Empty the Bench

And as the admirable Portland TrailBlazer graciously accepts his first postseason award, Minnesota Timberwolves fans again wish they had Kevin McHale’s address so they could egg the shit out of his house. It was a foregone conclusion, but today rookie guard Brandon Roy was officially named the 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year after receiving all but one first-place vote. The first-overall pick in last year’s draft, Andrea Bargnani of the Toronto Raptors, is the one guilty of ruining Roy’s unanimous win party (or, more precisely, Toronto broadcaster Chuck Swirsky is to blame for casting the vote).

You almost knew that Roy would win it this year after McHale traded him on draft day for Randy Foye (who finished fifth in voting). My ETB associate Andrew has speculated that this could be another Ray Allen-for-Stephon Marbury debacle in the making that will haunt the franchise for years. One year of results doth not make it a disaster just yet, but given McHale’s history of doing whatever it takes to run the T’Wolves into the ground, there’s a good chance Roy turns in a Hall of Fame career, and Foye goes the way of Bimbo Coles.

The rook from Washington wrapped up the season with per-game averages of 16.8 points, 45% FG, 83% FT, 4.4 boards, and 4 assists. Perhaps just as importantly, Roy was a stabilizing presence on the floor for the still-young Blazers, and there’s no question that moving forward he’ll grow into the leader of this team and the face of the franchise, if he’s not already. After what feels like decades of lottery picks, Portland seems to have finally assembled a young core of players–Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Martell Webster, Sergio Rodriguez, and Jarrett Jack–they can feel confident building around. Now if they could only figure out what to do about Zach Randolph…

Good show, Brandon Roy, good show.