Brandon Roy

[Tim W.]

I see now both of us will not change our opinions. ill explain my reasoning and its all good if you don’t agree. I haven’t been watching the NBA for 30 years so I haven’t been able to anaylze championship runs but there is one Difference between all those championship winning organizations and the Raptors and that’s being across another boarder. Raptors are in a unique situation compared to any other NBA team, so you can’t exactly depend on certain things to work for this organization that you may have seen done in others. What I do understand is that Toronto, even though being one of the best cities in the world in my opinion, is still not fully understood by players from the the other side of the boarder for what ever that reason may be.

Where the Raptors play has no bearing on what it takes to win a Championship in the NBA.

So now Ill be the sceptic and say history shows that we CAN`T hold our franchise players who we have drafted in the past. 3 of them have left one of them being an Elite player at the time so history shows it and frankly im sick and tired of waiting and waiting for this Elite talent to come around for what soo he can leave when we cant surround him with 2 more All stars fuzz that.

Vince and Bosh left because management failed to build a winning team around them and they'd lost faith in the organization. The argument that the Raptors can't seem to hold onto their franchise players, so let's not draft them anymore doesn't hold water. If you really feel that way then the team should pack it's bags and move elsewhere. Surround most franchise players with a winning team that they have faith in and they'll stay.

Another reason is ownership NEVER AND I MEAN NEVER have I seen the MSLE go anywhere above and beyond for this team and unless we change ownership, and sue me if im wrong were going to keep losing our franchise players only to keep being under pressure to rebuild for another 5 years, Rinse & Repeat.

Raptor fans love to criticize MLSE, but there's simply never been anything to support the argument that they hold the team back. They've never shied away from spending money when it was needed, going so far as to hire an expensive GM because they thought it would help the team win.

Success a lot of the time ends up being a case of preparation meeting opportunity and with this rare & unusual situation, only the 4th lockout if I’m not mistaken raptors do have an opportunity here all it takes is one crazy run in the playoffs to capture the hearts of American media and boom Toronto can start its momentum towards relevancy and sure maybe it wont produce a championship right away, but it might be enough to start to lure more free agents/(foreign owners lol my dream) or keep our high draft picks. Sure we wont have elite talent but why can`t we build a team with many allstar type talent and catch some of these superteams weaknesses like Miami’s inability to defend in the middle.

So you think it's too much of a gamble to try and draft a franchise player in the draft, but you want to bank on going on a crazy run to capture the hearts of American media?

And the reason the Raptors shouldn't try and build a team with many All-Stars is because it's a HELL of a lot harder to win that way. Nearly impossible, in fact. Why do you want to make it harder to win?

Look at Memphis we need to try and make one of those runs because Raptors are in a little bit of a bigger hole then some other teams

All Memphis showed is that they ran into the right teams for a couple of rounds. It's highly, highly doubtful they'll be able to expand on their success simply because they don't have the right tools. Gay could become an elite player, but Zach Randolph, despite his enormous offensive skills, is a poor defensive player, and that's going to end up hurting them, just as it hurt Phoenix when they ran into the Lakers two years ago. Amare's defensive deficiencies ended up killing that team.

Sure it depends on a lot of if’s like derozan improving to a all star calibre type player while adding key defensive talent and so forth. I just don’t have faith that traditional ways will work for this organization in till they gain some notoriety and that wont get accomplished automatically by waiting for an elite player through the draft because in till a franchise player stays I will not have any examples to draw from and hope.

Whether you have faith or not is not the issue. One way has been overwhelming successful throughout the history of the league. Why reinvent the wheel when it works just fine the way it is. You're just making it WAY more difficult for yourself.

For the case of Roy you said you are fully aware of hes injury while this may not be an official document I think it’s an interesting read (http://www.blazersedge.com/2010/11/1...knee-arthritis ) I have faith that Roy can regain enough to be able to assist this team for the better I to have had major knee surgery I tore my ACL/PCL/MCL & destroyed most of my cartilage, then 9 months later tore all those ligament for a second time and a different doctor patched me up this time with far better results unfortunately now my ligaments are made up of mostly my hamstring witch is significantly weaker then natural ligaments. With a proper fitted knee brace I can run a forty yard dash in at a 4.48 my last recorded measurement and if was able to plant or cut to save my life lol I would still be playing competitive football. If you read the article you too will see some things. When I said a change of scenarios could do him some good I meant with regards to a medical staff who may be more equipped to manage he’s injury then Portland’s, as they did have a history of rushing players back and allowing players to do certain things they weren’t suppose to do. Like anything else not all medical staffs are equals some organizations are better then others. Therefore if roy is training right now that means its not as bad as the public seems to think it is and with a short season combined with an improved roster you never know like you said before sports is not a science all it takes is a young team to build confidence go on a few hot streaks in a short season and things can happen, obviously the roster is not even close to complete and we don’t know how improved the young guys are on this team but don’t tell me with some good GM work we can’t make some sort of run allowing Toronto to be a little more relevant to our neighbours to the south nobody said we have to win a championship in the next 5 years we don’t have any pressure on us cause we have never done ANYHING! Yet.

