Good article. Nice to see where Roy's mindset is. Roy is a fighter, and the best thing that could happen is if he came back to reach that goal of playing 35 minutes a night at a high level.
Roy is a winner, flat out. He hates to lose and I think that everyone got on his case when he was out there busting ass trying to win for the Blazers when his body was failing him. It wasn't that he wanted to keep LaMarcus and everyone else down, he just had the mindset that he was the best player on the team and he needed to excel to give the team the best chance to win. I think the time he was away and saw what the team was capable of without him was beneficial not only to the rest of the team but to Roy himself. He now knows what he has around him, and he'll do what it takes to integrate himself into the team because he wants to win. He's not a stat monster like other players that have worn the Blazer uniform.
What I got from the article is Roy has basically been plotting and scheming a way to take the team back from Aldridge. He's so evil.
We also need to remember how reluctant Roy was his first year, or maybe two, about taking all the shots. He would always ask the coaches and his teammates. "Am I shooting too much" and they kept telling him "No keep shooting". My point is that Roy may have a big ego at times and he may be stubborn at times, but he is not selfish. He is about winning and what's best for the team. Sometimes he's just a little slow to adjust to change. But it looks like he has adjusted his game pretty well. Whether or not he makes it back to the starting line-up will depend on his long term health. Right now I like him coming off the bench.
The thing about Roy is that he's one of those guys that has that extra thing in his brain like what DWade and Kobe have (and LeBron doesn't). I don't know what I'd call it other than he's just a winner he just doesn't get rattled in pressure situations. His body may fail him and prevent him from winning in the same way he used to but he's still a very good shooter. Even if he can't go back to the successful iso plays he's still someone who has to be guarded, especially at crunch time. He may not be the max player (physically) that we thought he could be but he's still a very valuable player. He's kind of like a Sabonis or even Larry Bird... they're not the most mobile or athletic players but they made up for it by being very smart and knowing the correct play. I think he's been amazing through this thing. I can't imagine how devastating it is for a 26 year old 3 time All Star to hear "you will never play at that level again". He's really handled himself well when he could've been a real distraction.
Great Read. It's been such a depressing season until recently. There have been some unexpected positives along the way, like the growth of LA, the emergence of Wesley, and the fact that somehow (as undermanned as we were) we stayed over .500. But losing Oden again, watching Brandon hobble around for 20+ games only to shut it down . . . the talk of his career being over. We don't know how close it got, but what a relief that Cho/Allen didn't blow everything up. Because now, for the first time since November there is hope. Who knows what we can expect from Brandon? I don't think he knows. But it's encouraging that he's feeling healthy, and thinks he can be more than just a shell of his former self. He nailed it in the article. If he can come back close to what he was, with the new and improved LA, they can be elite. LA being able to score in the post is a luxury we didn't use to have, at least not consistently. With the added muscle and a new repertoire of moves, he has become a force in the blocks. With Roy's playmaking, LA's versatility of being able to post or take a bigger/slower defender outside, Wallace's slashing ability, and with some decent perimeter shooting they could be very hard to defend. Don't you feel it? The hope? Just weeks ago many were saying our model was build around LA/Wesley/Batum and get rid of everything else, and maybe in a few years we'll be able to trade/buy out Brandon's contract and have some cap room. It looked like rebuilding was inevitable. The "glass half full" view was that we could stay at/above .500 in the process with that core. It feels different now. The Wallace trade, Brandon is back and playing (although not exactly dominating out there) and is moving around pretty well. Starting to thing . . . Maybe. Maybe it's not over. Maybe the team we have right now has the potential to compete with the upper echelon in the West. It's pretty remarkable when you think about where we were 3 weeks ago.
Like Roy says in this morning's article from Quick, everyone needs to buy into their role. http://www.oregonlive.com/blazers/index.ssf/2011/03/trail_blazers_brandon_roy_begi.html We need Camby to get back to where he was. And we need Rudy to get it going as well. Wesley also needs to stay agressive and Batum needs keep playing the way he has on this trip. Even with less minutes.
The good thing is we have just enough time for all these things to happen provided we stay healthy! This is going to be one HELLUVA RIDE!
