Gosh. Tough call. Oden was supposed to be ten times the player Roy was, so to get NOTHING out of him for so long is terrible. Roy was, according to many on this board, a top 10 NBA player, and now he's... well, he's significantly less than that. I still have hope for Oden, though. Roy's medical condition seems more likely to be permanent, and watching him hobble around is more painful than occasionally remembering Oden's absence. Ed O.
I agree with Ed. Roy's career has taken a permanent turn for the worse. Oden may still have a future.
Roy is more depressing because I know we're stuck with this version for the next 4 and a half years, Oden barely registers because I sort of mentally removed him from the equation last year when missed 60+ games -- another lost season just feels like par for the course -- In a similar vein I know that the team isn't handcuffed financially by him and that they still have some flexibility regarding his future here.
Roy. I think it's always sadder to see a great athlete laid low than someone who had yet to reach greatness miss time. It's hard to say which is the greater tragedy for the franchise, but it's more viscerally affecting to see Roy in this state, for me.
Maybe we could start a petition: "Dear Brandon: please hang it up. You're depressing us. Signed..." and have HCP deliver it to him.
Watching B-Roy, my second favorite Blazer of all time, struggle is like getting kicked in the balls every game.
Roy is like a late-career Jalen Rose. What sadder is Oden being paid nearly $30m for a total 82 games and false hope.