BoL's Player Previews: Brandon Roy

Marked as the “Savior”, Brandon Roy makes sense as the lead into our series of player previews to start the 2008-09 NBA season.  Roy absolutely defines the Kevin Pritchard version of the Portland Trail Blazers with his work ethic, mindset, and personality.  The new Blazers are young, fun and full of energy that stems straight from number 7.

Entering his third season in the NBA, Brandon Roy has begun to exude the confidence and aura of a seasoned vet.  It could be somewhat due to his age and the years of experience he has as a leader through college and now into the NBA, but a ton has to do with his character.  The guy just gets; always has. 

Throughout the preseason, Roy has continued his silent assassin role, but with more emphasis than ever.  The idea of him being extremely hard to guard should now be elevated to impossible to guard.  He’s even mentioned to others that with Oden on the floor, his love and excitement for the game has heightened tremendously.  With the big man in the middle, Roy hasn’t seen this many open shots since high school.

Not to jump into ridiculous predictions or anything, but I just get a feeling about him this year, that we are about to see some real magic.  The early focus of the season will be about his sort-of-rookie-teammate-7-footer while he will quietly be leading the Blazers into a season we’ll probably never forget.  This season will officially mark the return of Rip City and you can thank Brandon Roy, not Greg Oden for that.

Last season stats:  19.1 PPG  4.6 RBD  5.0 ASST  1.1 STL  36:42 MIN

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