It would be one thing if Roy was a stats player (can anyone say Z-Bo?), but I think it’s pretty clear he cares about winning.

Nate has also been clear that having Roy on the court is like having a coach out on the floor. For him to indicate he needs his touches is not selfishness, but a simple fact about how this team will play best and have its best chance to win.

Personally, I think we have a case of the “new kid” is very popular with fans. Yet as good as Miller is, he hasn’t really shown he is a great leader. Roy on the other hand has shown that.

Over the past 3 years as a blazer and 4 years as a husky we have a lot to draw on to formulate an opinion of Roy’s character, and very little of it points in the direction of him being selfish on or off the basketball court.

I still think the “problem”–if one exists–is being created by the media, and the fans. People are dying for a story, hyper-analyzing everything, and expect these guys to always have perfect answers the very first time they asked about them.

I think Roy is an honest guy. I think he hasn’t played well and hasn’t meshed with the team well, and frankly, the team hasn’t played well, and that’s unsettling to him. I think he’s giving his honest take on what he thinks needs to improve for the team to succeed. Might he be placing too much blame on others? Sure. Might it also be the case that that’s the only part of the conversations we’re seeing in print, or that’s a product of the questions he’s asked? I for one, think so.

Again, I see no reason to think that Roy is using the media to manipulate anyone on the team. Why? Because he doesn’t need to. It’s quite clear that this is Roy’s team. EVERYONE on the team says that. Nate treats him specially. KP talks about him as the franchise player. He does not need to use the media to get his way with those guys. Just look at how Nic talked about him in the fantastic interview he gave with BasketUSA.com (Speaking of which, Nic is Roy’s guy. You might want to rethink the notion that Nic is an outsider vis-a-vis Roy). If Roy wants the ball more, he just tells Nate. In fact, we already know he did that before the second game, because he said he needed to get up to speed. Last year, Roy told the team he thought Nic should start over his boy, Travis. He didn’t need to use the media to do that, either. And he wasn’t doing it to play favorites. He honestly thought Nic was the best fit for the team to win.

I have no doubt that Roy thinks he should be a huge part, if not the central focus, of the team. And he should be. He’s our star player. Should he be looking to score 50 a game? No. 30? Probably not. Heck, I don’t even think he has a target number (though I could be wrong). Regardless, however, I don’t think there’s any question he wants to win, and is willing to do what it takes to do that. And I very seriously doubt that he is using the media to manipulate the rest of the team, because as I say, he just doesn’t need to. It would be illogical. If anything, the smart thing would be to demand what he wants in private and act like a peacemaker to the public. Instead, he’s just honest. And we should all be really grateful for that. I’m not a Roy homer. In fact, I would be willing to argue that the Blazers might never win a Championship built around Roy, much like a McGrady or Nash. But I think it’s silly to make him out to be a manipulative child. He’s not perfect, but I think you should start cheering for the L*kers if you want to make villains out of your stars, because then you’d at least be right.

Roy spoke out during contract negotiations until he was advised to think better of it, and he is doing it now. He is certainly not innocent in this. It is becoming a disturbing pattern. And team leadership does not involve going public with your concerns about your teammates, except maybe in the most extreme situations. And it certainly isn’t about saying you have nothing to say about free agency since you don’t know what your future is going to be with the team because they have not signed you (uh given in to you) yet.

And don’t try to tell me that this is not actually happening, like it is a dream or something–a lot of people have been stirred up by Roy since summer time. This is about a lot more than Andre‘s role on the team, it is about the Trailblazers playing team ball vs. selfish one on one street ball. It is about “star” players vs. role players. It directly involves Greg‘s, Nic‘s, and Rudy’s roles as well. Are they going to get much of a chance to show what they can do this year?

I also think that Travis and Martell are involved in this as well. Being closer to Roy and Aldridge, they plan on having this work out in their favor as well. No matter what gets made public, things are some thorny issues to be solved in the Rose City. I am hoping that we will get some strong leadership at this point so that in the long run this turns out to be nothing more than a small bump in the road.