# ESPN singing Roy's praises



## Talkhard (May 13, 2003)

Brandon Roy may turned some kind of corner tonight in terms of his reputation and status around the NBA. The cameras seemed to be on him during every Portland timeout, and the announcers on the ESPN broadcast couldn't stop gushing about his game and his great character. Most amazing of all, they seemed to like him better than Dwyane Wade, despite Wade's great performance. 

I actually get a little suspicious about stuff like this. I sometimes wonder if the NBA doesn't hand these announcers marching orders and tell them to talk up one player over another. It seems as if everybody now WANTS Roy to be the next big thing in the NBA, and they're tired of talking about guys like Wade and Kobe and LeBron. The amount of praise that tonight's announcers kept heaping on Roy prior to the 4th quarter was really unjustified, since Roy was practically invisible before that. 

Anyway, I'm thrilled to see Portland getting so much attention. It's like the good old days when everybody was talking about the Drexler teams. It's so much more fun being on top of the mountain rather than at the bottom of it.


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## Miksaid (Mar 21, 2005)

Indeed. They must be up to something. This is some kind of tomfoolery.


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## DucRider (Dec 22, 2007)

I think B-Roy's 4th qtr showed they were correct.
Reputations (and calls from the ref) are built upon the hype.
Perhaps the nba is going to market character for the next decade or so...


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## graybeard (May 10, 2003)

It's just a coincidence that the announcers were speaking so highly of B. Roy right after the Blazer brass sent all the announcers and head coaches in the nba their very own I-Roy. I-Roy is an I-pod with B. Roys picture on the front of it and a bunch of Roy videos inside.

It's a blazer promo to get Roy in the all-star game.


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

I don't know if we're on the mountain yet, but we can see it clearly. Before, heard about it and assumed that Mount Tabor was Mt Hood.

Now we can point out Mt Hood during a rain storm, a heavy fog embankment and during the night.


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## craigehlo (Feb 24, 2005)

BRoy always steps up when the team needs it the most. That really what separates him from pure stat guys like Kevin Martin and Monte Ellis in the Western Conference. He's a LEADER not just a scorer.


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## wastro (Dec 19, 2004)

I want an iRoy!


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## SheedSoNasty (Dec 31, 2002)

Could Roy end up being the best Blazer of all time?

I know it may be early to speculate, but why the heck not?


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## DucRider (Dec 22, 2007)

SheedSoNasty said:


> Could Roy end up being the best Blazer of all time?
> 
> I know it may be early to speculate, but why the heck not?


10 years from June 08, people will talk about rings. B-Roy will have maybe 5 or 6 and still be the uncontested leader of the TEAM. Guys will be taking the minimum to play with B-Roy and GO...just for a chance at a ring and to feel that which few teams achieve. So, yes.


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## craigehlo (Feb 24, 2005)

SheedSoNasty said:


> Could Roy end up being the best Blazer of all time?
> 
> I know it may be early to speculate, but why the heck not?


I feel ya. He on trajectory to be the best Blazer ever if this is what he does his sophomore year. It's just silly how good he is with the ball in his hands.


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

let's wait till Brandon plays in the playoffs, before we consider it possible for him to be the best of all time in Portland.

Could you argue he's one of the best who's played in Portland in the last 13 years? Sure, especially if you consider the whole package.


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## barfo (Jan 2, 2003)

Hap said:


> Last edited by Hap : Today at 08:30 PM. Reason: why does embankment look like it's spelled wrong?


Because it is the wrong word? Fog bank maybe? I guess embankment is ok, but it is kind of a creative use. 

barfo


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## NateBishop3 (Jul 22, 2003)

Talkhard said:


> The amount of praise that tonight's announcers kept heaping on Roy prior to the 4th quarter was really unjustified, since Roy was practically invisible before that.


TH you seem to ignore the fact that Roy is getting double teamed constantly. Teams have figured out that the answer to the Blazers is to double Roy and pressure the ball. The team WANTS to run a pick and roll with Roy and then kick to the open man, but they're doubling Roy and keeping him from getting penetration. So instead of penetrating and kicking they're moving the ball around the perimeter and running the shot clock down until they either force a bad shot or the clock runs out. 

Roy isn't a selfish guy, he's not going to FORCE shots just to get his points. If he's doubled he'll look for the open man. To say that he's invisible is just plain wrong. 

