Wow, really surprised at all the Brandon Roy hate here. One of my favorite players here ever. And for the record, Bill Walton, in reality, didn't play a whole lot of games for us either. Read this excellent story and you will understand why he hasn't been around, and also that he is a hero - shot in the leg while shielding kids from gunfire.
It's the same with Clyde. Was he at the game where the team honored the 90's? Nooooope. Couldn't miss broadcasting a Rockets game. Was Roy in attendence for the 2000's team? The team he coaches didn't have a game scheduled on the 23rd either, so he can't use that as an excuse... Same answer as Clyde.
Drexler also has a bad reputation among a lot of fans for pretty much acting like he never played in Portland. And imagine getting paid millions of dollars by a team that *knew* his knees were shot. Such a shame.
Clyde and Walton have both stayed in touch with the franchise and have kept a relationship with fans here. Roy could as well put he choses's not to, if he chose to reconnect fans would welcome him back big time. He obviously has resentment towards the franchise and probably not the fans, but he's left his fans hanging.
I think people underestimate how painful it was for Brandon to let basketball go. Coming back probably gives him a ton of heartache.
I think your right had to be really tough. I hope the organization doesn't give up on trying to get him to reconnect even in small ways.
I dont understand how this is even debatable. Is the #7 jersey retired and hanging from the rafters? No, ok then...that number is available
So it's too tough to return to Portland, but not so tough that he coaches at one high school, leaves after 1 year when most of the players graduated and then go to another school immediately after? Doesn't sound too tough.
I enjoyed watching Walton play basketball - even when he was a Bruin. When he left, I stopped caring about him. OTOH, I almost cried when Lucas died. If you can't understand that distinction, you won't understand why some of us are indifferent to Roy or Drexler. "Hate" has absolutely nothing to do with it. Sorry some of you can't grasp that.
Personally, I’ve never been a fan of retiring numbers. They are just numbers. I’d struggle to tell you what number most of the current Blazers wear (other than “zero”, for all the obvious.....and well known reasons). The idea is to honor the player, not the number. What is so difficult about hoisting a jersey to the rafters with just the player’s name on it??? There are a lot of players in the league who would probably be better players if they paid more attention to their skills and BBIQ instead of being so hung up on a particular f**king number. If I had my way, they’d just stick with the social justice messaging on the backs of their jerseys and call it good.......it would be a lot more productive and relevant.....
A more appropriate thing would have been to retire a few and the rest be put in a ring of honor with a plaque and their accomplishments hung in the Moda Center.
I think this is pretty much accurate as to where I fall too. I'm not saying that it makes me a better fan or they're less of a fan of their brand of fandom though. I can appreciate the fans who hold Brandon on high esteem, even if I don't. And I can understand why certain fans hold players like Steve Blake, Jerome Kersey, Duckworth, Maurice Lucas, Terry Porter, Michael Holton and others who stayed in the area or came back/worked with the team to a higher level of appreciation than others. I'm not saying that most of us think that because those guys stayed in the area/connected to the team that the team should retire Blake, Jerome, Duck, or Holton's jerseys, that would be ridiculous. It's like having a co-worker in your life, who when they hang out with you is super close and you connect with them. In fact, you become close enough to actually be friends with them and you hang out often. You even maybe go on vacations together. But they moved to a different town and pretty much ghosted you. So you learn to appreciate more, those who actually make the effort to keep in touch with you.
They should do a "hall of fame" sorta thing for the Blazer players that mean something, instead of retiring as many as they did (although truthfully, outside of the weird retiring so many players from the title team cept for Johnny Davis, they've only retired 3 jerseys). They'll never unretire #'s, but realistically, Drexler, Walton, Lucas and Porter are probably the only players who should have their #'s retired, maybe Petrie's too.
I loved BRoy in his "prime" Blazer years. The shine wore off when I learned how he treated Andre Miller, amongst other things. BRoy was not a leader, at least not one that could endure any sort of adversity. He came to symbolize this "age of Blazer culture" because he told ZBo not to be a dick. And then he played basketball. Astonishing accomplishments. This otherworldly appreciation of him is CLEARLY undeserved. Retire his number?!? It is pathetic and embarrassing that the Blazers would even consider it. Give Melo his goddamn jersey number already.
Look I love Roy, but when you look at his career it was way too short to retire his number. if anything 12 should be retired before 7
As much as I liked Roy the player, I never bought into the good guy reputation. He came across as phony to me, and that is reinforced by how he has distanced himself from the franchise. Oh great, 3rd person retirement ceremonies... Pot meet kettle?
