tlongII
08-08-2009, 09:10 AM
http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2009/08/canzano_its_easy_to_celebrate.html
You love the Trail Blazers, and you're thrilled that the organization signed Brandon Roy to a long-term contract. They held a news conference to celebrate all that on Friday, but there's one question that nobody could answer.
It's this: What exactly does $80 million buy?
"If I didn't play basketball I'd just be regular-old guy," Roy said.
So yeah. Here's hoping the guy does nothing more than continuing to do what he's always done in Portland.
Roy's been a wonderful player, and a terrific leader, and the Blazers rewarded him the five-year contract. They weren't paying him for the work he's already done, though, rather, for what they think he can deliver. And this leads us to the great unknown that is Roy's future.
The Blazers have an awful history when it comes to doling out money to players and getting real value. They gave Zach Randolph an $84 million deal. And Darius Miles $48 million, and the organization paid Shawn Kemp $15 million in 2002-03, and by then, we all remember, he wasn't even on the roster.
So Roy will forgive us for asking, "Can you really deliver?" Because we're not just talking about All-Star Games, and thrills at the Rose Garden Arena, but a berth in the Western Conference Finals inside of five years.
You want bad contracts?
They're all over the league. It's why the NBA trade deadline is spent every year with teams attempting to unload lousy long-term contracts in exchange for the financial flexibility to pursue new talent. And so Roy must know that the expectations he's exceeded in his first two seasons are now officially raised somewhere above the clouds.
It's what Rasheed Wallace struggled with when it came to his relationship with fans in Portland. Wallace was making $18 million a year, while expressing his acceptance of coming off the bench, or being a role player, and that's not what you want to hear from your highest paid athlete.
The headline of the Associated Press story that went national Friday screamed: "GM calls it 'amazing day'." And the Blazers were ribbed nationally for their ebullient reaction to Roy's signing on Friday. That's because there aren't a lot of people who understand the way the community and this basketball team weave themselves together.
When Greg Oden showed up to introduce himself to the city, 5,000 of you waved back at him. When Rudy Fernandez arrived from Spain, high school kids cut class and made signs and went to the airport. And on Friday, when Roy and the Blazers held their signing party, you celebrated.
I don't blame you a bit. And I know outsiders don't understand you. Which is only to say, they probably don't understand the meaning of the relationship you're having with the star player of your NBA team.
You're an Oregonian. You walk to the edge. You love hard. You have high expectations and you appreciate it when you see congruency between a person's words and actions.
There's an authenticity about Roy, isn't there?
He talked Friday about watching his infant daughter learning how to wave when he enters and leaves the room. And he recalled his mother packing his lunch for him and dropping him off in the wee hours of the morning, the summer after graduating from high school, while he was working on the docks. And he said of the new contract and all that money, "It doesn't complete me."
He wants to buy a home in Portland. Like Warren Buffett, Roy wants to save enough money for his children to do anything they want, but not so much that they don't do anything at all. But most of all, he wants to win.
He's regular old Brandon Roy, and he said, winning big is what will complete him.
Roy spoke at his news conference on Friday, then, met with team executives, ran errands, and packed up his children and his fiance into his car. The Roy family headed North on Interstate-5, toward Seattle, with the kids squawking in the backseat.
They got stuck in 5 o'clock traffic.
Just a regular guy.
You love the Trail Blazers, and you're thrilled that the organization signed Brandon Roy to a long-term contract. They held a news conference to celebrate all that on Friday, but there's one question that nobody could answer.
It's this: What exactly does $80 million buy?
"If I didn't play basketball I'd just be regular-old guy," Roy said.
So yeah. Here's hoping the guy does nothing more than continuing to do what he's always done in Portland.
Roy's been a wonderful player, and a terrific leader, and the Blazers rewarded him the five-year contract. They weren't paying him for the work he's already done, though, rather, for what they think he can deliver. And this leads us to the great unknown that is Roy's future.
The Blazers have an awful history when it comes to doling out money to players and getting real value. They gave Zach Randolph an $84 million deal. And Darius Miles $48 million, and the organization paid Shawn Kemp $15 million in 2002-03, and by then, we all remember, he wasn't even on the roster.
So Roy will forgive us for asking, "Can you really deliver?" Because we're not just talking about All-Star Games, and thrills at the Rose Garden Arena, but a berth in the Western Conference Finals inside of five years.
You want bad contracts?
They're all over the league. It's why the NBA trade deadline is spent every year with teams attempting to unload lousy long-term contracts in exchange for the financial flexibility to pursue new talent. And so Roy must know that the expectations he's exceeded in his first two seasons are now officially raised somewhere above the clouds.
It's what Rasheed Wallace struggled with when it came to his relationship with fans in Portland. Wallace was making $18 million a year, while expressing his acceptance of coming off the bench, or being a role player, and that's not what you want to hear from your highest paid athlete.
The headline of the Associated Press story that went national Friday screamed: "GM calls it 'amazing day'." And the Blazers were ribbed nationally for their ebullient reaction to Roy's signing on Friday. That's because there aren't a lot of people who understand the way the community and this basketball team weave themselves together.
When Greg Oden showed up to introduce himself to the city, 5,000 of you waved back at him. When Rudy Fernandez arrived from Spain, high school kids cut class and made signs and went to the airport. And on Friday, when Roy and the Blazers held their signing party, you celebrated.
I don't blame you a bit. And I know outsiders don't understand you. Which is only to say, they probably don't understand the meaning of the relationship you're having with the star player of your NBA team.
You're an Oregonian. You walk to the edge. You love hard. You have high expectations and you appreciate it when you see congruency between a person's words and actions.
There's an authenticity about Roy, isn't there?
He talked Friday about watching his infant daughter learning how to wave when he enters and leaves the room. And he recalled his mother packing his lunch for him and dropping him off in the wee hours of the morning, the summer after graduating from high school, while he was working on the docks. And he said of the new contract and all that money, "It doesn't complete me."
He wants to buy a home in Portland. Like Warren Buffett, Roy wants to save enough money for his children to do anything they want, but not so much that they don't do anything at all. But most of all, he wants to win.
He's regular old Brandon Roy, and he said, winning big is what will complete him.
Roy spoke at his news conference on Friday, then, met with team executives, ran errands, and packed up his children and his fiance into his car. The Roy family headed North on Interstate-5, toward Seattle, with the kids squawking in the backseat.
They got stuck in 5 o'clock traffic.
Just a regular guy.