|  (I might could have used an actual picture of Roy, like the snazzy one at Blazers.com next to the story I'm about to relate, that you can already figure out from the title, a bad pun on a Prince song from an album every teenager was issued in the early 1980s. But look at the guy--he knows he's pretty, he knows nobody plays 341 different instruments like he does, sounding kick-ass on all of them. He knows who the ladies like. He knows he can get away with wearing elbow-length lace gloves, and nobody even ponders anymore how some undertall kid from a decidely non-mainstream music mecca ended up throwing down so well, with so few peers like he has. )
With his second invitation to the All-Star game (albeit as a reserve both times; whaddyagonnado with Kobe in LA), this feels like Roy's Purple Rain moment. Now he's kind of on the same freak scale as Michael Jackson (well, he was always a freak), but back then he was Michael after Michael was Michael. Thriller was 82, Purple Rain 84. He wasn't as big worldwide, but that summer you heard Prince simply by turning on a radio. Roy's no freak, except for maybe the freakishness of being in the Association and having no record, no Technicals Temper, no series of reproductive romantic encounters, no giant duffel of spliff in the trunk, etc. His utter normalcy makes him stand out, even on a team full of mandated Boy Scouts and Aw Shucks guys. Last year was a surprise; this year I think would have been a surprise if the coaches had not selected him--but it's always unsure. And that lack of suspense is a sign of stature in itself. It would have been a travesty not to play him, the way he's been performing. Whatever success the Blazers have this year, with the exception of their two wins without him, they owe at the core to Brandon Roy. And if you didn't pick up on it, those things that are true about Prince are quite a bit like Roy's circumstance--he is a virtuoso of moves, both at the rim and from range. He rebounds. He steals. He goes with both hands equally well. He's small, from an area not necessarily scouted for its multitude of top HS players, and was a prodigious talent very quickly when he went major league. As I said, he's the core and the glue that binds all the loose but capable-of-grooving-together pieces that surround him. He knows it, and he'll turn the spotlight on himself when he thinks he needs to carry the load, but he's happy being part of a group as well. So congratulations Brandon and the Blazers for really having a coming out party in Phoenix! Roy will join Greg Oden and Rudy Fernandez, both of whom will be on the Rookie team in the Rookie-Soph match, and Rudy of course will also be unveiling his mystery jams for the Dunk Contest. How long has it been since Portland had such a presence at All-Star weekend? Never, I'd wager, since this ancillary stuff hasn't been around but for so long. Looking forward to it! |
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