FanPost

Brandon Roy admits being a "selfish" player. No really.

I know Eddie Jordan's Johnson's Hoopshype blog entry has generated both backlash and some wicked sarcasm in the fanposts, and I do think it might just just a bit excessive to throw one more log onto the fire, but Eddie said something way down in the comments in a reply to something I said that I think bears examination:

Listen, the box score will not prove what i am saying. Roy does not take a ton of shots i agree. What i am saying is that his style of game is to score first and pass second. Compared to Lebron who is a pass first score second player. Now understand this is not a bad thing concerning Roy. It just creates a problem when the scorer has the ball to start the offense. Although Roy would prefer his teammates not stand and watch, they can’t help but do it because all his teammates understand that he is their scorer. so they freeze.

Kobe and Michael went through the same thing and Roy will have to change and play more off the ball with movement. This will make him a great offensive player instead of just a good offensive player. the one thing i know about this game is offense. No player in the history of this league scored more points than me off the bench. i have played with superstars who held the ball and froze teammates and i have played with superstars who played without the ball.

That is why Andre Miller will make them better because when he has the ball those players will not freeze. they will understand when they get open the ball will get to them, but most importantly Roy will find out he will not face a defense leaning to shut him down. Why? because they will not have him in their sights consistently. Why? because defenses target the ball and the ball will not be stuck in his hands all the time.

In reading this, I got to thinking about what Eddie had to say. While I still think it's incorrect for him to describe Roy as "selfish" per se, aren't Eddie's comments quite similar to things we have read about in the past? Here's a bit from a Jquick article on July 27th, 2008, including a quote from B-Roy himself:

And the knock on Roy? He can only make plays when he has the ball in his hands.

"I felt there were times last year ... not that I hurt the team, but I could have been better if I was better off the ball,'' Roy said. "If I was better coming off screens, better at running downcourt ... instead I was looking to get the ball instead of running to the wing.''

And yet, as the season progressed, it seemed like all the people around Brandon were looking for him to increase his scoring volume. Check this article from December 19th, 2008:

Now, he has embraced the role of scorer, yet he worries about the manner in which he is going about it. On Thursday, Roy entered the halftime locker room and asked Shavlik Randolph whether he was being too aggressive, when in essence he was asking whether he was being too selfish. Randolph told him that he should shoot even more.

So here we are more than a year later and we find that some folks at least are still hitting Brandon with a ding that is over a year old. What I'd like to know is, where does this perceived problem come from?