FanNation - The Republic of Sport

So, I figure I will change things up a bit for the next few weeks.  I'm getting bored with the same format over and over with these blogs, which summarize the team but just skims over the players.  I want to reverse things a bit and go in depth on some key players while just briefly summarizing the team.

Week in review

3-0 (30-17 overall, 4th in Western Conference)

This week was much easier than expected due to key injuries to the opponents.  It starting with a rematch against the Bobcats a week ago, who had dropped the Blazers in overtime 11 days before.  However, in this game the Bobcats were without Gerald Wallace, who dominated the Blazers previously.  The Blazers outscored the Bobcats 32-18 in the 1st and never looked back in an 88-74 victory.  The Blazer bigs owned this game: Oden continued his strong play with 14 points, 14 boards, and 3 blocks while Aldridge added 25 and 9.  

Next up was division rival Utah on Saturday night.  The Jazz were without Carlos Boozer and Andrei Kirilenko and despite some fine play by Deron Williams were overrun by Portland's offense.  In a balanced attack six players scored in double figures, led by Roy's 30, Portland ran away with a 122-108 victory that wasn't even that close.

Finally, on Monday the Blazers traveled to New Orleans in their last game against the Hornets.  The two teams were tied in the conference standings at the time and New Orleans led the season series 2-1, so as far as February games go this one had some heavy implications.  Chris Paul came to play and had nine assists in the first quarter as the Hornets raced out to an early lead.  It only got worse for Portland and by the midway point of the third they trailed by 20.  Then, with New Orleans up by 17 toward the end of the quarter Chris Paul strained his groin and went out for the rest of the game.  From that point on Jerryd Bayless, Lamarcus Aldridge, and Travis Outlaw led a Portland charge that saw them outscore the Hornets 42-17 and come out with an improbable 97-89 victory. In a fantastic showing of Portland's depth, four Blazers (but only one starter) scored in double figures.

Some important facts about this week:

- The Blazers are 13 games over .500 for the first time since the 2002-2003 season, which is also the last time they made the playoffs.

- After being a dismal 13-28 on the road last year Portland only needs one win to equal last year's road win total, currently standing 12-12 away from the Rose Garden.

- Portland beat the Jazz with Greg Oden and Lamarcus Aldridge totaling 19 points and 7 boards on 7-17 shooting, then beat the Hornets on the road with Oden and Brandon Roy totaling 12 points on 5-16 shooting. 

Looking Ahead

This next week looks to be easier than last week on paper.  First is the Dallas Mavericks tonight in Dallas.  This is the last real potential bump in the road for a while.  Dallas is two games behind Portland going into the game and are on a three game win streak to match against Portland's five game streak.  In the only other meeting between the teams on Christmas day Dallas handed Portland a home loss 102-94.  I want to call this one a win for Portland but some gut feeling tells me that the inconsistent play amongst several starters will finally catch up with them here.  Officially I call a Dallas win on this one.

The following game is Friday at Oklahoma City, the first matchup between the two teams this season.  This is a classic banana peel game because OKC is playing better of late and Portland is coming off games against Utah, New Orleans, and Dallas.  Nonetheless, the Blazers are a much better team than the Thunder and especially since I believe they will be coming off a loss to the Mavs they should be up for this game.  Portland wins in a closer game than expected.

The last game of this week is Sunday against the Knicks in Portland.  Portland already handily won the first meeting between the teams in the Big Apple and the Knicks aren't much better now.  The Blazers have a nice long rest before this game too and should be ready to go.  Portland will handily win this one.

It should also be noted that after the Knicks game the Blazers face the Thunder, Warriors, Grizzlies, Hawks, and Clippers in order, with only Warriors game away from Portland.  The Blazers are poised to make a good run here, but more on that later.

Brandon Roy

The Natural

As I have mentioned many times in the past, Brandon Roy is the best player for the Blazers and the main reason they are doing as well as they are.  And to think that he almost wasn't a Blazer. In 2006 he was actually drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and only a series of trades that landed Randy Foye in Portland allowed new GM Kevin Pritchard to trade Roye for Roy in a move that the T-Wolves surely regret at this point.

