Try to picture Brandon Roy never getting the chance to wear a Blazers’ jersey.
 
Go ahead and imagine him playing for another NBA team.
 
Painful, isn’t it?
 
Believe it or not, there was a time when Portland wanted to pass on selecting the three-time All-Star guard.  It was back in 2006 before the NBA Draft.  Roy was fresh out of the University of Washington and was in town for pre-draft workouts with a trio that included Adam Morrison (Gonzaga), Rudy Gay (Connecticut) and Hassan Adams (Arizona).
 

After the hour-long workout at the Blazers’ practice facility, head coach Nate McMillan met with Morrison – the eccentric 6-8 sharpshooter – in his office where the two “talked for a little bit” about the upcoming draft.
 
“He told me he wanted to pick me if I fell to that spot,” says Morrison, a reserve forward with the Los Angeles Lakers. “He said he’d draft me.”
 
Back then though, Morrison was fresh off a year where he was voted second in collegiate Player of the Year balloting.   In that year’s draft, Portland owned two of the first six selections. Power forward LaMarcus Aldridge was the second overall pick, with Roy going sixth after a draft-day trade with Minnesota. As for Morrison, he was chosen third by the Charlotte Bobcats and his career in the league just hasn’t panned out.
 
The rest, as they say, is history.
 
Roy went on to earn NBA Rookie of the Year honors in 2006, while Morrison appeared in 78 games for the Bobcats and averaged 11.8 points per game his first season. After tearing his ACL, he missed the entire 2007-08 season and was then traded to the Lakes in 2009. In his four years in the league, Morrison has averaged just 8.7 points per game and is now buried on Phil Jackson’s bench in Los Angeles.
 
As for Roy, his impressive resume – and 20.2 points per game career average - speaks for itself.
 
“I thought all of those guys were good,” McMillan said looking back and essentially pleading the fifth.

“It was a really good group.”
 
Maybe Nate’s chosen to forget. Maybe he really doesn’t remember. But General Manager Kevin Pritchard easily recalled the conversations he had with McMillan about whether to choose Roy or not.
 
“We had a healthy debate on it,” Pritchard began. “We always have healthy debates.”
 
When the topic was broached with Roy, he was caught somewhere between bewildered and been-there.   “You know, I didn’t know that. I’m going to get on him (McMillan) about that,” Roy laughed.
 
“I was Portland’s second pick in that draft, but I know that sometimes people sleep on me a little bit. My thing is if you give me the chance, I try and make the most of it.”
 
No one can argue with that. Thanks to Roy, Portland is poised for another playoff push with the regular season drawing to a close and the Blazers expected to finish strong now that the team is healthy and solidified after an arduous season.
 
Either way, Roy is right where he should be – at home in Portland.
 
“This is a tough business. Sometimes you do your work and everything works out great, and sometimes it does not,” explained Pritchard, knowing how the pieces of the puzzle have come together for Portland.
 
“I tell the guys all the time, you have to have three things in this league to succeed: ability, confidence, and then obviously you have to be in the right situation. We think we knocked it out of the park with Brandon.”