Timberwolf rising
ej afzelius
Once upon a time, Kobe Bryant said Brandon Roy was the toughest guy to guard in the league. Mamba specifically said, “..Roy has no weaknesses in his game.” In a league with Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant, a playing legend chose Roy.
Brando Roy (AP photo)
It may be easy to forget that statement of Kobe after Roy experienced severe knee problems, a season to forget, and eventually retired. Before all these troubles however, Brandon Roy was a man on a mission, trail-blazing past even the best of teams and leading Portland to the Playoffs twice. He was never the highest-scoring player in the league, or the most athletically gifted, but what Roy had he poured on the hard court. And whatever your problems with Kobe are, his work ethic and obsessiveness on and off the court are uncontested. Meaning loads and loads of tape-viewing sessions. Kobe doesn’t make an assessment until he’s absolutely sure about it. And after a few seasons of Roy tearing it up and playing against him, and of course countless hours watching tape, Kobe Bryant came to a conclusion. “…Roy has no weaknesses in his game.”
So let’s study that a bit more shall we. This statement was made in the John Thompson Show before the start of the ’10-’11 season of pain where everything went wrong for Roy. In 2008 to early 2010, Roy would play the best basketball of his life. In those years, he would average around 22 points, five assists and five rebounds a game. Let’s call those the big market stats, stuff that get even grammas off their seats. Then you look at the rest, and it gets even more interesting. Shooting at a .480 field goal percentage, Roy shot more efficiently than Kobe himself (.450). He also got a respectable one steal per game, shot a very high free throw percentage at over .800, and most importantly for someone who had a lot of control over the ball, only had two turnovers or less a game. LeBron, Durant, Rondo and Kobe all average nearly four turnovers a game.
Some say Roy is like a Tim Duncan type, not the most athletically gifted, but very smart on the court. Based on his high shooting percentage and low turnover count, there is truth in that. It takes an intelligent basketball player to pick the best scoring spots on the floor, make the most efficient passes, and be fully aware of the opponent so as not to lose the rock. And even geniuses lose the ball quite a bit, just ask Steve Nash. Based on this and the extra four to six points the players mentioned above give to the other team on turnovers, Roy’s 22 points per game average comes out smelling like roses.
I’m an optimist, and friends have told me it comes at the cost of sounding naïve, but I love looking at the possibilities of this scenario. The upside is so high, and at what little cost to Minnesota? It’s not like they paid Roy an island of pretty cheer leaders and sprayed him with Axe. $10 million over two years, conservative for a player with a potential to deliver on so many aspects of the game, on and off the court. The hype itself is selling Wolves season tickets like hotcakes. Everyone expects this to be their best season since the peak of Garnett’s dominance. Even if it’s just Roy’s attitude and smarts that rub off on the players, the investment will have been worth it.
I, however, also understand the dangers here. Roy’s condition before he “retired” was no joke. The man could barely walk straight. Ten years ago, that knee was done. Roy’s retirement would’ve been permanent and fans would’ve been left to wonder at the what-ifs of it all. If he stayed on, we would have been an audience to possibly one of the worst potential injuries to grace our eyeballs. Ten years ago.
But the year is 2012, and that little-known therapy that turned Kobe’s legs into high-performance engines once more got a little renown. Platelet-rich plasma therapy (PRP) reached Brandon Roy’s ear, and now here we are. It is unclear if Roy is still lacking cartilage in his knee, and one look at T-Mac last year and you’d be left wondering what PRP really did for him. Kobe is Kobe, and he was playing like a beast even before the therapy. Of course, we noticed his added explosiveness after so yes, it helps. But Roy’s condition was much worse than Kobe’s and even McGrady’s. No amount of Mamba recommendation could make me forget the state Roy was in; hence the lingering doubt.
Now that that’s out of the way, Brandon Roy is going to blow our minds this year. Just blow it up! Again, call it naïve, but Minnesota coaches have to hold the man back now. He’s eager to perform, eager to teach his teammates, and eager to succeed. Most importantly, he’s feeling great. The way Brandon Roy talks these days? You could almost be fooled into thinking he’d score 52 over Phoenix again.
So what do I want to think about? Lacking cartilage, retirement and lingering doubt? No.
Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio, Brandon Roy.
Goosebumps.