You'll also notice that Wade made his big push in the 3rd quarter, but ran out of gas in the 4th. Roy paced himself until the 4th and then made his big push when it mattered. Roy > Wade


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## Yega1979 (Mar 22, 2003)

SheedSoNasty said:


> Could Roy end up being the best Blazer of all time?
> 
> I know it may be early to speculate, but why the heck not?


One of the best since Bill Walton. Drexler and Sabonis were the best blazers since our championship era. I don't think Drexler ever earned a reputation as a leader, or someone go go to in crunch time, while Brandon Roy is Mr. 4th quarter, and seems to almost always deliver.


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## mook (Dec 31, 2002)

DucRider said:


> I think B-Roy's 4th qtr showed they were correct.
> Reputations (and calls from the ref) are built upon the hype.
> Perhaps the nba is going to market character for the next decade or so...


there are two areas where I still see a lot of potential growth for Roy: lights-out perimeter shooting and drawing fouls. perimeter shooting is just a matter of time. he's already decent, in a few years he could be deadly. 

drawing fouls is partially about getting superstar calls. in his first season, Wade took 312 free throws. in his second (after he'd been anointed Superstar status) he took 756. did Wade's game change that much? not really. it just became a rule that if you sneeze on Wade he's entitled to a free throw. 

interestingly, Roy took a free throw attempt once every 2.5 minutes last year. he gets a free throw every 7 minutes this year. maybe it's because he's played a lot more point guard this year and he hasn't had to force plays as much. 

still, though, the Roy hype should really help in the Superstar Calls department down the road.


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## andalusian (Jun 29, 2006)

NateBishop3 said:


> Roy > Wade


Let's not get crazy. Wade was playing 2 on 10, he had to go swinging or the game was over after half-time.

I still think that Roy has a chance to be as effective and dominant as Wade when all is said and done, even if he does not do it with explosive stretches as wade does.


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## NateBishop3 (Jul 22, 2003)

There's a long video about the Blazers on the front page of ESPN. It's a couple minutes long.


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## Talkhard (May 13, 2003)

NateBishop3 said:


> TH you seem to ignore the fact that Roy is getting double teamed constantly. Teams have figured out that the answer to the Blazers is to double Roy and pressure the ball. The team WANTS to run a pick and roll with Roy and then kick to the open man, but they're doubling Roy and keeping him from getting penetration.


Sorry, but I'm not buying it. They were playing him the same way in the fourth quarter and he still took it to the hoop like he hadn't done in the previous three quarters. Roy definitely saves himself for the fourth quarter on many nights--it's the one thing I don't like about his game. 

I'm sure I'll get attacked for saying that, but it's true. I'm all for unselfish play and I love the way the Blazers are playing, but I think Roy can be unselfish to a fault sometimes. There were occasions in the first 3 quarters tonight when he just kept passing the ball and refused to go inside. He needs to be more aggressive.


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## PapaG (Oct 4, 2004)

andalusian said:


> Let's not get crazy. Wade was playing 2 on 10, he had to go swinging or the game was over after half-time.
> 
> I still think that Roy has a chance to be as effective and dominant as Wade when all is said and done, even if he does not do it with explosive stretches as wade does.



Plus Wade is playing hurt, and so is Shaq. Wade could take a seat to heal, but instead he is out there playing hard. I respect that and I'm sure his opponents do as well.


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

Now that we're done playing the Heat for the season, I can say that they really really REEEE-AAAAAA-LLLLLLL-YYYYYY suck.

And should shut down the season. Especially considering Wade is trying to Allen Iverson here, and kill himself.


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## Oldmangrouch (Feb 11, 2003)

No offense to Roy, but consider this:

Roy career averages: 17.7 PPG, .455 FG%, 4.7 APG

Petrie: 21.8 PPG, .455 FG%, 4.6 APG

Roy is darned good.....but the best Blazer ever? No.


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

Oldmangrouch said:


> No offense to Roy, but consider this:
> 
> Roy career averages: 17.7 PPG, .455 FG%, 4.7 APG
> 
> ...


Right now, he isn't. But your argument has some flaws to it. For one, the league was completely different it is now. Also, Petrie was the best player on an expansion team, where it isn't unheard of that players stats are inflated (see Kelly Tripuka on the Hornets, or Tony Campbell on the Timberwolves).

