I think that Bryan Colangelo has done an excellent job in reshaping the Raptors and bringing back respectability to the organization. Colangelo was fortunate in his first year as Raptors’ GM to land the first overall pick in the 2006 draft. We know that Andrea Bargnani was selected by the Raptors. In the same draft, Brandon Roy was originally selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves and traded to the Portland Trail Blazers for Randy Foye. Bargnani’s NBA career has had its up and downs and still continues to evolve. I know hindsight is twenty-twenty but what if Roy had been selected by the Raptors instead of Bargnani? It would be Roy patrolling the two spot instead of Anthony Parker. Brandon Roy and Chris Bosh would have been an excellent tandem. Oh well, it’s nice to dream.

Brandon Roy is the face of the new Portland Trail Blazers as they emerge out of the “Jail Blazers” era. Roy is the centerpiece of a young nucleus which includes LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden in Portland. Fantasy owners loved the steady production of Brandon “The Natural” Roy over his two years in the pros. Could the third year be the charm?

Round 4, Pick 4 – Brandon Roy PG/SG, Portland Trailblazers

Roy went under the knife this past August to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Early reports from Trail Blazers training camp suggest that Roy looks healthy and is moving well. Don’t be alarmed if management decides that Roy will sit out the odd preseason game to keep him fresh for the regular season. It is worth noting that Roy has never played a full regular season. In his first year he missed 25 games and last year he missed 8 games. Roy was dealing with a heal problem in his first season and last year he was battling hip and groin issues. Hopefully Roy can play a full season this year; however past trends suggest that Roy will miss at least a handful of games.  Having said that, I expect Roy to participate in at least 70 games this year.

Portland has seen a huge influx of talent in the off-season. Greg Oden, Jerryd Bayless and Rudy Fernandez are ready for their rookie seasons. Roy will be hard pressed to improve upon his scoring average from last year (19.1 ppg). The offense will still run through Roy so a bump up in assists will be quite achievable. Hopefully Roy can maintain the trend of relatively low turnovers while dishing out more dimes. You can pencil in four rebounds, a three and a steal every game for Roy. A return to free throw shooting above 80% like in his rookie season will be a nice combo with his solid field goal of 45+%.

See my forecasted line for Brandon “The Natural” Roy this season: 

74 GP – 18.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 5.9 apg, 1.1 spg, 0.2 bpg, 1.0 threes, 1.9 topg, 45.9 FG%, 35.0 3pt%, 79.0 FT%

It is nice to have two players that have both PG and SG eligibility, like in this case with both Joe Johnson and Brandon Roy on the same fantasy squad. The team has a solid SF with Caron Butler and Chris Bosh can be used at either the PF or C position. It could be time to look at available big men in the next couple of rounds to help with the big man stats like rebounding and blocks.