I happened to be watching some of the Blazers/Heat game Friday night on ESPN that Portland won, handing Miami it’s 12th straight loss. At one point, they cut to Ric Bucher who was working the sidelines for a report. Bucher proceeded to tell us about one of the best promotion efforts by a team that I’ve ever seen. According to Bucher, the Blazers are sending out an iPod with Brandon Roy’s face on it — the iRoy — to promote his case for the All-Star game. They have sent the iRoy out to all the NBA coaches, and I believe Bucher added that they’ll be sending it out to other people voting for the game as well.
While Roy certainly has competition in the Western Conference to make the All-Star team, he certainly deserves it. He might not command the same attention in terms of name value as Kobe, Iverson, Nash, and T-Mac, but he certainly has proved to be every bit as valuable as any of them. The Blazers are leading their division — one that has Denver and Utah in it — and that’s without Greg Oden. What they’ve done this year has been nothing short of astonishing, and Roy has been a huge catalyst for them. His numbers don’t speak as loudly as his competitors, but his team is leading most of them in the category that counts — wins — and he’s a big reason why. I’d vote for Roy and I don’t even need an iRoy to be convinced. (though it wouldn’t hurt).
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More Hot Stories at larrybrownsports.comThis entry was posted on Saturday, January 19th, 2008 and is filed under Basketball. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
If you’re voted into the all-star game but nobody watches, did it really happen?
Still not as cool as the Brandon Roy Leatherman
Great promotional idea, and very necessary when you play in Portland in relative obscurity and there are so many great guards in the NBA Western Conference.
I think Roy’s contributions and leadership go far beyond the raw statistics and he is chiefly responsible for Portland’s amazing turnaround and subsequent success.
shit, i need one of these! it’ll go nicely in my B-Roy shrine.
It’s all about Steve Blake. Vote him to the all-star game.
Is it ironic that a team owned by Paul Allen who made his billions at Microsoft are using an Apple product to promote a player?
The B-Roy story is a great example of why the NBA should require four years of college and/or a college degree to enter.
The only reason I follow the Blazers is because I loved watching B-Roy play in college. I know that’s at least one other poster’s reason; seems like the NBA would get a ton more press and better quality basketball if they required either four years of college, or a degree, to play.
Only getting a degree is an option because some people do finish their collegiate work in three years; I thought Spencer Hawes was a terrific candidate for that.
[...] i really really want an iRoy. It’s the coolest iPod around. I’m actually not a sports writer or a western conference coach so i doubt an iRoy will be coming my way. As a fan i want Brandon Roy to make the all star game, it would be a reward for the whole team because Roy alone doesn’t win all these games. I really don’t think B.Roy cares as much to make the all star team, it’s more of a fan thing. As cool as the iRoy is, it may not be as cool as the B.Roy leather man. [...]
where do you get it?