Also, if we're truly compare him to a former guard player, why not pick the guy who is significantly better than Petrie was, in Clyde Drexler? It seems odd to trumpet out Geoff, when he's not even our best player ever, let alone best 2 guard.

Unless your point was to mention how he's not even as skilled (after 2 seasons) as Petrie was, knowing full well Petrie isn't the best guard to play in Portland (and ignoring the inflated #'s he produced).


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## Dan (Dec 30, 2002)

barfo said:


> Because it is the wrong word? Fog bank maybe? I guess embankment is ok, but it is kind of a creative use.
> 
> barfo


I knew something looked wrong, but I just couldn't wrap my foot around it.


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## KingSpeed (Oct 30, 2003)

Roy's numbers don't tell the story. A good game for Roy is 16 pts, everyone scores, team wins. A bad game for Roy is 35 pts, team loses. He aims for the former.


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## TP3 (Jan 26, 2003)

No one played D back then OMG. 

Roy may be the best closer the blazers have ever had. Just think if he played with the 90-92 teams. We would have never lost a game. We've never had a player who can get to the rim as consistently as Roy.


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## Oldmangrouch (Feb 11, 2003)

Hap said:


> Right now, he isn't. But your argument has some flaws to it. For one, the league was completely different it is now. Also, Petrie was the best player on an expansion team, where it isn't unheard of that players stats are inflated (see Kelly Tripuka on the Hornets, or Tony Campbell on the Timberwolves).
> 
> Also, if we're truly compare him to a former guard player, why not pick the guy who is significantly better than Petrie was, in Clyde Drexler? It seems odd to trumpet out Geoff, when he's not even our best player ever, let alone best 2 guard.
> 
> Unless your point was to mention how he's not even as skilled (after 2 seasons) as Petrie was, knowing full well Petrie isn't the best guard to play in Portland (and ignoring the inflated #'s he produced).


I picked Petrie because his stats are actually quite similar (except for his second season, when Geoff was playing on one leg). Both came to the league at the same age, with a well developed BBIQ. 

Being compared to Petrie is certainly no insult, but as you say, he isn't the best player in Blazer history - and neither is Roy. If Roy is "merely" as good as Petrie, I will be quite content!


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## STOMP (Jan 1, 2003)

Talkhard said:


> Brandon Roy may turned some kind of corner tonight in terms of his reputation and status around the NBA. The cameras seemed to be on him during every Portland timeout, and the announcers on the ESPN broadcast couldn't stop gushing about his game and his great character. Most amazing of all, they seemed to like him better than Dwyane Wade, despite Wade's great performance.
> 
> I actually get a little suspicious about stuff like this. I sometimes wonder if the NBA doesn't hand these announcers marching orders and tell them to talk up one player over another. It seems as if everybody now WANTS Roy to be the next big thing in the NBA, and they're tired of talking about guys like Wade and Kobe and LeBron. The amount of praise that tonight's announcers kept heaping on Roy prior to the 4th quarter was really unjustified, since Roy was practically invisible before that.


I used to catch to Tom Tolbert's afternoon sports talkshow in the Bay Area. On many occasions he confirmed your suspicions about marching orders coming down on the talking heads, though to hear him tell it it's the network not the league that gives the announcers their nightly topics to repeat into the ground. He also relayed that sometimes their pre-game strategizing meetings included local writers who'd help them get a feel for things... 

I wish we could get a sports TV broadcast option of turning the announcers off and just hearing crowd noise. I know I know... how would they let me know which company is sponsoring the next commercial break without announcers? How would I know that the ball went through he hoop without somebody telling me what I'm seeing? I still think it would be great.

STOMP


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## statman (Feb 27, 2004)

mook said:


> ...interestingly, Roy took a free throw attempt once every 2.5 minutes last year. he gets a free throw every 7 minutes this year...


I think you must have been looking at the wrong column on the stat sheet. One free throw attement every 2.5 minutes would be a shaq-load of free throws. It was one every 8.4 minutes last year vs. one every 7.1 minutes this year.


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## gatorpops (Dec 17, 2004)

Oldmangrouch said:


> I picked Petrie because his stats are actually quite similar (except for his second season, when Geoff was playing on one leg). Both came to the league at the same age, with a well developed BBIQ.
> 
> Being compared to Petrie is certainly no insult, but as you say, he isn't the best player in Blazer history - and neither is Roy. If Roy is "merely" as good as Petrie, I will be quite content!


