Rankings the best NBA nicknames of all time
20. The Natural
Egh. This one is painful, if only because of the immense promise it held and the stunning accuracy of its Hollywood corollary. Like Roy Hobbs, Brandon Roy was magnificent from an early age, starring with the University of Washington Huskies before winning Rookie of the Year (ROY) honors. Like Roy Hobbs, the lights went out before they had a chance to shine.
In 2005, he had consecutive games of 35 points, his collegiate career high, against Arizona State and the University of Arizona. After earning Pac-10 Player of the Year and consensus first-team All-American honors in his senior season at Washington, Roy was selected sixth overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves and immediately traded to Portland in exchange for Randy Foye.
Brandon Roy was an NBA All-Star by his second season in the league. He was long, and he could score seemingly at will. He was creative and amiable. He had it all as the face of a burgeoning Portland Trail Blazers squad, complete with LaMarcus Aldridge and a young Buffet of Goodness as accompaniment.
One knee injury in 2008 was a sign of things to come. Though he scored a career-high 52 points against a late-period Steve Nash Phoenix Suns team, and earned two more All-Star selections as well as a max salary contract extension, Roy’s career faded under the weight of his knees. The man whom Kobe Bryant had once deemed the toughest player to guard in the West was falling apart.
One final, memorable performance came in the first round of the 2011 playoffs, when Roy scored 16 points in 23 minutes as a sub in Game 2 against the eventual title-winning Dallas Mavericks. In Game 4, he gave the playoff performance of his life: 24 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds, including a 4-point play and a dagger bank shot on the way to tying the series.
The Blazers lost in six, but Roy’s walk-off showing was indicative of his immense talent. He was an amnesty casualty following his initial retirement, and though a comeback in 2012 lasted five regular season games before he needed knee surgery again, we’ll always have Portland. “There goes Brandon Roy, the best there ever was in this game.”