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I was watching some Brandon Roy highlights earlier and it got me thinking, who all do you think was the better player? Roy obviously had his career shorten by injuries and Damian just turned 27 so we're not sure if we have seen his peak prime yet. But comparing Roy's peak and what we have seen from Dame so far, who all do you think is the better player? I personally got to go with Roy, wasnt the 3pt shooter than Dame is but just feel like he had the slightly better overall game.

I'd go Roy and not think twice about it.

Lillard. Roy has size, but Lillard is just a better basketball player.

It's actually fairly close. I expect Roy to win the poll handily (posted before viewing poll results 5-0 Roy haha) but frankly he's overrated by this board. Roy is aesthetically pleasing, had 1 good playoff series (still lost) but people treat him like he was close to Kobe or something because of how "smooth/ pleasing" his game was.

I bet in a Roy vs. Harden poll here that Roy would do very well despite the fact that he was about as bad of a defender and not really close offensively.

Too close to call vs. Lillard.

It's funny, roy is another one of those players who I was a fan of, but still felt he was overrated by many. I remember arguing back in the day that the gap between him and joe johnson wasn't as large as people made it out to be. Also, looking back, his career was even shorter than I remembered. Very sad. All that said, peak for peak I'd still take roy over lillard.

Eerily similar career trajectories. Rookie of the year. All Star the next two years. We don't know what Roy could've turned into but we know that Dame has had a great career up to this point. He could've been an all star each of the last two years and made all NBA his second and third season (on top of all star selection).

Both were older rookies coming out after 4 years. Both great leaders from a young age. Both even hit game winning shots from the same spot against Houston.

I voted Roy but really they would have had very very similar careers.

Roy, just because he wasn't quite as limited around the rim and wasn't as horrendous defensively.

JLei wrote:It's actually fairly close. I expect Roy to win the poll handily (posted before viewing poll results 5-0 Roy haha) but frankly he's overrated by this board. Roy is aesthetically pleasing, had 1 good playoff series (still lost) but people treat him like he was close to Kobe or something because of how "smooth/ pleasing" his game was.

I bet in a Roy vs. Harden poll here that Roy would do very well despite the fact that he was about as bad of a defender and not really close offensively.

Too close to call vs. Lillard.

Yeah, I remember tsherkin once making an argument for Roy over Kobe in 2009, and it was mainly because of Portland having the best offense or something of that nature. He was quite good and i'd take him over Lillard, but he wasn't all that close to someone like prime Kobe or Wade. I remember seeing an argument or 2 for him over Drexler's peak too.

JLei wrote: Roy is aesthetically pleasing, had 1 good playoff series (still lost) but people treat him like he was close to Kobe or something because of how "smooth/ pleasing" his game was.

I don't think he was overrated by the fans in his prime. It's the nostalgists that (over)hype him up.

I think he is better though. Very crazy to lead the best offense in the league at the league's slowest pace.

mischievous wrote:

JLei wrote:It's actually fairly close. I expect Roy to win the poll handily (posted before viewing poll results 5-0 Roy haha) but frankly he's overrated by this board. Roy is aesthetically pleasing, had 1 good playoff series (still lost) but people treat him like he was close to Kobe or something because of how "smooth/ pleasing" his game was.

I bet in a Roy vs. Harden poll here that Roy would do very well despite the fact that he was about as bad of a defender and not really close offensively.

Too close to call vs. Lillard.

Yeah, I remember tsherkin once making an argument for Roy over Kobe in 2009, and it was mainly because of Portland having the best offense or something of that nature. He was quite good and i'd take him over Lillard, but he wasn't all that close to someone like prime Kobe or Wade. I remember seeing an argument or 2 for him over Drexler's peak too.

Eh, it's kind of tough to take that 09 Blazers offense at face value when they relied heavily on offensive rebounding to get that ORTG. They were the slowest team in the league (so not much transition), Roy's box score stats are deflated, and he had strengths that Clyde/Harden didn't, namely reliable half-court creation. Roy was just rock-solid in every facet of HC offense - great off the dribble, could shoot from anywhere in the HC, good BBIQ, fine ballhandling. Clyde and Harden were stronger in certain areas but had clear holes in their HC play.

When Houston kept Portland off the offensive boards their ORTG just died. They were at 114 ORTG in the RS and 33% OREB% (both #1 in the RS) and went to 105 ORTG/24% OREB (would've been bottom 5 in the league) vs Houston, even though Roy himself went from 23/5/5 57% TS to 27/5/3 56% TS vs HOU.

Definitely underrated, but in the same tier as 09 Kobe or Wade? Nah.

Roy. I believe he had bigger potential to become a superstar, than this every year all-star snub Lillard.

CodeBreaker wrote:Roy. I believe he had bigger potential to become a superstar, than this every year all-star snub Lillard.

The specific question is "who's better?", not "who has a higher ceiling?"

Clyde Frazier wrote:

CodeBreaker wrote:Roy. I believe he had bigger potential to become a superstar, than this every year all-star snub Lillard.

The specific question is "who's better?", not "who has a higher ceiling?"

He was better, which leads me to believing that he had the potential to become a superstar*
Lillard will never be a superstar judging how good he is today.

I love Dame and think he gets pretty underrated- about as much as Roy gets overrated.

It's close. Both are great leaders and clutch players. Dame is probably the better scorer, but I'd take Roy cause he's better all around and he's a smarter player.

JLei wrote:It's actually fairly close. I expect Roy to win the poll handily (posted before viewing poll results 5-0 Roy haha) but frankly he's overrated by this board. Roy is aesthetically pleasing, had 1 good playoff series (still lost) but people treat him like he was close to Kobe or something because of how "smooth/ pleasing" his game was.

I bet in a Roy vs. Harden poll here that Roy would do very well despite the fact that he was about as bad of a defender and not really close offensively.

Too close to call vs. Lillard.

Where did you cone up with Brandon Roy being a bad defender?

Honestly, has it come to the point that people just assume a player plays no defense if they play for Portland? I remember people saying that Aldridge, Matthews and Batum were defensive liabilities while they were in Portland and then the summer that they all left that perception immediately changed, Matthews was even considered a defensive specialist when he signed with Dallas.

I remember watching Roy play defense, and he could lock down his assignment on the perimeter. He was no where even remotely in Harden territory defensively.

This is lazy.