Brandon Roy engineers amazing turnaround as coach of Seattle high school team

The last we heard of Brandon Roy, he was trying and failing to make an NBA comeback as a result of ongoing knee injuries. Now, he’s back in basketball, and succeeding in a big way.

Roy took over at Seattle-area high school Nathan Hale after a 3-18 season, and on Friday night, the same team moved their record to 22-0 as they beat Garfield 91-58 to claim the Seattle Metro League boys basketball title, according to Ananth Pandian writing for the Oregonian.

Roy’s team was bolstered by a number of transfers, including Michael Porter Jr., who plans to play basketball at the University of Washington next season.

Roy’s presence as coach was a huge factor in attracting such talent, as he is still very highly regarded in the Seattle area. Isaiah Thomas, current Boston Celtic and former teammate of Roy’s at Washington, was not surprised to hear of his success.

“B. Roy has always been a basketball smart guy,” Thomas said Thursday. “I’m not surprised he’s doing what’s he doing with coaching.”

It’s easy to forget how good Roy could be when his knees were healthy enough to play. It’s great to see that he’s finding success in basketball in another role.