Brandon Roy of the Portland Trailblazers set to Retire

[subzero02]

http://m.espn.go.com/nba/story?storyId=7335092

I truly admired his game, it's really sad to think about what a healthy Roy and Oden could have accomplished. From a Duke perspective, Roy's retirement should mean more shots and a larger role for Nolan Smith. It's just terrible how the opportunity is arising.

[juise]

http://m.espn.go.com/nba/story?storyId=7335092

I truly admired his game, it's really sad to think about what a healthy Roy and Oden could have accomplished. From a Duke perspective, Roy's retirement should mean more shots and a larger role for Nolan Smith. It's just terrible how the opportunity is arising.

My initial thoughts were the same as yours. I've lived in Portland nearly my whole life (apart from 8 semesters in Durham) and it's hard to explain how big a loss Roy is for the franchise. The Blazers, who at one point held records for consecutive sellouts, lost a lot of fans between 1995-2005. (Most were lost in the latter part of the era, the "jailblazers" era. I was done with the team earlier on in what I think of as the "Isaiah Rider" era.) Roy was the face of the reborn franchise that brought the fans back and he was obviously the team's most important player from the day he was drafted.

On the other hand, Roy has essentially been a lame duck all-star since news of his knee condition became public last year. It's too bad that the Blazers couldn't capitalize on his amazing game 4 performance against Dallas in the playoffs last year to give him a more fitting send-off.

To the point, though, I would think that Nolan would benefit more from playing a couple years alongside Roy and getting some mentoring than he will from the extra minutes. Brandon wasn't going to be able to play a ton of minutes anyway and wouldn't have last more than a season or two. Big congrats, though, to Nolan for signing his contract (http://www.iamatrailblazersfan.com/PressReleaseDisplay/tabid/297/ItemID/2768/Default.aspx)!

[throatybeard]

My initial thoughts were the same as yours. I've lived in Portland nearly my whole life (apart from 8 semesters in Durham) and it's hard to explain how big a loss Roy is for the franchise. The Blazers, who at one point held records for consecutive sellouts, lost a lot of fans between 1995-2005. (Most were lost in the latter part of the era, the "jailblazers" era. I was done with the team earlier on in what I think of as the "Isaiah Rider" era.) Roy was the face of the reborn franchise that brought the fans back and he was obviously the team's most important player from the day he was drafted.

On the other hand, Roy has essentially been a lame duck all-star since news of his knee condition became public last year. It's too bad that the Blazers couldn't capitalize on his amazing game 4 performance against Dallas in the playoffs last year to give him a more fitting send-off.

To the point, though, I would think that Nolan would benefit more from playing a couple years alongside Roy and getting some mentoring than he will from the extra minutes. Brandon wasn't going to be able to play a ton of minutes anyway and wouldn't have last more than a season or two. Big congrats, though, to Nolan for signing his contract (http://www.iamatrailblazersfan.com/PressReleaseDisplay/tabid/297/ItemID/2768/Default.aspx)!

Back when I could stand the NBA, I was a big fan of those Drexler/Porter/Duckworth/Williams Portland teams. I have a Portland sweatshirt that I got for trading in cereal box bar codes. Exactly how I ended up rooting for the Trailblazers in rural Georgia, I don't know.

[juise]

Back when I could stand the NBA, I was a big fan of those Drexler/Porter/Duckworth/Williams Portland teams. I have a Portland sweatshirt that I got for trading in cereal box bar codes. Exactly how I ended up rooting for the Trailblazers in rural Georgia, I don't know.

Those were my teams as well... last time I really cared about an NBA team (as opposed to just the Duke alumni). Jerome Kersey was the other member of the starting line-up. It was a shame that they could never pull off a title. Nolan signing yesterday was the first thing that got me excited about the Blazers since that era.