SEATTLE – He hears it often. ”Hey man, you look OK to me, why aren’t you starting?” ”You need to start thinking about the NBA.”
But they don’t see what goes into making it look like he’s OK. They don’t see the long icing sessions, the struggles in practice, the extra work to just be able to play one more game.
They don’t know how close he is to not being able to play at all.
University of Washington basketball forward Brandon Roy is coming off of his best game since tearing the meniscus in his right knee in the third game of the season. In Saturday’s win over UCLA, Roy had 20 points, a career-high 13 rebounds, five assists and a huge blocked shot. It was enough to make fans believe that Roy is back to his old self, and he admits that he feels close to that. But he doesn’t want to get ahead of himself.
”It felt like my strength was there,” said Roy, a 6-foot-6 junior. ”Before, I wasn’t able to beat guys. Now I’m spinning better, I’m defending better, I feel stronger. I hate to talk about it, though, because I don’t want to jinx it. I could step wrong in the next game and be back on the bench.”
In fact, it is Roy’s spot on the bench that has many people wondering if Washington coach Lorenzo Romar is making a mistake.
Roy started all of last season, leading the Huskies in rebounding (5.3) and finishing second in scoring (12.9). In the first two games of this season, he combined for 48 points but since coming back from the injury Dec. 19 after missing five games, Roy has been coming off of the bench. He was a reserve his freshman year but admits that it’s a little different not starting as an established junior, and said it has taken some getting used to.
”It’s disappointing as a junior, and it’s frustrating,” Roy said. ”It’s a delicate situation. But after seeing the effect I can have coming off the bench, it’s a little easier. I know that I’ll still get my minutes and be in the last five minutes. I want to do what’s best for the team, and coach wants to do that too.”
With Washington standing at 19-3 and tied with Arizona for first place in the Pacific-10 Conference at 9-2, Romar said he has no intention of changing the starting lineup.
”Chemistry is important,” Romar said. ”When you’re putting together a starting lineup, you want the five players who make up the best team, and that’s not always your five best players. The key is to play at whatever level at the beginning and maintain that level to the end.”
Roy’s production has not suffered much. He’s third on the team in scoring (12.7), fourth in rebounding (4.8) and is shooting 54.2 percent. Against UCLA, he played 28 minutes but went straight from postgame interviews to what’s become a regular icing session.
”People do ask me why I’m not starting because they see how I look in a game,” Roy said. ”But they don’t see that some days at practice, I just can’t do what the other guys are doing. They don’t see the behind-the-scenes work. They don’t know that if I miss one day, it sets me back a lot. I need to be ready to play the rest of the season, not just the next game.”
Sometimes it’s hard to just think about the next game. After starring at Seattle’s Garfield High School, Roy entered his name in the NBA Draft before pulling out. He said it gave him a good sense of what it will take to be a professional. One of those things, traditionally, is being a starter in college. However Romar went to the history books to show that that isn’t always the case.
”You look at Michigan State when they won the national title (in 1990),” Romar said. ”The best player on that team, from an NBA-career standpoint, was Morris Peterson, and he was their sixth man. It comes down to finding the best combinations.”
”I feel like if people still see I’m involved and helping the team, they’ll look for me,” Roy said of his NBA prospects. ”The biggest thing, for this season and the future, is for me to stay healthy.”
So for now, Roy will continue to be a part of Washington’s talented reserves that includes Jamaal Williams, Joel Smith and Hakeem Rollins. And as long as the team keeps having success, he says he’s satisfied with his role.
”Right now, my job is to come in with energy and keep up what the starters have set,” Roy said. ”That’s fine, because I know that I’m helping us win. Everything else will handle itself. As long as we’re winning, I’ll be fine.”
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