A ridiculous comparison

I just read this quote in Mike Barrett's blog. This is the sort of thing that I really love about Brandon Roy.

This weekend the players will start arriving back into town. Greg Oden is expected to get here Sunday, Brandon Roy is already back, and I believe LaMarcus Aldridge is as well. It was Roy who made the request that the team get back into town over a month early, so they could start preparing. It's not likely the entire team will show as early as next week, but it'll be interesting to see who is able to make it. Steve Blake, James Jones, and several others have been here for several weeks.

Reading stuff like that keeps the stupid image in my head of Roy as a player more like Jordan than a lot of others I could name. He worked the entire off season to improve the weakest part of his game, which also improved throughout his injury riddled rookie season. He might have been the guy to push for Zach's trade, not because he didn't like Zach, but because he knew that the team would develop into a better team without him. He took over games during crunch time, which didn't always just mean shooting: he drove, made big shots, and found open teammates for game winners. If his defense continues to improve, and if his outside shooting improves functionally with how much time he's put into it, then my stupid brain will continue to make the connections between him and Jordan. I know he's not the same type of scorer, but so many of the other things about them are similar. And I'm not saying he's "the next" Jordan, just that his intensity and leadership and desire remind me of MJ more than most.