Game 1: RIP #7

My dad brought up a point last night that rattled me. Not because it was profound or anything, but I was shocked that I found myself agreeing. Brandon Roy is done.

It's the same converstation I have been having with other Blazer fans for 5 months now. Brandon Roy is never goign to be the same guy again. Not even a fraction of what he once was. It's a sad realization for any Blazer fan to come to, something I've been dealing with since December, but for some reason last night it hit me different. It felt wrong to agree with him. I felt dirty. Brandon Roy is my guy and I'm saying things like, "he brings nothing to the table," and "we should call any lineup with him in it 4 on 5" or the most hurtful, "I'd rather see Fat Ass Oden and his cane in the game right now, instead of Brandon."

I know, that was some super hurtful material. Look at it from my perspective: talking that kind of junk about B Roy is on the same level as disowning family members. Don't see it that way? Remember, I'm the one who was dead set on honoring the Natural by naming my first born after him.

Boy or Girl.

Lets put it this way, I'm not quite on a level where I'm seeking professional advice to help cope with watching number 7 pretend to be the same guy he was last year, but I'm close. I just would hate for this to be the reason The Fiance (formerly the Girlfriend) leaves me.

Take last night for an example: the 'Natural' put up a stat line that looked like this 26 minutes 1-7 shooting, 4 fouls and 2 points. On the surface, it just looks like another shitty bench player performance. God knows Rudy has put up MANY stat lines that resemble that. However, Roy's shitty night was alot worse then Rudy's shitty night ( he had one too). Roy's was more destructive when you factor in that he played most of his minutes in the 4th quarter of 81-89 loss.

Seriously Nate, we need to finally come to grips with his knees are shit. They will not heel. No amount of prayer, surgery, or magic will change this. Nothing is going to happen thats going to make Roy flip back into 'Natural' mode. No matter how much you ( or any fan) wish it would.

That last paragraph sucked to write.

Look, no one wants Brandon to return to form and start destorying people on a nightly baises more then I. Believe that. But unless there is experimental surgery to put the legiments back in his knee- which I remained confused on why there isn't- it's not going to happen. We need to get used to that. So does Nate.

Bottom line is this: Tuesday night, Wes and Nic need to have monster nights so Nate McMillian doesn't find himself looking at his bench for answers, seeing Brandon Roy (having a flashback to two years ago, or even last year when he played in a game 8 days after surgery) and saying to himself, "oh shit, Brandon will save us."

Because he won't.

(that sentence also sucked to write).