Victory!

Brandon Roy has made the All-Star team.

Blazers fans everywhere are rejoicing and I am basking in the glow of accurate predictions (I emailed my buddy Stump last year and predicted that Roy would be an All-Star by year two) and successful bets (steak dinner coming my way).

Several weeks back I laid out the blueprint for Roy to make the team and I think it went down pretty much as it needed to. T-Mac lost his starting spot to Iverson, which opened up a reserve slot. The Spurs guards split the vote (or just lost out because of San Antonio's recent slump). And while the West coaches didn't completely shut out forwards from the wild card spot (David West snatched a spot from Baron Davis), they did choose a 5th guard over a 3rd center (Camby, Chandler, Kaman, Jefferson). So things worked out perfectly.

Good job to all those Blazers fans who went out and voted for A.I., because that got the whole thing started.

And congratulations to Brandon Roy, the first Blazer to make the All-Star game in seven years and proof positive that a college senior can still come into the NBA and be an elite player. Roy represents everything good about the direction of the Portland franchise and the NBA in general, so this is great news.

(The steak dinner is nice to, I admit.)