From Petrie to Glide to Dame: The All-Star history of the Portland Trail Blazers

BRANDON ROY

There was a seven-year gap between Rasheed Wallace’s last appearance as a Blazer in the All-Star game and Brandon Roy’s first (in 2008). That seven-year stretch is the longest the Trail Blazers have ever gone without a player making the All-Star team.

Roy, a Seattle native who played college ball at Washington, was the sixth overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft. On draft day, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded him to Portland.

Knee injuries curtailed a promising career, but it only took a few seasons for B-Roy to become a Blazers legend. He made three consecutive All-Star teams for the Blazers (2008, 2009, 2010).

And along the way, he electrified the Rip City faithful with a vast arsenal of offensive moves. I’ve seen few players who were as swift and efficient at getting to the rim as Brandon Roy.

And, of course, he made a few of the most memorable shots in Blazers history, including two huge shots at the tail end of a 2008 overtime victory against the Houston Rockets.

Roy, who’s now a successful high school basketball coach in Seattle, will forever be remembered as one of the greatest of all Blazers, despite the fact that he played just five injury-plagued seasons in Portland. He was Rookie of the Year and was a member of the All-Rookie First Team in 2007. And he was a two-time All-NBA selection.

Roy’s relatively short tenure as a Trail Blazer almost seems like a dream now. But it’s a dream that sometimes inspires Rip City — and its current best player — to wish for the impossible: seeing No. 7 take the court again.