It was immediately apparent that Brandon Roy was a special player.  While Zach Randolph was the team's top scorer, it was Roy who was making all the big plays.  Roy missed 25 games with a heel injury, but still led all rookies in scoring (16.8 per game) and assists (4.0) while garnering Rookie of the Year honors. While Roy didn't explode to the rim like Lebron James or have a silky smooth jumper like Kobe, it was clear he had the solid all-around game that special players have.  As a rookie he played with the poise of a veteran, earning him the nickname "The Natural."

He also began asserting himself as the leader very early- in a January contest against the Nuggets the Blazers were badly outplayed in the first half.  In the locker room at intermission Randolph, the unofficial leader of the team, was tearing into guys until Roy called him out, saying that Randolph had no business going after his teammates when Randolph himself had been lazy in practice and lackluster in the game (both very true).  Portland came back to win that game and from that point on Roy has been the leader in the locker room.

The "Roy for ROY" campaign finally gave Rip City something to cheer about in the latter part of a season.  More importantly, Roy embodied a new type of player for Portland:one who both played well and was a model citizen.  After years of the Jail Blazers Roy was a breath of fresh air.

The All-Star

Before his sophomore season the Blazers drafted Greg Oden and traded away Zach Randolph (and in doing so eliminated the last traces of the Jail Blazers).  When Oden went down with a knee injury that forced him to miss the entire 2007-08 season the Blazers were a team missing it's leading scorer and rebounder from the year before alone with it's #1 draft pick.  It needed someone to turn to, and Roy was the guy.

With Oden out and Randolph gone Portland was expected to struggle, but Roy would have none of it.  Strong play by Travis Outlaw and fellow sophomore Lamarcus Aldridge helped, but it was Roy who carried Portland.  After an expected 5-12 start Roy moved to the point (which he still does in important moments) and Portland ripped off 13 straight wins with Roy putting in 22-5-5 every game.  At one point Portland's record was 26-17 and 1st in the division. 

For his team's success and his own individual accomplishments Roy was selected as a reserve for the All-Star game, Portland's first since 2003.  Roy continued to play strong for the rest of the season, but the rest of the team couldn't hold pace and wound up out of the playoff picture.  Still, ask any Portland fan if they would have taken a 41-41 record after losing Randolph and Oden and the answer would be "yes." 

The biggest reason for Portland's return to relevance was Roy, who improved all of his major statistics (19.1-5.8-4.7 for the season).  By the end of the season it was clear the Roy was the unquestioned leader of the team and the best player.  

The Superstar

This season expectations were high in Portland, largely due to Oden joining the team.  In all the Oden hoopla Roy was somewhat lost in the mix.  A lot of the media outlets saw him as a fringe All-Star player, the sort who makes 3 All-Star games as a valuable second option.  He has that unassuming nature about him.  He's soft-spoken to the press, he doesn't make a lot of flashy plays, and he isn't overly quick or explosive.  Nothing about his physique stands out either- 6'6" and 210 pounds is good sized but not a monster for a shooting guard. But Roy added several elements to his game this past offseason.

For starters, Roy basically had one effective offensive move his first two years in the league: a hard drive with a big stepback that leads to an open jumper.  He still employs that weapon with great regularity, but also added a vast array of moves that get him all the way to the rim. 

The thing that makes Roy so fun to watch is that he almost never looks like he's going full speed, yet only Dwyane Wade and Lebron James get to the rim more frequently than he does.  The other special thing about Roy is that he is actually more comfortable finishing with his left hand at the rim despite being a righty.  That makes his inside shots very difficult to block.  Now that he is amongst the most effective penetrators in the NBA it frees up all sorts of fun things for him to do, because as defenders sag off it allows him to shoot a midrange shot that has become one of the more reliable ones in the game. This allows Roy to become a moe dominant scorer, as indicated by his sven game stretch of 30+ points in December, including a 52 point eruption against the Suns.