Roy isn't injured. He's simply got very little cartilage in his knees, which makes it impossible to play for a sustained period with a lot of pain. It's not a case of finding the right doctor or the right medical treatment. He's been all over the world trying to find something to help, and is now looking into experimental therapies just so he can continue playing. And the reason I know so much about it is because I've got pretty much the same condition. I'm much older than Roy, but the diagnosis is the same. I can play, but I will never be able to play more than once a week anymore and even then I'll probably have to take a couple of weeks off every now and then to stop the pain. It's a fact of life.

Again, though, you seem to be willing to take a risk on something that has almost no chance of happening, yet think the most tried and true strategy to build a Championship team is too risky? I simply don't understand that.

[Soft Euro]

The only team, at this point (i.e. roster is not complete, free agency not started), I feel will push for the absolute bottom besides Toronto is Charlotte.

I wonder what will be left of Denver. They were very deep after the trade but: Felton traded, Smith and Chandler gone to China, Martin, Nene and Aflalo might all be gone and their pg Lawson has a close to terrible period in Lithuania.

[Puffer]

"Brandon Roy is going to get one more shot.

The player who has four years, $68 million left on his max contract and no cartilage left in his knees will not have the amnesty clause used on him yet, he will play Portland again this season, reports Ben Goliver at Blazers Edge. Roy and Blazers staff had a 90-minute meeting recently to discuss his future.

Here is the direct quote from acting general manager Chad Buchanan:

'There would have to be a drastic change in where we are at right now, or where Brandon feels he’s at, to have something be altered as to where we stand today.'”

http://probasketballtalk.nbcsports.c...y-brandon-roy/

[Tim W.]

I have faith that Roy can regain enough to be able to assist this team for the better I to have had major knee surgery I tore my ACL/PCL/MCL & destroyed most of my cartilage, then 9 months later tore all those ligament for a second time and a different doctor patched me up this time with far better results unfortunately now my ligaments are made up of mostly my hamstring witch is significantly weaker then natural ligaments. With a proper fitted knee brace I can run a forty yard dash in at a 4.48 my last recorded measurement and if was able to plant or cut to save my life lol I would still be playing competitive football. If you read the article you too will see some things. When I said a change of scenarios could do him some good I meant with regards to a medical staff who may be more equipped to manage he’s injury then Portland’s, as they did have a history of rushing players back and allowing players to do certain things they weren’t suppose to do. Like anything else not all medical staffs are equals some organizations are better then others. Therefore if roy is training right now that means its not as bad as the public seems to think it is and with a short season combined with an improved roster you never know like you said before sports is not a science all it takes is a young team to build confidence go on a few hot streaks in a short season and things can happen, obviously the roster is not even close to complete and we don’t know how improved the young guys are on this team but don’t tell me with some good GM work we can’t make some sort of run allowing Toronto to be a little more relevant to our neighbours to the south nobody said we have to win a championship in the next 5 years we don’t have any pressure on us cause we have never done ANYHING! Yet.

Then again...

Brandon Roy is expected to announce a medical retirement due to degenerative knees, according to sources.

Roy's announcement could come as soon as Friday.

Via Chris Broussard/ESPN (via Twitter)



Read more:

[planetmars]

Brandon Roy is retiring!

Portland Trail Blazers guard Brandon Roy is planning to announce his retirement due to degenerative knees, perhaps as soon as Friday, sources with knowledge of Roy's decision have told ESPN The Magazine's Chris Broussard and ESPN.com's Chad Ford.

The Blazers had said earlier in the week they were expecting Roy to be ready for training camp Friday as NBA teams hold their first official practices of training after the five-month lockout.

Sources say Roy has privately conceded his ongoing knee trouble would have inevitably led to a reduced role, and given his close connection with the Portland community the former All-Star does not want to end up being released through the forthcoming amnesty clause and thus eligible to be picked up by another team.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/73...es-sources-say

[Tim W.]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/73...es-sources-say

I just said that.

[planetmars]

I just said that.

D'oh - you scooped me!

[Bendit]

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/73...es-sources-say

WoW. Maybe CP can go to Portland....the great northwest....and a fine team.

[ceez]

RIP Brandon Roy

[Tim W.]

RIP Brandon Roy

Geez, he's not dead. He's just retiring at 27 with tens of millions of dollars in the bank. My knees are in about the same shape and I'm older and not nearly as in good financial shape as Roy.

[matt]

Geez, he's not dead. He's just retiring at 27 with tens of millions of dollars in the bank. My knees are in about the same shape and I'm older and not nearly as in good financial shape as Roy.

Yeah and I'm pretty sure just because the man's retiring doesn't mean he can't play basketball, he just can't risk playing it at a high level , so he's set for life with the millions he has in his bank and can spend more time with his family.