Blazers Notebook: Huskies honor Roy
Thursday, December 18, 2008 9:37 PM PST
By Anne M. Peterson
The Associated Press
Printable version
E-mail this articlePORTLAND — While the Trail Blazers celebrate retiring the No. 30 jersey of Terry Porter and Bobby Gross this week, there’s word that Brandon Roy’s No. 3 jersey at Washington is headed for retirement, too.
That’s scheduled Jan. 22 before a game against Southern California.
From 2003-06, Roy helped the Huskies to an 82-42 record and three straight NCAA tournaments, along with back-to-back appearances in the round of 16. He was an Associated Press first-team All-American.
“It is an honor to be able to retire Brandon’s jersey,” Washington coach Lorenzo Romar said in a statement. “As a high school player, he made the decision to stay home and help make this program better.”
For his career at Washington, Roy ranks 10th on the school’s all-time list with 1,477 points, and seventh with 308. He was the first Husky in more than 20 years to average more than 20 points a game.
Roy grew up in the Seattle area. He was the sixth overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, and then acquired by the Blazers in a draft-day trade.
MORE ROY WONDER: Brandon Roy might not yet be in the same class as Kobe Bryant, but lately he’s been making a case for himself.
In the four games heading into Thursday night’s meeting with the Phoenix Suns, Roy is averaging 32.5 points a game.
In Portland’s 109-77 victory over Sacramento on Tuesday night, he had a game-high 29 points and made all 15 of his free-throw attempts. And he did it with a splint on his right pinkie finger, there to help heal a torn tendon.
The 6-foot-5 shooting guard was the NBA’s Rookie of the Year his first season and an All-Star the next.
He has three games this season of 20 or more points, and 18 games of 20 or more points.
The Blazers will likely need to make the playoffs for Roy to get the national attention bestowed on the likes of Bryant, Dwyane Wade and Steve Nash.
“I want to be in that category, and I’m going to work to get there, but, no, I’d have to say I’m not there yet,” he said.
MARTELL LENDS A HAND: Columnist John Canzano of The Oregonian noted how Blazers forward Martell Webster helped a motorist stuck in this week’s snowy weather.
Webster stopped to help two men trying to get an elderly woman driving her sedan up an icy hill in Portland’s West Hills neighborhood.
Other cars passed, but Webster stopped — despite wearing a walking boot on his injured left foot.
“It was the way I was raised,” Webster told Canzano. “If someone needs help, you stop and help them.”
And it turns out that it was the second motorist Webster had helped that day.
Webster is rehabbing a stress fracture in his left foot. He had surgery on it before the season started, then played briefly in one game before finding out that the injury had regressed. He is not expected to return for at least three more weeks.
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