Another thing that Roy has added is some explosiveness.  He normally just lays it in when he gets the chance, but he also understands the importance of momentum.  In his first game back from a minor hamstring injury against the Warriors the Blazers were in a back and forth game until Roy took an alley-oop inbounds pass from Rudy Fernandez and visciously through it down.  That dunk sparked an 8-0 run and Portland never looked back.  Then, a few weeks later against the Clippers the Blazers were in the process of blowing a lead when Eric Gordon hammered down a nasty dunk over two Blazer defenders to put the Clips up one.  The LA crowd was going about as nuts as a Clipper crowd can go.  On the ensuing Blazer possession Roy took a kick-out pass from Oden and pump faked, then dribbled once on the drive before taking off from just inside the line and abusing the dome of 7'3" Cheik Samb.  Portland went on a 12-0 starting with that bucket and rolled to a win.

Finally, the most important element the Roy has added is the clutch element. He normally spends the first 3 quarters playing the role of distrubutor unless the Blazers are falling behind.  If the game is close in the 4th he takes over.  Already he has one of the most clutch sequences in team histroy this season against Houston (the famous hero-bonehead-hero sequence) and has hit game tying or winning shots in the final 30 seconds of three other games.  That doesn't even include all the times that he's hit shots to keep six point lead or made a key assist to kill a late opponent's run.

For som inexplicable reason Roy was 10th in fan voting for the All-Star game, but it isn't like he would have beaten out Chris Paul or Kobe for a starting spot anyway.  The coaches aroung the league understand and respect Roy's abilities. As Hornet's coach Byron Scott said after Roy went for 25 points, 10 assists, and 6 boards in a win against his team, "when we scout Portland we put him (Roy) in the same category as Kobe, Lebron, Dwyane Wade.  We treat him the same. He's that good."  And since the coaches understand how great Roy is, Roy has been selected to his second consecutive All-Star game, the first Blazer to do that since Rasheed Wallace in the 2001 and 2002 games.

Areas to Build

No NBA player is perfect, and while Roy is a phenomenal player he has his flaws.  He is an average perimeter defender at best, though he's certainly improved and recently tied a franchise record with 10 steals in one game against the Wizards.  He also is just about average for a shooting guard from distance (35% for his career and for the season) and has his streaks from everywhere.  Examples include going 2-10 against the Hornets just this past Monday and 3-11 in a streak killing loss to Boston in November.  

Another issue is that he isn't all that comfortable taking over on his own.  Though he is the leader of the team he often asks permission from teammates before he goes on scoring frenzies.  Even as he was dropping 52 on the Suns in a comeback win and was the only effective Blazer he kept asking if his teammates would prefer he distribute.  A time will come when he has to tell the rest of the team "I'm taking over. Give me the ball," and he's going to have to be comfortable doing so.

The Reason

It's no secret around the NBA the Portland is in the process of becoming a legitimate title contender.  It was initially thought that this success would be due to a formidable trio of Oden, Aldridge, and Roy.  While that may still be the case, Portland is currently among the best teams in the West and it isn't because of the Big Three, it's because of the Brandon Roy show featuring Lamarcus Aldridge and the Baby Blazers.  For the season Roy has once again upped his scoring average to 22.2 thus far while maintaining his assist and rebounding averages and playing the same number of minutes.  As such, Roy has garnered another nickname this season: "The Reason":  Right now Roy is the reason Portland is the #4 team in the West and a legit playoff team despite having the youngest active roster in the league. 

Roy is making the leap this year from All-Star to Superstar, a guy who will make an All-NBA team every year and be in top ten MVP consideration (as he is for many "experts" right now).  He's not in the Kobe-James-Wade echelon, but has certianly elevated himself to the Paul Pierce-Joe Johnson-Manu Ginobili tier.  By the end of this regular season Portland may well be a darkhorse title contender, and Roy will be The Reason for that.