This is so painful to write. I've put it off already, hoping that reality was wrong, that Roy could still compete at a professional level. But it's painfully obvious that's not the case. This season when Brandon was out we looked like a playoff team. Certainly a piece or two away from competing for a championship, but a solid playoff team for sure. As soon as Roy comes back we rattle off a 6 game losing streak, 3 of which were to lottery teamsin the East!Roy is simply being dominated by middling players nearly every time he tries to drive. He still wants to run the offense and run the team. He says he's done limiting minutes. Every second he's on the floor he's a liability.

Most of what we hear from coaches and pundits is that we owe it to Roy to let him start and play all the minutes he wants to play, because of what he's done for the franchise.

Larry Miller said they gave Roy a max contract even though they knew his knees were shot and apparently un-insurable because they felt they owed it to him for what he's done for the franchise.

Of course, we can't get out of that contract. And paying someone max money for the next 5 years is going to make it virtually impossible to carry enough other good players to be a deep playoff team. But do we really owe it to Roy to play him 40 minutes a night, when we all can see that it will mean losing games we could easily win if he only played 25 minutes? Are we really going to throw away the season so Brandon doesn't feel left behind?

I say we pay Brandon and that's all we owe him. We'd love nothing more than for him to have a positive impact on the court, but if he is unable to do so he needs to sit. Andre, Marcus, Wesley, LaMarcus, Nicolas, these guys all play hard and deserve a chance to be on a team that competes. The first three had a choice, they signed deals with Portland because they thought we would compete. And the fans who continue to buy tickets and merchandise also deserve to see a competitive team.

So is Roy's max contract not payment enough? Do we also owe it to him to let him play poorly for 40 minutes night after night, Farve-style, when it's obvious to everyone except Brandon that he doesn't have it anymore?

Now that I've written this watch him put up 30 @ Dallas on Wednesday.

PLEASE BRANDON MAKE ME EAT THESE WORDS!!!!