Brandon Roy, our all-star leader, was 1-6 from the field last night and 4-11 the previous game. Meanwhile, Wesley Matthews, a walk-on at Utah who wasn't even drafted by an NBA team, has scored 20 and 21 points the last two games. Anbody else have a problem with that? Is there some reason why the best player on the team is apparently not ready for the season to start yet, while Matthews is apparently firing on all cylinders already?? I'm personally disgusted with Roy, who has a history of starting slow. I wonder if he's resting on his laurels, but I actually don't care what the reason is. All I know is that he seems to coast through games more and more, and it pisses me off.
Not in the slightest. Having followed 30 years of preseason games there is no reason to be disgusted.
Yeah. The crazy thing is, Matthews is basically playing like Roy used to by dominating the ball and initiating the offense. He's putting up Roy-like numbers, but without the rebounds. Roy got killed for that by many "fans" and worked on playing off-the-ball this summer. Now, he's getting killed for trying to adapt his game for the betterment of the team. What a stupid thread.
Reminds me of his pre-season in his 2nd and 3rd years. For some reason Roy is a slow starter. Not worried about it at all.
I'm GLAD B-Roy is Struggling and the second unit/newbies are flourishing. I want this team to be Solid without Roy carrying the team, furthermore I want B to help his teammates flourish. We did not see enough of it last year, and he has promised to be a better team player this year (on & off the court). B-Roy is the nail not the coffin Of all the players to worry about The Natural is not one of them.
I think it's been said, but pre-season. Kobe has been slow too... I'm understand your concern but lets wait until we're about twenty games into the regular season and revisit.
Comically stupid. You realize there are another 90-100 games left to go, right? Roy is the one guy on the team I never worry about (when healthy). He's produced so well for so long that it's lunacy to get this upset over the first two preseason games.
Roy says piss off. The NBA season is too long for the purposes of establishing seeding, and high level athletic competition. It is too long for a reason close to your heart - grinding out as much money from the fans as they possibly can. Seeding is important. But, if your secondary players can't win games for you in the regular season, you don't have enough depth to make it through the gauntlet of the playoffs anyway. Refer to many, many, many articles and quotes from ring-wearing coaches and players off the past that the regular season "doesn't matter". Of course, they don't mean that literally. What they mean is that the level of intensity in the playoffs is very different. The hits are harder. The shoves are stronger. The focus is greater. What you want going into the playoffs is something left in the tank. You want to be healthy. Of course, you need to be in a groove and have a high level of conditioning. Thus, Mr. Premature, great players who have already established themselves, learn to pace themselves during the course of a season. Did you check out Kobe's last two boxscores?
So it's not a big deal, eh? Just preseason, right? Who cares if our best player is taking it easy? Well, I care. The great players play hard every time they take the court, pre-season or not, and great team leaders know how to set an example. Maybe if Roy was busting his gut from the tip-off, it would inspire the rest of the team to take these games seriously. Maybe if Roy showed that he has fire in his belly and wants to win it all this year, the other players would follow his example. It all starts with Roy, and yet Roy always starts slow. No wonder we can't win a playoff game . . . our leader picks his moments when to play hard.
I agree with you, Shooter...it's a great sign that Matthews is playing so well while Roy takes a backseat, since we already know Roy will be great once the games count. We need more threads like these, pointing out the good developments.
So Roy is intentionally going 1-6 from the field so Matthews can shine? Uh, huh. That's an interesting strategy for a team leader to take.
You've never forgiven him for that national anthem thing, eh? Because this post doesn't make a bit of sense. The anger must be fueled by something else.
i was gonna post something on this but might as well do it here. having looked around the nba sites (espn, cbs, yahoo etc) i have noticed a decline in his ranking. he seems to now average 5th best SG as viewed by writers around the nba. maybe the injury? or maybe hes already peaked? many said he would have a short career. and clearly hes not better then williams, paul, wade, kobe, etc (guards) and there was one who had tyreke evans ahead of roy. maybe its time to start lowering expectations on this team. national media seems to think barely average with teams like the kings and thunder haviing higher ranked players.
Not at all. I was taking it for granted that you had the sense to realize that Roy's preseason performance is irrelevant, since he has an established level for games that matter. Matthews doesn't, so it's nice to see him shining. It has nothing to do with intent (on Roy's part) to have Matthews shine...Roy is purposely taking it easy because it's a long season and he's saving his body for the only games that (most) fans and (all) players/coaches care about the final result. Michael Jordan admitted cruising at times (in regular season games!) to keep himself fresh for the late season and playoffs. Probably why the Bulls never won playoff series.
