Round 6, Pick 8: Brandon Roy, PG/SG, Portland Trailblazers
Roy is the first rookie taken in this draft blog and there’s good reason for it - Roy can do a lot of things well.  And I mean A LOT.  Of course, we only have his college play to judge Roy from… oh wait, I guess we have a tiny sample of seeing what Roy can do, right?  He did play in the Vegas Summer League, afterall.  And what exactly did Roy do at the VSL?  The exact same thing he did in college and that has to get fantasy owners excited.

While at the University of Washington, Roy was Mr. Cool.  He could handle the rock, create his own shot, break down defenders with his dribble, board, post up smaller guards, drop some dimes, and even play lock down defense.  To get an appreciation of what Roy could do, we should look at his senior year in college.  Yes, I said senior year, as in he stayed all three years he was eligible and developed his game.  Of course, coming out of high school, Roy actually declared for the NBA draft after the coach that recruited him at Washington was fired.  But, luckily for Huskies fans and probably Roy himself, he decided to attend anyway.  Okay, here are the numbers:

33 G; 31.7 MIN; 20.2 PTS; 5.6 REB; 4.1 AST; 39 3PTM; 50.8 FG%; 81.0 FT%; 1.4 STL; 0.8 BLK; 2.3 TO

Now is that well-balanced or what?  That’s ninja balance right there!  And at the VSL, Roy showed it all.  While Minnesota Timberwolves fellow rookie Randy Foye was lighting it up, points-wise, and eventually winning the MVP thaks to averaging 24.8 ppg on 53.0% shooting, Roy just did his thing, or rather things.  He was very balanced as he was in college and everyone was raving about his multi-dimensional game.  Roy even played some point guard and did well in that role.  Here are some VSL numbers (and that FG% isn’t a typo):

5 G; 26.4 MIN; 19.0 PTS; 3.4 REB; 3.6 AST; 64.7 FG%; 0.6 STL; 0.4 BLK

This upcoming season with the Blazers, Roy will be thrown straight into the lion’s den and will start from Day One.  The Blazers situation is in such disarray (although it is gettting better, partly because it can ONLY get better), Roy will get a lot of minutes playing at both guard spots. In a world of Blazer chaos, Roy will be the calm, cool, and collected one as he’s proven to be. 

At any point, Roy can easily slash to the basket and score, but he never forces it as Roy has a high basketball IQ as well as very good court vision.  So, if he begins his cut to the basket, he’ll do a few things - he’ll know where the help defense is going to come from, he’ll know when he has his man off-balance, and he’ll see it if a teammate cuts to the basket and will have a better shot.  Roy is the real deal and will give across the board contributions.

It’ll be interesting to see the Foye/Roy comparisons as they move along in their careers, considering they were drafted back-to-back, traded for each other, and are both the top contenders for Rookie of the Year.  Obviously, you know who I’d place my bet on.

How He Fits On This Fantasy Basketball Team

Roy fits in well with this team as he will just add to everything this team can do already.  Having a triple-double threat in Jason Kidd and to a certain degree, Kobe Bryant really helps out in both a ROTO and H2H format.  With Roy on the team, he doesn’t need to score a lot, board a lot, or anything a lot.  All he has to do is play solid and be the cole slaw to the meat of this team… it’s just great to know that you have it.

Other Team Members:

1.5. Kobe Bryant, SG, Los Angeles Lakers
2.8. Jason Kidd, PG, New Jersey Nets
3.5. Dwight Howard, PF, Orlando Magic
4.8. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, C, Cleveland Cavaliers
5.5. Morris Peterson, SG/SF, Toronto Raptors