Give Melo #7

[TBpup]

I have a bigger issue with people wearing #11 (Sabonis, Hall of Fame) than #7. Roy was a tremendous player whose career was cut short. But Paul Allen paid him truckloads of money when they knew there were issues with his knees. Roy repaid that by basically cutting off the entire Blazers franchise and it's fans.

 

[Buffalo Custard]

The disrespect for one of the all-time great Blazers in this thread is kind of sickening. What did Roy do to offend your delicate sensibilities other than, you know, give his FUCKING KNEES for the franchise?

He was, briefly, a great player. OTOH, Roy does not give a wet fart about the Team or its fans. Let the TWolves retire his number.

 

[julius]

Gabriel, Walton and Roy. One of those names shouldn't even be in the discussion. Which one would you choose?

Also, this is what I was replying to which you never mentioned a comparison of accolades.:

I'm not sure I'd say that someone who in his prime, didn't even play 4 complete seasons as a Blazer, is an "all time great" Blazer.

again, one won an MVP, All NBA, All NBA defense twice, and an NBA finals MVP. The other didnt.

One continued to play *after* he left Portland, the other didn't.

 

[illmatic99]

Either retire it or let players get it. Stop sitting on the fence.

 

[Rastapopoulos]

He was, briefly, a great player. OTOH, Roy does not give a wet fart about the Team or its fans. Let the TWolves retire his number.

And you know this because?

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Roy repaid that by basically cutting off the entire Blazers franchise and it's fans.

Spoken like a butthurt jilted ex.

 

[Buffalo Custard]

And you know this because?

Gee, I dunno....his behavior maybe?

 

[blazedanugz]

It’s tragic how people have just discarded Roy over time. The guy brought all of us back to loving the blazers.. he gave us a team to be proud of.
Roy changed the entire culture and how our organization was looked at throughout the league. Yes of course it has evolved with Dame but without a Roy who knows if we ever take the steps to even end up with dame.
The guy gave us his all. If you don’t think he is an all time blazer great then you’re just saying you didn’t watch him play.
Melo should be able to wear #7 and after he is gone, retire Roy’s #7. Period.

 

[riverman]

It’s tragic how people have just discarded Roy over time. The guy brought all of us back to loving the blazers.. he gave us a team to be proud of.
Roy changed the entire culture and how our organization was looked at throughout the league. Yes of course it has evolved with Dame but without a Roy who knows if we ever take the steps to even end up with dame.
The guy gave us his all. If you don’t think he is an all time blazer great then you’re just saying you didn’t watch him play.
Melo should be able to wear #7 and after he is gone, retire Roy’s #7. Period.

Roy attended one game in all the Dame years.....he lives right up the road...it's more like Roy has abandoned the team than the fans abandoning him....Paul Allen offered BRoy a job when he medically retired with the organization...he didn't take the job and left....hence...fans put him in the rear view mirror.....that's not on fans in my view...I was a fan with or without BRoy...he didn't bring me back as a fan because I never left. I loved his game and appreciate what he brought...not the way he went out though...

 

[Rastapopoulos]

Roy attended one game in all the Dame years.....he lives right up the road...it's more like Roy has abandoned the team than the fans abandoning him....Paul Allen offered BRoy a job when he medically retired with the organization...he didn't take the job and left....hence...fans put him in the rear view mirror.....that's not on fans in my view...I was a fan with or without BRoy...he didn't bring me back as a fan because I never left. I loved his game and appreciate what he brought...not the way he went out though...

If Roy did "abandon the team" AFTER CAREER ENDING INJURIES so fucking what? Drexler abandoned us and he's still an all-time Blazer great. Walton even more so. Besides, imagine being cut off in your prime by injuries - there's likely to be a shit-ton of denial (see also Darius Miles) and I think that easily explains the whole Timberwolves thing. Blame David Kahn for that for stringing a man with shot knees along.

 

[Stevenson]

Wow, really surprised at all the Brandon Roy hate here.

