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The Blazers are for real, and you should be watching them. Or at least thinking "if I had League Pass, I would totally watch the Portland Trail Blazers all the time".

I'm partial to LaMarcus Aldridge and Travis Outlaw, but it's pretty darn obvious that this team rests on the shoulders of Brandon Roy. The thing is, it's really difficult to explain what makes Roy good. You know he's winning games for Portland, and putting up big numbers. And yet I couldn't say what his signature style is, or why he's hard to stop at key moments. Luckily, David Thorpe had a go at it. He agrees that Roy's hard to pin down, and then does so anyway:

The reigning Rookie of the Year is still at the head of the class. He's not a special athlete, nor a dead-eye shooter, and he doesn't "Iverson" too many people with jaw-dropping ballhandling moves. What he is, though, is a great player, because he's good or very good at everything. He defies NBA scouts' creed of "have to be great at one thing" to be a legit NBA player. Literally, this is a player without a real weakness.

I'm most impressed by his pace. Roy plays at a unique tempo that makes him look slow. But as he goes past guys or creates open midrange jumpers with his handle and timing, we realize that everyone else is moving even slower because he is in total control of his game and the ballgame in general.

I'm wondering if that's also not an excellent working definition for "Duncan-esque".

(Via True Hoop)