One of the Best that Never Was

It's sad to see such a promising talent's career end after such a short run. The news of Brandon Roy's forced retirement Friday is saddening and unbelievable. It hard to fathom the thought of such a promising career come to such a sudden halt. Brandon Roy was an up and coming superstar in the making two years ago and the combination between Roy and Lamarcus Aldridge made the Portland Trail Blazers look like a formidable team emerging in the Western Conference.

Brandon Roy came into the year in 2006 and was named the 2007 Rookie of the Year, followed up by all-star games appearances from 2008-2010. Roy's career came to a screeching halt when knee issues began to set him back. He tore his meniscus in 2009 and missed large spurts of games from the 09-11 seasons. All signs pointed to a Roy return in last year's playoffs. In the first round series against the Dallas Mavericks, Roy emerged from his injury to spark the Trail Blazers. His greatest feat came in game 4 of the series when Roy scored 18 points in the fourth quarter to deliver a 84-82 victory for the Blazers but eventually fell to the Mavericks in the series. Through his time trying to play through the injury you could tell Roy was hurting but he managed to overcome this and continued to deliver for his team.

Although Roy shined in his playing spurts his injury continued to prove to be too much to play through. He was diagnosed with a career ending degenerative knee injury this summer and it was finally time for the young star to call it quits. Hard to not feel sorry for a guy with such a bright future in the league, Roy always seemed bright in front of the camera and really seemed like one of the "good guys".

There's no doubt Roy will be missed in the NBA but i'm sure he will have no problem finding a new career path out there. Until we hear from him again I can only wish him the best of luck and hope that his young life has a bright future. I think the majority of people would agree with me when I say that Brandon Roy will probably be one of the best players that never got the chance to be.