One of my favorite players here ever. And for the record, Bill Walton, in reality, didn't play a whole lot of games for us either.

Read this excellent story and you will understand why he hasn't been around, and also that he is a hero - shot in the leg while shielding kids from gunfire.

 

[julius]

Roy attended one game in all the Dame years.....he lives right up the road...it's more like Roy has abandoned the team than the fans abandoning him....Paul Allen offered BRoy a job when he medically retired with the organization...he didn't take the job and left....hence...fans put him in the rear view mirror.....that's not on fans in my view...I was a fan with or without BRoy...he didn't bring me back as a fan because I never left. I loved his game and appreciate what he brought...not the way he went out though...

It's the same with Clyde. Was he at the game where the team honored the 90's?

Nooooope. Couldn't miss broadcasting a Rockets game.

Was Roy in attendence for the 2000's team? The team he coaches didn't have a game scheduled on the 23rd either, so he can't use that as an excuse...

Same answer as Clyde.

 

[julius]

If Roy did "abandon the team" AFTER CAREER ENDING INJURIES so fucking what? Drexler abandoned us and he's still an all-time Blazer great. Walton even more so. Besides, imagine being cut off in your prime by injuries - there's likely to be a shit-ton of denial (see also Darius Miles) and I think that easily explains the whole Timberwolves thing. Blame David Kahn for that for stringing a man with shot knees along.

Drexler also has a bad reputation among a lot of fans for pretty much acting like he never played in Portland.

And imagine getting paid millions of dollars by a team that *knew* his knees were shot. Such a shame.

 

[Hoopguru]

If Roy did "abandon the team" AFTER CAREER ENDING INJURIES so fucking what? Drexler abandoned us and he's still an all-time Blazer great. Walton even more so. Besides, imagine being cut off in your prime by injuries - there's likely to be a shit-ton of denial (see also Darius Miles) and I think that easily explains the whole Timberwolves thing. Blame David Kahn for that for stringing a man with shot knees along.

Clyde and Walton have both stayed in touch with the franchise and have kept a relationship with fans here. Roy could as well put he choses's not to, if he chose to reconnect fans would welcome him back big time. He obviously has resentment towards the franchise and probably not the fans, but he's left his fans hanging.

 

[illmatic99]

I think people underestimate how painful it was for Brandon to let basketball go. Coming back probably gives him a ton of heartache.

 

[Hoopguru]

I think people underestimate how painful it was for Brandon to let basketball go. Coming back probably gives him a ton of heartache.

I think your right had to be really tough. I hope the organization doesn't give up on trying to get him to reconnect even in small ways.

 

[Haakzilla]

I dont understand how this is even debatable. Is the #7 jersey retired and hanging from the rafters? No, ok then...that number is available

 

[julius]

So it's too tough to return to Portland, but not so tough that he coaches at one high school, leaves after 1 year when most of the players graduated and then go to another school immediately after?

Doesn't sound too tough.

 

[Buffalo Custard]

I enjoyed watching Walton play basketball - even when he was a Bruin. When he left, I stopped caring about him. OTOH, I almost cried when Lucas died. If you can't understand that distinction, you won't understand why some of us are indifferent to Roy or Drexler.

"Hate" has absolutely nothing to do with it. Sorry some of you can't grasp that.

 

[UncleCliffy'sDaddy]

Personally, I’ve never been a fan of retiring numbers. They are just numbers. I’d struggle to tell you what number most of the current Blazers wear (other than “zero”, for all the obvious.....and well known reasons). The idea is to honor the player, not the number. What is so difficult about hoisting a jersey to the rafters with just the player’s name on it??? There are a lot of players in the league who would probably be better players if they paid more attention to their skills and BBIQ instead of being so hung up on a particular f**king number. If I had my way, they’d just stick with the social justice messaging on the backs of their jerseys and call it good.......it would be a lot more productive and relevant.....

