Brandon Roy Retires

I remember this exact play.
I have no life.

In news that makes me personally very sad, Brandon Roy has retired from professional basketball due to his knees no longer existing.  Sadly, the man that was everything that a Washington Husky should be will never be able to continue to be a basketball ambassador for the state, a role which he has fulfilled better than anyone ever could have imagined.

Looking at Roy's basketball career, its amazing to see how much the guy grew, not just as a player but as a person.  Hell, he was 50-50 for going pro straight out of high school before Romar convinced him to at least play a year for the Huskies.  A few years later, and he's the greatest player in Husky basketball history and among the best Blazers ever, cementing his legacy which, unfortunately, will forever have ended too soon.



It really is devastating to me to see a guy like this lose his whole career thanks to the whims of his knees.  For a few years there, Brandon Roy looked as good as any player in the NBA, capable of rivaling just about anybody for best shooting guard in the league.  With the loss of the Sonics, Roy was really all I had to cling onto as a Seattle man, and he proved again and again that we are just as good as any other area of the country for basketball talent.  Of course, Roy also stood as the perfect kind of kid that Romar wants for the Huskies: athletic and a little brash, Roy became the epitome of the family man and earned his degree all while taking in stride troubles such as essentially being cast aside by the entire Blazers organization.

Honestly, there isn't really a good way to word how this news is hitting me (as I'm sure you all read the blog for my personal emotional whims.)  Roy was the first basketball player I remember watching from his very first year with the Huskies and is certainly my favorite player I've ever seen.  The fact that people thought Andrea Bargnani, Randy Foye, or a handful of other players would be better immediately pissed me off, and for once I was right to judge a player by his character rather than his talents.  Sadly, Brandon Roy is a guy that could have almost certainly been a Hall of Famer and really been the face of the University of Washington.  Now, we will have to be content with wondering what might have been and hoping that he will stay in the spotlight.

I can't think of a single thing that didn't go perfectly for Roy from my perspective in his early career.  He went to UW seemingly on a whim, realizing that he could fill the void Martell Webster left by declaring out of high school.  He landed at a professional team close to home and with one of the most beloved Seattle players ever as a coach (Nate McMillan, not Jim McIlvaine.)  Portland loved him, he succeeded immediately, and frankly really made me believe that the Huskies had just produced one of the greatest shooting guards ever.  Just looking at the "similar players" box on basketball reference compares him to Clyde Drexler, Gus Williams, and David Thompson.  Its heartbreaking that we will never get to see just what he could have become; his legacy will probably mirror that of Bill Walton (though to a lesser extent) or Drazen Petrovic (of course less tragic) instead of watching him ascend to the upper echelons of NBA players all-time.

Man, I hate knees.