Portland would eventually waive Steve Francis a couple weeks later. Management decided to make a huge change to commit to Aldridge and Roy for the future as they traded Zach Randolph away to the New York Knicks along with Fred Jones for Steve Francis and Channing Frye. This would be the 4th straight season that the Trail Blazers missed the playoffs. With Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge in their rookie years and still trying to find how they fit in the league, the Portland Trail Blazers did not have a good enough team to make a real impact in the Western Conference with only Zach Randolph as their true star. Roy’s rookie season was a complete success averaging over 16 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists per game which was good enough for him to win the Rookie of the Year Award. Roy’s skills and incredible ability to create his own shot were immediately noticed. He finished with 20 points on 10/16 shooting in the game. In Brandon Roy’s first career game, he played his hometown team the Seattle SuperSonics, being born in Seattle, Washington. Brandon Roy came onto the scene as a rookie just trying to make a name for himself, and boy did he ever. Zach Randolph was the face of this franchise, leading the team in points (18.0) and rebounds (8.0) per game the prior year. 500 or even somewhat close to it in those years. The Trail Blazers had missed the playoffs for 3 straight years without being over.
The 2006-2007 NBA Season was not one that started with much hope from Portland fans.
To put it lightly, the 2006 NBA Draft was a success for Portland. So, to sum up, Portland traded three players who have never made too serious of an impact on any team in their career for two perennial all-stars. The Trail Blazers dealt Tyrus Thomas (the 4th pick in that same draft) and Victor Khryapa for LaMarcus Aldridge. LaMarcus Aldridge was drafted 2nd overall by the Chicago Bulls and Portland valued him tremendously as well. Roy wasn’t the only player that Portland traded for in that draft. He was originally drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, but the Portland Trail Blazers made a quick move to deal for Roy trading the draft rights for Randy Foye for him. On June 28th, 2006, Brandon Roy’s name was announced at the NBA Draft as the 6th overall pick. Let’s take a look at Roy’s beginning and the road he took in his career and see how the Portland Trail Blazers might look today if Roy didn’t have so many injury issues. Basketball is alive and well in Portland and Brandon Roy is a big reason for that even though he is no longer around. Roy was a man who changed what basketball meant to the people in Portland as Clyde Drexler had done in the late 80s and early 90s. If you are unfamiliar with Brandon Roy or what kind of impact he made on the Trail Blazers and the city of Portland, then listen up.
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