Brandon Roy is Jim Paxson with a little more athleticism and attitude. Roy's and Paxson's stat lines are nearly identical when you throw out Paxson's first two years where he didn't start due to Ramsay's reluctance to start rookies over vets. Both are/were players that could take over games occassionally, be counted on as consistent scorers and contributors, and could be built around. Paxson also played during the pre-Jordan era where building around a Shooting Guard was unheard of, so he didn't get the same leadership opportunities that Roy is being afforded. However, Paxson hit his ceiling fairly quickly, around his 4th season, and started dropping off in his 6th when the rigors of playing and it's injuries started catching up with him. I see the same thing happening to Roy. I'm not saying the Blazers are doing the wrong thing by building around Roy... in today's NBA, you can build a team around any player that is head and shoulders above everyone else. The reality is that this team will go as far as Greg Oden will ultimately take them, not Roy. LaMarcus is a Lucas-type... complimentary, occassionally dominate, and dependable, but not your go-to guy in the crunch. But Oden is really the key to the team going to the championship level. If he can put together a two year stretch of health that Bill Walton put together from 1976-78 (or longer), the Blazers will be hoisting hardware. Otherwise... they'll get close, ala Drexler's Blazers, but I don't see them winning the title without a healthy Oden... and if they do, it'll be a cheap Washington Bullets 1978 title that they only earned because every other team around them imploded.
Stat lines are nearly identical? Pason never averaged over 3.3 rebounds, or 3.9 assists. Roy's averages are close to 20-5-5. Paxson was closer to 20-2-3.
There's definitely that, too. Pacson's highest scoring average season came with Portland being in the bottom half of pace in the league. A pace that would LEAD the league this season. So Paxson on a team playing faster than GS is this season. I'm not seeing it.
Pax lacked Roy's athleticism and strength. Roy doesn't show it off often, but he has real hops. What he does better than anyone else in the league IMO is go from 1st to 5th and back to 1st. What they do share in common is solid fundamentals. I loved Pax, but he's not in Roy's league in terms of talent or athleticism.
