With the Portland Trailblazers in the news extensively the last few weeks as the result of a quick rise up the Western Conference rankings, I got to thinking about perhaps one of the most forgotten about Trailblazers: Brandon Roy.
Roy is 29 now and played his last NBA game a season ago with the Timberwolves. His once promising career was cut short due to degenerative knees. He began suffering serious injuries during the 2010 season and was forced to retire far sooner than he should have. His disappearance from the league was met with much angst from fans who had grown to adore the 6’6 shooting guard from Washington University.
Roy’s own personal battle is that much more significant when you consider the current state of the “Association.” Derrick Rose is in the midst of a personal battle with knee injuries as well. His reluctance to come back during last season’s playoffs was met with much confusion, only to be followed up by a meniscus tear weeks ago which has put his livelihood in the league at jeopardy.
While there is nothing to suggest that Rose cannot come back and return to elite status, this additional injury has been alarming when you consider the “what if,” sentiment that always exists within society. Crazier things have happened, and the potentiality for continued defiance from his body is something Rose is surely considering in his own head right now.
I don’t mean to compare the two as players at all. Roy was a top three shooting guard while in the NBA, and looked like a perennial All-Star for years to come. Rose earned an MVP award during a season that would be included in LeBron James’ prime, and he might just be the most versatile and sensational point guard the league has ever seen.
Rose is also a boyhood legend from the streets of Chicago whose Adidas commercials give any legitimate basketball fan chills. While Roy was an extremely good player, he was not at Rose’s level, nor did his style of play mirror Rose’s to any extensive degree.
But the potential similarities between them are starting to become quite real for all the wrong reasons. The most notable and important similarities exist in regards to what their respective games meant for their teams.
Rose, with the ball in his hands, is as good as it gets. His ability to maneuver through defenses with the craftiness of a veteran and the effortlessness of a 16 year old is a combination rarely seen. It’s tough to say how Chicago stacks up against Miami and other Eastern powers, but there is no question that Rose is as capable a presence as their is in the league.
I’m not sure the Trailblazers would have ever been truly championship worthy with Roy, but his presence was also almost unbelievable. After he initially got hurt back in 2010, he missed the remainder of the season prior to forcing himself into action just three months removed from arthroscopic knee surgery back in January.
Roy was not a presence early in the first round playoff series with Dallas that year, but his performance in a Game 4 which saw him total 24 points including the game winning bank shot and a four point play to tie it is the stuff of legend. The 6’6 off guard was a prolific wing scorer during his brief tenure, with his game in many ways comparable to the great Kobe Bryant’s given his ability to convert in the mid range area.
Portland simply wasn’t the same player without him, and their teams struggled prior to the arrival of Lamarcus Alridge and Damian Lillard. Any potential championship hopes went out the window upon his leaving, and his short return was sad to say the least.
While Rose was expected to be a factor in the league from the day he stepped on a collegiate floor, analysts and scouts were less certain about Roy. His four year career at Washington was relatively mediocre up until a senior season which saw him average 20 PPG while also leading a good Huskies team to a Sweet 16 appearance while earning the honor of Pac-10 player of the year.
He ended up the 6th pick in the 2006 Draft and went to Portland, effectively staying close to home after playing high school and college ball in the state of Washington. Rose, while leaving town during college to play for the Tigers of Memphis under John Calipari, too returned ti his roots when the Bulls took him first overall just two years later.
But the most important comparison to be made comes down to the work ethic and desire exhibited by both athletes while at their early peak. Rose is a known gym rat and courageous competitor who naturally flung his body all over the hardwood without pause. Roy’s game was more controlled, but equally as ferocious when considering his demands to fight back from injury earlier than prescribed.
It was almost as if Roy sensed the end could be near. He wanted to provide fans with one final opportunity to observe the greatness they had become accustomed seeing him provide at the Rose Garden.
Both franchises also hold some eery similarities. The two are forever linked following the Michael Jordan-Sam Bowie 1984 draft day decisions made by both. Additionally, injuries to Bowie and center Greg Oden affected the franchises in similar fashion to what Chicago had to undergo following the Jay Williams motorcycle accident.
While Chicago has had more overall success by a wide margin, the Blazers have also had their moments. More to the point, it is crushing and sad for a fan base to witness the demise of a star player due to injury. Psychologically speaking, most of us don’t want to see an injury take place, especially to a basketball player whose fluidity and athleticism are on often admired in a different way due to the way we watch the game.
Watching Roy leave the game was awful for anyone who cared about the sport at all. His style of play and willingness to expand his craft was a thing of beauty.
So too is Rose’s innate skill set and alarming athleticism for the point guard position. His days at Memphis were full of awe-inspiring performances and almost culminated in a national title had they not missed critical free throws down the stretch.
Rose could arguably viewed as one of the most electrifying college players to ever step onto a court and his presence in the league was viewed as a certainty since high school. Seeing Rose experience limitations in a return would be one thing. But should his career continue to be seriously affected, it would provide another awful moment for a league that has been ripe with knee issues for years.
You question weather the human body, especially in the form of a larger player at, say, the center position is actually built to hold up over time given the nature of certain demands. Rose clearly pushes himself at every necessary moment, and many a player has had to refine the way he plays in the wake of extensive injury, most notably Dwayne Wade.
Wade never had structural and continuing issues in the form of prolonged serious injury. But he did take a while to come back from initial problems, and redefined his game to become more of a mid range threat than before as well.
For Rose, i do not know how he will approach this next challenge. There is no methodology to the madness of trying to come back from two knee injuries as serious the ones he is facing. But Rose is one of a kind and does things for his team that simply can’t be duplicated by others.
I sure hope we see him again in due time. His impact and skill set is a great thing to watch. So, too, was Roy’s, and unfortunately time expired far too soon on his career. Rose and Roy might one day be linked within certain discussion topics pertaining to basketball, but let’s hope that it’s only limited to their greatness.
