I don't see how getting Roy back, if his right knee is pain-free, as he says, could at all be considered a negative. If he is a better player than he was before he went out, then he will be starting again, which is the was it should be. Having two primary scorers (so long as Roy really does feel better) only makes the team more dynamic and more difficult to defend. Then again, the Portland fanbase has never been known for being completely rational or conventional.
I'm assuming he'll be able to move better. If not, then I agree with him coming off of the bench, potentially for the rest of his career. He was hurting the team more on defense than offense before he got shut down for a while.
From the other thread, but maybe belongs better here: has no one else noticed that Roy's going to have 5 games before the trade deadline, last one being against the L*kers? Maybe that's why he's coming back quickly?
Ok if you want to believe the team is that much better with Roy off the court have at it. But it seems to me if they were winning at such a great clip, they would be more than 4 games above .500. They were near .500 when Roy went out, and they are barely above it now. There have been several stretches in there, where they lost enough games that they were teetering on going on under .500. The team is following pattern, and the last road trip verifies that pattern. The team plays well at home and stinks on the road. They jump a few games above .500, and then they drop it on the next road trip. They come home, rest, refocus, and get a few more wins. They hit the road, stink it up, maybe eek out a win, and head home.
Maybe that's why Przybilla has been playing so much, and Marks has been sitting. Can't get anything for Marks. Also, when it was announced that Camby would come back sooner that we thought, someone posted that the reason might be the trade deadline, to show other GMs that he's healthy.
I'm hoping we get 3-4 years of Sixth Man OTY level play out of Brandon. Even if he's still better than Wesley on O, Brandon should be doing what he can to contribute as long as possible. Limiting his minutes seems the best way to make that happen. I'm pretty excited about having Brandon and Marcus back. The team beat SA and CHI without them. They are middle of the pack team, at worst, with these two back. Screw sending the vets away for mid-20's picks, I want to roll with the team we've got. Go Blazers
Please. Rolling? We're 28-24. Not exactly rolling. We just lost to the fucking Pacers a few days ago. We've been great teams with Roy too. In fact, Roy has NEVER lost to the Lakers at home in his entire career. The last time we ran the offense through Roy for a whole season, we were 54-28 and the 4th seed in the West. We only lost because everyone but Blake and Joel had never been in the playoffs and Outlaw laid a big egg, especially in the critical game 6. Our best game of the series was Game 2 in which Roy scored over 40 and Artest called him the best player he's ever played against. Last year, Roy was hurt for the playoffs. Aldridge would probably be scoring a few more points than he is now if Roy was playing but the improvement to his overall game has nothing to do with the absence of Roy and everything to do with his offseason regimen and a decision to take to the hoop more. He can still do that when Roy comes back. Save for a couple games, we have been horrible in close games, something we were TERRIFIC at a couple seasons ago when we slowed the game down at the end and put the ball in Roy's hands. Stop the Roy bashing. It's ridiculous.
I have to say, I'm giving ROY props. His heart wants to play and even if hes weaker on the defensive/offensive end he at least can give a few minutes to rest our bench of guards such as Rudy, Miller, Mills, etc. Nate likes to mix it up a lot with Cunningham or Batum as SF so this can be also extra minutes for them to rest when ROY is in. ROY is going with his heart and wants to compete, regardless if he makes an impact right away, but merely hes giving our bench extra minutes rest.
Nobody's bashing Roy--we're talking about what's better for the team. "Roy-ball" is based on Roy's preference for a half-court game where he can isolate on his man and either take it to the rim or put up a jump shot. The offense always slows down when he's on the court, and other guys stop moving. Since Roy has been out, this team is running more, passing better, and getting everyone involved. As someone else has already pointed out, Aldridge doesn't need to dominate the ball to be effective--but Roy does. As for our record with Roy, yes, it was pretty good. But in that offense, Aldridge was reduced to a jump shooter, which meant he wasn't hitting as high a percentage of his shots, and he wasn't rebounding as well. He also wasn't drawing fouls like he is now. A lot of the games we won with Roy in the lineup were won because he made great plays in the fourth quarter--not because our offense was working particularly smoothly. I like the cohesiveness of our offense right now, and the fact that EVERYONE is involved. As for our 28-24 record, it's due mainly to the abundance of injuries we've had--not to the style of basketball we're playing. Once we get Camby back, the record will improve.
I was thrilled when Roy got benched. That said, I'm pretty eager to see him come back and I don't put much stock in our early season record of playing with Roy going forward. - Roy was in shock/denial at his diminished athleticism. He was trying to do way too much. - The same was true for Nate and how he was using him. - The rest of the team was still trying too hard to work around him. Everybody has had two months to develop new patterns and figure out how to play without Roy's athleticism. The question is if he can provide more incremental productivity than Matthews and Batum do once they pass around 34 mpg. It's pretty darned hard to argue he can't, especially when you take into account the increased likelihood of injuries those two guys face by playing so many minutes. Roy still has a decent jumper. He's still crafty. He's still a great passer for a shooting guard. He's not a one-on-one player anymore, but that was only part of his game. He's always been effective coming off curls. I think we'll look back and see three different teams once the season is over: 1. Roy lead with Aldridge as a second banana, which was slow and sucked. 2. Aldridge as Option One and Option Two, which had a ridiculously shallow bench and was inconsistent, but still a damned sight better than #1. 3. Aldridge lead with Roy as a second banana. As we enter the #3 phase, I'm getting more optimistic about the playoffs. Not just making them, but pulling off an upset.
Just in case some of you didn't see it, Nate says he doesn't plan on playing Brandon this weekend. http://www.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/22748484/27449748
I was sort of expecting this. It was pretty shocking that the plan was for him to practice once or twice after sitting out for 2 months (and surgery 3 weeks ago) and waltz back into the line-up. He can't be anywhere near game shape, and who knows how his knees are going to respond after a couple of practices. Is this going to end up taking on a life of it's own? Another "what was Brandon thinking?" fiasco. It does appear that checking with the team before making a public declaration of his return timeline would have been a good idea. But spare me the "once again he put himself above the team" arguments.
This just doesn't even make sense. The winning percentage since Roy went down is what it is. If you want to try to ignore that or argue it, that seems pretty silly. Are you arguing that the 0.615% winning percentage since Roy went down isn't correct? I don't get it. The record is what it is, with and without Roy. A healthy Roy would certainly help this team, but the way Roy was playing, he was not helping the team. He was an absolute liability on defense.
Good to hear. If there's a chance that the surgery will restore Roy to 99% of what he was, then we should take our time with him and make sure he's completely recovered before he gets back out there.
Yeah, I'm probably being too optimistic. However, Roy says he's feeling great, and he looked spry in the video I saw of him. I guess I'm still hoping for a medical miracle.
There's nothing wrong with being optimistic if you're a fan. Sports are supposed to be fun. What's the point of rooting for a team if you can't be optimistic?
