On LeBron James, Brandon Roy and “The Decision”
Brandon Roy's sad story illuminates The Decision.
As I emerged from The Hangover: Ad-libs, my Twitter timeline was flying with tweets about LeBron James and his clutch performance in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals. NBA Twiteratti were telling a story of vindication–140 characters at a time.
James’ nailed a series-clinching free throw jumper, advancing to the NBA Finals in his first season with the Miami Heat, proving James’ clutchness, greatness, and wisdom for making The Decision, all in one moment.
Engulfed by flaming James rhetoric was a tweet from Portland that whispered a truer tale:
@JohnCanzanoBFT: Canzano: Asking Blazers’ Brandon Roy to retire is not the answer: The Trail Blazers Inc. brain trust wants to fl…http://bit.ly/jh9sBu
The link brought me to OregonLive.com, where I read in disgust that the powers of the Portaland Trailblazers were considering asking Brandon Roy to retire.
The same Roy who led a beleaguered franchise away from mugshots and jailhouses, towards title shots and penthouses. The same Roy who led the team in points, assists, steals and minutes during the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons. The same Roy who won Rookie of the Year, made three All-star teams and two All-NBA teams in just five NBA seasons.
And, after all that, when Roy’s balky knees wore down from the pounding of so many minutes, of carrying such a heavy burden for the Blazers, Portland is asking Roy for more. It’s not enough that he sacrificed his starting spot, his playing time, now they want him to sacrifice his career so that Paul Allen can save some luxury tax.
On a rapidly-moving Twitter stream, I expect most of Canzono’s followers didn’t see how sad news about Roy could unlock a window into James’ mind, how timely the news was in light of James’ achievement. But I’m guessing James would see the connection.
LeBron was blasted my media and fans alike for deserting the Cavaliers, for leaving the hometown team for a better opportunity. James was disloyal, a traitor, the story goes.
But James knew what Roy is now learning. The NBA is about business, about serving one’s personal interest, about looking out for number one.
NBA owners, GM’s, and coaches want a player only as long as he is productive. As soon he can’t make an owner money, or win a coach basketball games, the player is forgotten, dismissed.
Now, I don’t know if the rumor is true or not, but yellow snow usually means a dog peed there. Portland may not ask Roy to retire, but they certainly have thought about it.
Paul Allen is not loyal to Brandon Roy and Dan Gilbert has shown how much he cares about James. Why should the players be held to a higher standard?
On James’ greatest night as a basketball player, it was Roy’s darkest day that showed us why James made the right decision.
Related articles
- VIDEO: Luol Deng Dunks As LeBron James Goes For Block In Pursuit (sbnation.com)
- LeBron James apologizes for “The Decision” (probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com)
- NBA Playoffs: Heat make stunning comeback, reach finals (probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com)
- Video: Watch Brandon Roy’s amazing fourth quarter (probasketballtalk.nbcsports.com)
Related posts:
Celtics Blog | Tommy King | May 27, 2011
How come they dont buyRoy out? I’m a huge Brandon Roy fan, so this irks me a lot. He even brought them back from that big deficit against the Mavs this year, the key play being the four point play. If I were Roy I’d tell them to kiss my ass, I’m not leaving. I worked hard to get back to support this franchise and now you’re treating me like shit? I dont care if it’s a business move or not, I’m not retiring.
He should say something like that.
Like or Dislike:
1 
0
It’s got to be a rumor otherwise we’d have heard something by now. He should stay put. The player that needs to be asked to retire is Greg Oden. Worthless pick when they could have had Durant. Go Cs…
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Tommy. I see your point but let’s not forget that James misled an entire city of fans by making them think he was staying there (even telling the press just weeks before the decision that he had no reason to leave Cleveland). The Decision itself was business, and whatever he decided was his business. It was the way he handled it that is inexcusable. “I’m taking my talents to South beach” after keeping everybody dangling by a threat to build movie star suspense. I wish athletes would just play sports today, but money has ruined a lot.
James. Perkins was horrible in his final game of the season. Okay, so you had a point all along, but I will still argue that it was the timing of the trade that was so wrong, not so much the trade itself. Perkins is not worth the money he received from OKC. I hope the C’s can find a decent big man though. Is there anyone out there?
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Chris…yes, the timing was bad but that had to happen when MD went down as there were no wing players left to help PP guard LBJ< Kobe, etc. If MD had not gone down I do believe the trade would have happened post season. As I have maintained since the end of our year, injuries decimated the Cs this season and that's why we did not do much in the playoffs. And I'm rooting against LBJ because of his method of leaving the Cavs. Go Cs…
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
James, yeah. Go Dallas. I’d like to see Dirk and Kidd get rings before they end their careers.
when are we going to get a breakdown of the C’s chances next year? The Globe ran the article on possible free agents out there. What is realistic? Too early to tell perhaps…..I hope (yeah I probably am) that the C’s can compete with the Bulls and Heat next year.
The Bulls simply couldn’t score. Same problem the C’s had. But the Heat are beatable. We’ll see how great they are against Dallas, a team that is deep, focused and hungry.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0