To me Geoff was Ray Allen's double. Not quite the same shot but the same result, maybe better.

gatorpops


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## Spud147 (Jul 15, 2005)

Talkhard said:


> Brandon Roy may turned some kind of corner tonight in terms of his reputation and status around the NBA. The cameras seemed to be on him during every Portland timeout, and the announcers on the ESPN broadcast couldn't stop gushing about his game and his great character. Most amazing of all, they seemed to like him better than Dwyane Wade, despite Wade's great performance.
> 
> I actually get a little suspicious about stuff like this. I sometimes wonder if the NBA doesn't hand these announcers marching orders and tell them to talk up one player over another. It seems as if everybody now WANTS Roy to be the next big thing in the NBA, and they're tired of talking about guys like Wade and Kobe and LeBron. The amount of praise that tonight's announcers kept heaping on Roy prior to the 4th quarter was really unjustified, since Roy was practically invisible before that.
> 
> Anyway, I'm thrilled to see Portland getting so much attention. It's like the good old days when everybody was talking about the Drexler teams. It's so much more fun being on top of the mountain rather than at the bottom of it.



The Blazers and especially Brandon have been getting a lot of love from the national media lately. They are the talk of the league and this is really the first chance the east coast has gotten to see the Blazers play full games. Unless the have league pass and stay up really late all they've seen is highlights. I think most thought it would turn out to be all "hype" but an exchange between Hubie Brown and the other guy made me realize they've gone beyond that. At one point when Hubie was gushing about how amazing Brandon was in the 4th quarter the other guy says, "This is the first time you've seen him in person, isn't it?". I think even Hubie, who's been around the league since about 1908, was shocked when Brandon lived up (and even exceeded) the hype. Now, with the east coast media getting their first look it's becoming really hard to chalk this all up to luck... this team is for real and the hype really isn't hype anymore, it's the truth.


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## Elton (May 26, 2007)

It's certainly remarkable to witness all this B-Roy gushing in the media of late...but they're just following the fair weather and trying to sell a fresh new face to the average fan. 

The networks are just now discovering that Brandon Roy is extremely marketable, especially with the coming juggernaut of our "Big Three". If you notice all the attention Oden gets on the road, it's not for nothing. The groundwork is being laid for selling the Blazers and our "stars" on national TV next year.


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## wastro (Dec 19, 2004)

I don't care why the networks are heaping praise on Roy. I'm just glad they are, because he's one of the best things to happen to this league in a long time. And it'll be nice when Portland's on national TV 20 times next season, playing on opening night and Christmas Day in front of the nation. Fans will know what's up with "that young team from Portland." (By the way, how many times did the ESPN guys use almost that same phrase last night? 20? 30?)


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## SheedSoNasty (Dec 31, 2002)

Elton said:


> It's certainly remarkable to witness all this B-Roy gushing in the media of late...but they're just following the fair weather and trying to sell a fresh new face to the average fan.
> 
> The networks are just now discovering that Brandon Roy is extremely marketable, especially with the coming juggernaut of our "Big Three". If you notice all the attention Oden gets on the road, it's not for nothing. The groundwork is being laid for selling the Blazers and our "stars" on national TV next year.


Even then, when's the last time it was popular to be a Blazer fan? Back when rappers were wearing Rasheed Wallace jerseys?

There's a reason why Randy Foye isn't being trumpeted as a franchise savior. There's a reason why Adam Morrison is no longer the next Larry Bird. Roy and the Blazers have deserved this kind of recognition because they have earned it.

If anything, fair weather fans around the nation have been slow in picking that up as told by the fact that Jerry Freaking Stackhouse has more All-Star votes than Roy.


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## #10 (Jul 23, 2004)

STOMP said:


> I wish we could get a sports TV broadcast option of turning the announcers off and just hearing crowd noise. I know I know... how would they let me know which company is sponsoring the next commercial break without announcers? How would I know that the ball went through he hoop without somebody telling me what I'm seeing? I still think it would be great.
> 
> STOMP


It should be required that this option is available for every sports broadcast. Especially for slow games like baseball, where there really isn't that much to say over the course of three hours in a 162 game season, or soccer, where it's more enjoyable listening to the fans sing.


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