On a side note, doesn't Roy get more money via medical disability? My point is that his normal contract is subject to normal taxes, Federal, State and local. Those are in excess of 50% of his contract. But medical disability payments can not be taxed (I know this because I am a disabled Vet). He should actually be taking home more money via this route. If the above is true then it does indicate that it was not just about the money for Roy. He wanted to play, period. Now I think it was ridiculous of him to try the comeback, just as it was for Miles. When the Doctors tell you to shut it down, that is what you best do. Luckily this did not cost the Blazers cap room. If it had I would have been pissed. The fact that he over performed on his rookie contract and only cost Paul Allen $17 mil on his extension is a good deal for Allen. I am sure he got that $17 mil back just from Roy jersey sales. Hell, everybody was wearing Roy jerseys. I think Paul made out fine in the long run. Soon there will be Roy throwbacks and anything else that can be shilled.
If Roy isn't a full time player, those Blazer teams may not make the playoffs. I find it baffling how people (a very small minority, I realize) have so much venom for the guy. I lack the ability to understand where that comes from in somebody's mind, and I'm happy I'm that way.
Roy's extension was for $82 million. I highly doubt Roy provided that amount of additional revenue to the team while playing.
Well before Roy, the stadiums were 25-35% capacity. After Roy's rookie year, they were becoming sold out. Then you add the Jersey Sales, refreshment revenue and playoff and national coverage income; I would say I disagree.
What is the dollar amount of the extension that Paul Allen paid vs. what insurance paid/is paying? If Paul Allen is on the hook for the entire $82 mil with no insurance then he is the fool. But aren't the reports that 80% of the extension was covered by insurance?
I think Insurance covered only 20%, but it stopped the moment Roy played for Minny. Allen is pretty much on the hook for the entire amount.
Yup thats how I read the OP. Maybe Paul is a fool but he relies on the advice of his management, mostly KP. Roy was whining in the media and brainwashing the public into pressuring the Blazers to give him that max extension, hardly what someone who had the true interest of the franchise at heart would do. Roy was going to get a massive extension regardless of his public comments. Locking up those few extra dollars was what mattered most to Roy even if it hurt the image of Paul and the team.
Yes Roy was the teams best player when he was here, but some of us think just like Rasheed Wallace he didn’t maximize his potential on the court. If he had a better attitude the team could’ve been better. No he wasn’t as talented as Rasheed, but as a fan it can be very flustering to root for someone who is close to figuring it all out but not quite there. Additionally some of us believe Roys contract is still a competitive detriment to this team today. It is still on the payroll for two more full seasons.
I don't think that the Roy and Wallace issues are the same - or if they are, they're different sides of the same coin. Rasheed may not have maximized his potential, but he was honest about who he was as a player. He didn't ask to be, and didn't want to be, the center of the franchise and he let that be known so the team could build accordingly. I have nothing against Sheed for that. He knew himself and was honest about who he was. And I tend to agree that he wasn't suited to be the best player on a contender - he needed someone else to play off of. Roy, OTOH, WANTED to be the center of the franchise but wasn't willing to work on his game and modify his role to make the team better. So for that, he's a little bitch. Then on top of not maximizing his potential he acted like a petulant child when the coach tried to change his role slightly, threw his teammates under the bus, and just generally became a selfish asshole. I don't necessarily "hate" the guy. I just find it silly when people think of him as a saint. He wasn't. If he were still healthy and playing for us I'd still be cheering for him, but I'd also still think he was an asshole.
Martell Webster had 24 points in a quarter. Should we retire his number? He played in a similar number of games as Roy did for us
The only stupidity in this thread is people wanting a players jersey retired that played 300ish games for us and never got us out of the first round. there are so many other players that deserve to be in the rafters before Roy....Including Aldridge
For Pete's sake!!!!! Do people have to rewrite history? The clamor to re-sign Brandon Roy, yes, to a max, was overwhelming. He was the face of the franchise, the franchise player, the leader of the team. If you look at the mega stars in the NBA - Jordan, LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal - none of them had titles in their first three years. It takes time for even the greatest to mature, develop their game, get the right teammates around them and the right coach, grow together. Nearly always there are near misses along the way. Portland had every reason to believe that they were headed in that direction. Sadly, injuries derailed the careers of Roy, Greg Oden, Rudy Fernandez - imagining what the Blazers would be like with those three and LaMarcus can make you crazy. But blaming Roy for costing insurance money? Do you people really think he anticipated, much less wanted, a career cut short? The only thing you can really blame Roy for is his attempted comeback, but he's hardly unique. You could write a long, sad list of athletes who just could not recognize their careers were over due to age, injuries or both and spent a season or two sitting on the end of some team's bench (like Oden will). I don't think he earned a jersey retire, but he sure did not earn animosity and I'd venture to say the huge majority of Blazers fans don't feel any. Just the ones who feel driven to post here 500 times a day.
Yes. Yes we should. Especially if we think Martell Webster had the same effect on the franchise that Brandon Roy did.