 

[Big Dog]

Personally, I’ve never been a fan of retiring numbers. They are just numbers. I’d struggle to tell you what number most of the current Blazers wear (other than “zero”, for all the obvious.....and well known reasons). The idea is to honor the player, not the number. What is so difficult about hoisting a jersey to the rafters with just the player’s name on it??? There are a lot of players in the league who would probably be better players if they paid more attention to their skills and BBIQ instead of being so hung up on a particular f**king number. If I had my way, they’d just stick with the social justice messaging on the backs of their jerseys and call it good.......it would be a lot more productive and relevant.....

A more appropriate thing would have been to retire a few and the rest be put in a ring of honor with a plaque and their accomplishments hung in the Moda Center.

 

[julius]

I enjoyed watching Walton play basketball - even when he was a Bruin. When he left, I stopped caring about him. OTOH, I almost cried when Lucas died. If you can't understand that distinction, you won't understand why some of us are indifferent to Roy or Drexler.

"Hate" has absolutely nothing to do with it. Sorry some of you can't grasp that.

I think this is pretty much accurate as to where I fall too. I'm not saying that it makes me a better fan or they're less of a fan of their brand of fandom though.

I can appreciate the fans who hold Brandon on high esteem, even if I don't. And I can understand why certain fans hold players like Steve Blake, Jerome Kersey, Duckworth, Maurice Lucas, Terry Porter, Michael Holton and others who stayed in the area or came back/worked with the team to a higher level of appreciation than others.

I'm not saying that most of us think that because those guys stayed in the area/connected to the team that the team should retire Blake, Jerome, Duck, or Holton's jerseys, that would be ridiculous.

It's like having a co-worker in your life, who when they hang out with you is super close and you connect with them. In fact, you become close enough to actually be friends with them and you hang out often. You even maybe go on vacations together. But they moved to a different town and pretty much ghosted you.

So you learn to appreciate more, those who actually make the effort to keep in touch with you.

 

[julius]

A more appropriate thing would have been to retire a few and the rest be put in a ring of honor with a plaque and their accomplishments hung in the Moda Center.

They should do a "hall of fame" sorta thing for the Blazer players that mean something, instead of retiring as many as they did (although truthfully, outside of the weird retiring so many players from the title team cept for Johnny Davis, they've only retired 3 jerseys).

They'll never unretire #'s, but realistically, Drexler, Walton, Lucas and Porter are probably the only players who should have their #'s retired, maybe Petrie's too.

 

[Chris Craig]

Added a poll

 

[Propagandist]

I loved BRoy in his "prime" Blazer years. The shine wore off when I learned how he treated Andre Miller, amongst other things. BRoy was not a leader, at least not one that could endure any sort of adversity. He came to symbolize this "age of Blazer culture" because he told ZBo not to be a dick. And then he played basketball. Astonishing accomplishments. This otherworldly appreciation of him is CLEARLY undeserved. Retire his number?!? It is pathetic and embarrassing that the Blazers would even consider it. Give Melo his goddamn jersey number already.

 

[tiredhunter]

All I ask is that Melo give some nod to the Natural if he dons #7.

 

[julius]

All I ask is that Melo give some nod to the Natural if he dons #7.

have knee surgery!

 

[ehizzy3]

Look I love Roy, but when you look at his career it was way too short to retire his number.

if anything 12 should be retired before 7

 

[RR7]

All I ask is that Melo give some nod to the Natural if he dons #7.

Ignore us after he leaves also?

 

[handiman]

As much as I liked Roy the player, I never bought into the good guy reputation. He came across as phony to me, and that is reinforced by how he has distanced himself from the franchise.

We've retired too many numbers as is. Roy's number isn't retired. Let Melo wear 7. It's just a number, I don't even get why this is an issue to anyone. I

Roy should come out and say he'd be honored for Roy to wear #7, then this issue done with.

Oh great, 3rd person retirement ceremonies...

The disrespect for one of the all-time great Blazers in this thread is kind of sickening. What did Roy do to offend your delicate sensibilities other than, you know, give his FUCKING KNEES for the franchise?

Pot meet kettle?