Heat Game: Brandon Roy is Really Good

I just got back from the Heat game. And even though we lost, it was easily the most entertaining game I've attended this year. Blazers played 36 minutes of awesome basketball, Dwayne Wade showed why he is second in all-star voting, and Blaze even did a front-flip dunk! But all this just made the Blazer's losing effort hurt even worse.

I did, however, come away with one realization: Brandon Roy is really good. Up until this game, I hadn't really jumped on the Roy bandwagon. I mean, I knew he was good, but not this good. He scored his 18 points with ease... and without going to the free-throw line a single time. Once Brandon starts to get some respect from the referees... watch out. If he just works on his shot selection a bit, he will easily be a 25 point a night scorer.

Brandon Roy becoming the 25+ scorer that he is destined to be, will cause an interesting situation between Roy and Randolph. As you may have read in my 2007 predictions post, there is just not room for two 25+ scorers on the same NBA team. And from what I saw tonight, Brandon Roy will beat out Zach Randolph as the team’s first option by the end of the year.

Remember how the Miami Heat became a force when Shaq turned the team over to Wade. Well, the same needs to happen here in Portland. But Zach is too immature to turn the team over to Roy. This will cause a big problem when Roy ultimately surpasses Zach‘s scoring numbers. I predict Zach will lose all his drive and will be crying (and probably be asking for a trade) by the end of the season. (More on this in a later post).

Oh, and by the way, Coach Nate still hasn’t played Brandon Roy with Sergio Rodriguez on the floor at the same time. Won’t that be interesting! Maybe Nate thinks the fans just aren’t ready for that just yet.

-Blase31