Top 50: Brandon Roy, no. 11

by Sean Ceglinsky

There’s a lot to like about Brandon Roy’s game. Dude is about as well-rounded as they come. He’s one of those a jack of all trades types, a cat you definitely want on your team, but definitely despise having to play against more than a handful of times over the course of an NBA season.

Roy can score, seemingly at will, when he puts his mind to it. He’s not afraid to mix it up inside either, down low in the Brandon Royblock against the best big men in the League. Roy is unselfish with the rock in his hands too. And believe it or not, he gets after things on the defensive end of the floor.

By most accounts, he’s the face of the Portland Trail Blazers. Roy has been largely, although not solely, responsible for helping to clean up the image of the franchise. Remember, not long ago, the Trail Blazers were known as the Jail Blazers. Times were, indeed, tough in the Pacific Northwest.

With Roy in the mix, order has been restored, and rightfully so.

Taking all of these things into consideration, it’s makes complete sense that Roy checks in at the No. 11 in the SLAMonline Top 50.

About the only knock on him is that he’s tended to be a tad bit injury prone in the past, otherwise a strong case could be made for him cracking the Top 10.

For those who aren’t believers in BRoy and are looking for further proof of his upper echelon play, one need not look any further than his consistent statistics during his four-year career. He’s averaged at least 16 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists per game in each season. In our book, that’s getting it done, straight up, on a nightly basis. The numbers don’t lie.

In his first year, he averaged 16.8 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.1 assists per night en route to winning the Rookie of the Year award.

For an encore, he averaged 19.1 points, 4.7 boards and 5.8 dimes in his second season. The third time around, Roy averaged 22.6 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Last year, he finished with averages of 21.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists.

What’s not to like about that kind of production?

Four years later, Roy has three NBA All-Star games on his resume, which is looking rather nice these days. And there’s no reason to think that he’s not capable of adding another selection to his growing list when the festivities take place at Staples Center in Los Angeles this season.

Again, if not for some bad luck with the injury bug, he has yet to play a full 82-game season, we’d most likely be arguing about Roy’s inclusion in Top 10 of this list. Then again, there’s always next year’s SLAMonline’s Top 50. Our guess is, he’ll take the next step sooner rather than later. If the past is any indication of what’s in store for the future, things appear promising.

SLAMonline TOP 50 PLAYERS OVERALL RANK POSITION RANK
Player Team Position 2010 2009 2010 2009
Ray Allen Celtics SG 50 36 10 9
Gilbert Arenas Wizards SG 49 34 9 8
Lamar Odom Lakers PF 48 33 14 10
John Wall Wizards PG 47 NR 13 NR
OJ Mayo Grizzlies SG 46 46 8 12
Al Horford Hawks C 45 NR 6 NR
Jason Kidd Mavs PG 44 45 12 10
Joakim Noah Bulls C 43 NR 5 NR
LaMarcus Aldridge Blazers PF 42 39 13 12
David West Hornets PF 41 31 12 8
Monta Ellis Warriors SG 40 NR 7 NR
Andrew Bogut Bucks C 39 NR 4 NR
Yao Ming Rockets C 38 NR 3 NR
Brandon Jennings Bucks PG 37 NR 11 NR
Zach Randolph Grizzlies PF 36 NR 11 NR
Stephen Curry Warriors PG 35 NR 10 NR
David Lee Warriors PF 34 NR 10 NR
Brook Lopez Nets C 33 NR 2 NR
Gerald Wallace Bobcats SF 32 NR 7 NR
Manu Ginobili Spurs SG 31 29 6 7
Tony Parker Spurs PG 30 15 9 3
Kevin Garnett Celtics PF 29 13 9 3
Rudy Gay Grizzlies SF 28 44 6 9
Josh Smith Hawks PF 27 40 8 13
Andre Iguodala 76ers SG 26 26 5 6
Al Jefferson Jazz PF 25 23 7 7
Russell Westbrook Thunder PG 24 NR 8 NR
Chauncey Billups Nuggets PG 23 19 7 5
Tyreke Evans Kings PG 22 NR 6 NR
Danny Granger Pacers SF 21 21 5 5
Carlos Boozer Bulls PF 20 32 6 9
Paul Pierce Celtics SF 19 17 4 4
Joe Johnson Hawks SG 18 20 4 4
Rajon Rondo Celtics PG 17 27 5 8
Amar’e Stoudemire Knicks PF 16 16 5 6
Steve Nash Suns PG 15 22 4 6
Tim Duncan Spurs PF 14 6 4 1
Chris Bosh Heat PF 13 13 3 4
Derrick Rose Bulls PG 12 18 3 4
Brandon Roy Blazers SG 11 10 3 3

Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’10-11 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Jeremy Bauman, Maurice Bobb, Erildas Budraitis, Sean Ceglinsky, Ben Collins, Bryan Crawford, Sandy Dover, Adam Figman, Manny Maduakolam, Eddie Maisonet, Ryne Nelson, Doobie Okon, Ben Osborne, Charles Peach, Branden Peters, Quinn Peterson, David Schnur, Todd Spehr, Kyle Stack, Adam Sweeney, Dennis Tarwood, Tracy Weissenberg, Lang Whitaker, Eric Woodyard, and Nima Zarrabi.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.