant.  They could have just taken Foye 6th. 

The trade really boiled down to Boston trading Brandon Roy and a bad contract for Telfair, a 2nd rounder, and an expiring contract.   

Couple thoughts:
#1 For a year or so before we understood how good Foye and Roy were, a few people on this forum would complain that we gave up Randy Foye for Sebastian Telfair.  Some people thought Foye was going to be a star.  Going into the draft he was considered to be a better prospect than Roy.  People who paid attention to the actual draft had to keep correcting these incorrect fans by saying, "For the love of god... we didn't give up Foye!  We gave up Brandon Roy. We only selected Foye 7th, because a trade was worked out in advance.  We NEVER had a chance at getting Foye.  Get it right!!!"...   

#2  Once Roy became a star, we'd have fans come on here saying, "I can't believe we gave up Brandon Roy for Sebastian Telfair"... which would then cause a bunch of (incorrect) fans to say, "uh... we didn't give up Roy.  He was drafted 6th.  We traded Randy Foye for Telfair!... get it right!... which was, in fact, wrong.   

#3 Over time... people finally accepted the reality... we certainly could have drafted Brandon Roy.  Had we not had a trade worked out in advance, the Timberwolves certainly would have taken Foye and Roy would have been ours at #7.  We absolutely traded Brandon Roy (and raef's bad contract) for Telfair (and the crucial Ratliff expiring contract).  This was now seen as a bad move considering we lucked into Rondo later in the draft and Telfair never amounted to crap.  Once this fact finally sunk in with the fan base, it was rationalized in two ways:  First, dumping Raef for Ratliff was key in landing KG.  Second, it had been said that Danny Ainge liked Roy, but didn't believe his knee would hold up.  Apparently, Ainge was deftly afraid of taking Roy, because he expected at any point his career would be over.  Fans scoffed at this.

#4 Not that I wish any harm on Roy or celebrate his downfall... but it's interesting to note that Danny Ainge was entirely right.  He didn't want Roy.  He didn't think he'd hold up.  He hasn't.   

#5 Funny to realize that Danny Ainge also supposedly was the only GM who would have taken Kevin Durant over Greg Oden... for many of the same reasons.

#6  Even more interesting to note... Ainge just traded Kendrick Perkins (who he doesn't think will hold up) for Jeff Green.  Seems stupid now, but will we eventually come to realize this was another intelligent move?
     

As of now... Roy will probably never be the same, but not bad enough to retire.  The Blazers are on the hook paying him 15-18 million per year through 2013/14.   Probably a risk they shouldn't have taken considering his knee issue.   Avoiding those kind of longterm contracts on injury-prone players is what causes a GM to dump a guy like Perk at the trade deadline for talent.   We probably could have given Perk a fat extension this summer... I dont' think Ainge wanted any part of that.

I bring all of this up, because it's just a perfect example of how perceptions change with time.  Unless Roy grows a new knee and wins multiple titles... looks like Ainge got this one right.

Nice read.  But halfway thru, I was hoping I could find the Cliff Notes version.... 

[BballTim]

#5 Funny to realize that Danny Ainge also supposedly was the only GM who would have taken Kevin Durant over Greg Oden... for many of the same reasons.

Good post overall, but much in the same way the "we gave up Randy Foye! Brandon Roy!" thing was a bit of a pet peeve of a lot of people, the "Danny would've selected Kevin Durant" myth is also false.

Is it?  I'm pretty sure I've heard Chad Ford, Marc Stein and Bill Simmons all agree on this in a podcast that Danny was totally going to take Durant.  But whatever... not that important, i guess.

I was going on Doc Rivers saying recently that the Boston Celtics would've taken Greg Oden. Gimme a minute, I will find the quote.

    But the Celtics, despite having the second-worst record in the league, slipped to fifth in the lottery. They flipped the pick for Ray Allen(notes), which helped lure Kevin Garnett(notes), and the franchise's 17th title soon followed. Had the Celtics landed the No. 1 pick, Rivers said, Oden would have been the choice.

    "Even though everybody changes now, we were all for Oden, and I think 98 percent of the league,'' Rivers said. "But now I hear it all over our staff, I hear it everywhere, ‘Oh, no, we were Durant guys.' I don't believe that. I think we would have drafted Oden.''

  I still don't see how Doc hearing the Celts staff say they'd have taken Durant and being skeptical about it is proof that we'd have taken Oden.

[Finkelskyhook]

B. Roy is a funny player, one a lot like Tracy McGrady*.  You get people saying stuff like "when he's healthy he's an All Star.  The thing is, such players are unhealthy so much of the time, that you have to weigh that against them. 

Oh my!!  That'd be the last person I'd compare Roy to.  A tanker like McGrady who disgraced himself twice tanking for trades compared to a guy who appears to have showed Perkesque determination to come back from injury.

Probably a fairer comparison would be Grant Hill.

Sad because a healthy Roy is fun to watch play.  A player who does everything well and isn't about himself.

[RAcker]

B. Roy is a funny player, one a lot like Tracy McGrady*.  You get people saying stuff like "when he's healthy he's an All Star.  The thing is, such players are unhealthy so much of the time, that you have to weigh that against them. 

Oh my!!  That'd be the last person I'd compare Roy to.  A tanker like McGrady who disgraced himself twice tanking for trades compared to a guy who appears to have showed Perkesque determination to come back from injury.

Probably a fairer comparison would be Grant Hill.

Sad because a healthy Roy is fun to watch play.  A player who does everything well and isn't about himself.

I agree with that sentiment.  T-Mac is a terrible comparison with a guy in Roy that seems like a real competitor.

[indeedproceed]

#5 Funny to realize that Danny Ainge also supposedly was the only GM who would have taken Kevin Durant over Greg Oden... for many of the same reasons.

Good post overall, but much in the same way the "we gave up Randy Foye! Brandon Roy!" thing was a bit of a pet peeve of a lot of people, the "Danny would've selected Kevin Durant" myth is also false.

Is it?  I'm pretty sure I've heard Chad Ford, Marc Stein and Bill Simmons all agree on this in a podcast that Danny was totally going to take Durant.  But whatever... not that important, i guess.

I was going on Doc Rivers saying recently that the Boston Celtics would've taken Greg Oden. Gimme a minute, I will find the quote.

    But the Celtics, despite having the second-worst record in the league, slipped to fifth in the lottery. They flipped the pick for Ray Allen(notes), which helped lure Kevin Garnett(notes), and the franchise's 17th title soon followed. Had the Celtics landed the No. 1 pick, Rivers said, Oden would have been the choice.

    "Even though everybody changes now, we were all for Oden, and I think 98 percent of the league,'' Rivers said. "But now I hear it all over our staff, I hear it everywhere, ‘Oh, no, we were Durant guys.' I don't believe that. I think we would have drafted Oden.''

  I still don't see how Doc hearing the Celts staff say they'd have taken Durant and being skeptical about it is proof that we'd have taken Oden.

'Proof' is a bit of a funny word. I'd say there is not a more compelling piece of evidence out there that says otherwise. The only 'Proof' at this point would be a time machine and a luckier lottery, but I don't think you can find a more compelling source than Doc Rivers flatly saying the Celtics (and hence Danny Ainge) would've taken Greg Oden.

[Chris]

B. Roy is a funny player, one a lot like Tracy McGrady*.  You get people saying stuff like "when he's healthy he's an All Star.  The thing is, such players are unhealthy so much of the time, that you have to weigh that against them. 

Oh my!!  That'd be the last person I'd compare Roy to.  A tanker like McGrady who disgraced himself twice tanking for trades compared to a guy who appears to have showed Perkesque determination to come back from injury.

Probably a fairer comparison would be Grant Hill.

Sad because a healthy Roy is fun to watch play.  A player who does everything well and isn't about himself.

I am not sure tanking for trades is that much worse than trying to get your PG (who makes your team much better) shipped out of town, just because you want to handle the ball more. 

[Cman]

B. Roy is a funny player, one a lot like Tracy McGrady*.  You get people saying stuff like "when he's healthy he's an All Star.  The thing is, such players are unhealthy so much of the time, that you have to weigh that against them. 

Oh my!!  That'd be the last person I'd compare Roy to.  A tanker like McGrady who disgraced himself twice tanking for trades compared to a guy who appears to have showed Perkesque determination to come back from injury.

Probably a fairer comparison would be Grant Hill.

Sad because a healthy Roy is fun to watch play.  A player who does everything well and isn't about himself.

I agree with that sentiment.  T-Mac is a terrible comparison with a guy in Roy that seems like a real competitor.

Sure, I'd agree with the Grant Hill comparison as well.  All three are similar along an important dimension: injuries.  That's all I was doing when comparing Roy to T-Mac, nothing to do with their personalities.  My whole point was to argue that you have to factor in injury history when comparing players (such as Pierce and T-Mac).

[Arok325]

I don't think I can ever feel sorry for a professional athlete who makes millions of dollars simply because they get hurt. It's ridiculous. Poor Brandon Roy? What a joke. Athletes get paid to play a game and to workout. How can anyone feel bad for them? Am I alone in this? Please tell me because I'd like to hear differently.

[indeedproceed]

I don't think I can ever feel sorry for a professional athlete who makes millions of dollars simply because they get hurt. It's ridiculous. Poor Brandon Roy? What a joke. Athletes get paid to play a game and to workout. How can anyone feel bad for them? Am I alone in this? Please tell me because I'd like to hear differently.

I disagree with you. Saying you don't feel bad for athletes because they're 'paid to play a *game* and to workout' is like saying I can't complain that my steak is overcooked because children are starving in Africa.

Brandon Roy has devoted his entire life to playing a sport. He became really good at it, was just a small step behind Kobe Bryant, and was one of the best players in basketball. Then, his body betrayed him, and his whole career arc changed.

Why wouldn't you feel sorry for the guy? It wasn't like he was just 'given' this opportunity. He had rare athleticism, sure, but he worked his tail off to get to where he got, and while I'm sure the money helps, the fact that he admits to almost crying because he couldn't be 'the man' like he's accustomed to for his team when they needed him makes me sad. I dunno why it shouldn't.

[mgent]

I don't think I can ever feel sorry for a professional athlete who makes millions of dollars simply because they get hurt. It's ridiculous. Poor Brandon Roy? What a joke. Athletes get paid to play a game and to workout. How can anyone feel bad for them? Am I alone in this? Please tell me because I'd like to hear differently.

Who cares how much money he has?  No one is saying they feel bad for him because he's going to struggle to feed himself and his family.  He's just a guy that loves the game and was once better than 99.9% of people that play it, but due to circumstances out of his control, can no longer play said game on the stage where he has just recently found success.