Luke Judge

Knowing what we now know, it was one of the greatest good-byes in recent basketball history, the hoops equivalent of Regis Philbin wiping away a tear.

Brandon Roy didn’t last as long in his chosen profession, but at least he made that stretch in Game 4 last spring seem like a lifetime of brilliance.

The amazing part was how he did it, how he sliced through the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks for 24 points and hearing a thunderous postgame standing ovation, given how his knees belonged on a 65-year-old.

So let’s give Roy, a great teammate and super ambassador for the Trail Blazers, another round of applause just for going out in style with knees too cumbersome to take him on a ride to the sunset.

You remember. Roy scored 18 points in the fourth quarter when he originally wasn’t even supposed to play at a high level again. he pulled the Blazers back from the brink in that game and stunned the Mavericks — if not the medical world. he made eight of 10 baskets and secured the biggest fourth-quarter playoff comeback in team history with major plays in the clutch.

It was a performance that would’ve been masterful for a completely healthy player … and was illogical for someone who endured six surgeries.

When Roy made the last-minute decision Friday morning to retire rather than put himself in danger of being unable to chase his kids or grandkids in the backyard, it was understandably met with sadness in Portland. You must understand where the Blazers were before they acquired Roy in a 2006 Draft-day swap with Minnesota.

The franchise was staggering back from a series of public-relations pratfalls that angered and disappointed a fiercely proud and loyal basketball community. Roy came along and it was if someone raised the windows to let the stink out. Not only was he NBA-ready, he was a joy to be around, with an approachable, ordinary-guy persona that went over well in laid-back Portland.

He was Rookie of the Year, and then a three-time All-Star, and then made the All-NBA second and third teams in back-to-back seasons. he averaged 19 points, almost five assists and five rebounds a night for his five seasons. he appeared cut from the mold of Clyde Drexler, a flashy player who reflected well on the franchise and good enough to take the club on regular trips to the postseason. Problem was, the knee issues came as fast as the praise and honors, to the point where Roy was physically unable to do what his competitiveness and pride asked him to do.

It’s amazing how a franchise can be so unlucky with injuries, most recently by stealing away Roy’s prime, but starting with Bill Walton and continuing with Sam Bowie and Greg Oden. and speaking of Oden, with just 82 games of action since being drafted first overall in 2007, he isn’t expected to play a full season once again. His time in Portland could end next summer because at this point he simply doesn’t have enough of a NBA history to give the Blazers any assurances. just today, he restructured his deal because of another injury setback.

As encouraged as the Blazers are about the upcoming season, they’ll always be plagued by a severe case of the what-if’s: as in, what if Roy and Oden had been injury-free all these years?

The only silver lining in the case of Roy lies with his contract, which has another $63 million left. Insurance will cover the bulk of that, and the Blazers can wipe Roy’s salary off the books beginning in 2012-13. it allows them to save their amnesty for another day and another player, rather than use it on Roy. Plus, by being relieved of his contract, it gives them the financial flexibility to move forward. Basically, they’ve been given a chance to find another Brandon Roy, if they’re so lucky.

Yes, good luck finding an All-Star with as much humility and professionalism, with a soft jumper to compliment a hard drive to the hoop, and a player willing to give the same effort on both ends of the floor. Roy was all that.

Obviously, the right thing for Portland now is to find a way to keep Roy part of the organization in some capacity. just not in the capacity he and the Blazers would prefer. Maybe the cruelest part is how Roy is being forced to walk away from the game at age 27, just so he’ll be able to walk comfortably, period.

Shaun Powell is a veteran NBA writer and columnist. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.

data Erasing ambassador, brilliance, clutch, medical world, surgeries, teammate

Israel has finally made it to the headlines without connection to our continuous existential struggle. While this nation was celebrating Independence Day, foreign broadcasters and publishers had a field day at our expense.

What attracted attention this time was the Communication Ministry’s edict not to allow American-purchased iPads  into Israel.

For once Israel wasn’t being demonized for ostensible intransigence or worse in the Palestinian context, but instead, derided as the only western state to bar the latest hi-tech gadget.

There was ample cause for scoffing – it’s incongruous when a country on the cutting edge of hi-tech research and development bans – even if temporarily – the hottest hi-tech device. Worse, no advance notice was publicized and travelers who bought their iPads in the US and declared them dutifully at customs were taken aback by the arbitrary decree.

Their iPads were provisionally confiscated and the owners were informed that, beyond the first 48-hours post-confiscation, they would have to shell out a hefty per diem “storage” surcharge. The length of said wholly involuntary storage is anyone’s guess.

But have no fear, our resourceful customs authorities have offered a way out.  Passengers whose iPads have been held up may sell them via an overseas-bound vendor. To this end, affected passengers need to locate and make a deal with someone flying abroad, then produce his/her plane ticket by way of proof. A customs employee will afterwards deliver the iPad to the plane (for a NIS 200 fee) and hand it over to the designated iPad custodian.

NO WONDER all this has occasioned almost universal ridicule. The sudden reversal of Israel’s routine policy on non-commercial imports – and an eminently sensible one at that – embodies bureaucratic capriciousness and imbecility at its worst.

Why did the Communications Ministry abruptly order customs not to release iPads into Israel?

The official excuse is that the devices aren’t compatible with local Wi-Fi configurations (standards for transmitting data over high-frequency local wireless networks). But the same strong-signal problems exist with other devices – including a variety of laptops, cell-phones, the iPhone and BlackBerrys – which are not banned. The incompatibility can be easily resolved, to boot.

One widespread speculation is that the local Apple franchise may be leery of private imports, hence the stipulation that the ban will be reversed once Apple releases a version of the device compatible with European wireless specifications.

But we cannot verify that any business interests are behind this bizarre ministry move. All we can say is that the very fact that the rumor mill is being churned so vigorously underscores the preposterousness and pettiness of the ministerial diktat.
This is almost on par with the insistence throughout the 1970s to ban color TV from the country (after decades in which television was altogether blocked in the name of socialist ideals). With hardly any black-and-white sets still being manufactured even back then, Israeli importers were required to install special mechanisms to remove color from our screens.

No sooner was the uniquely Israeli absurdity mandated than a locally invented contrivance was marketed to every household to function as an “anti-color-eraser.”

In 1981, after it opted to put an end to the ludicrousness, the government was roundly excoriated and accused of seeking to buy votes.

WE HAD every reason to trust that such episodes could be regarded ascurios from an era of shortsighted official imperiousness, an era forwhich few of us retain much fondness or nostalgia. But the iPadconfiscations of recent days indicate that the twin grains ofhigh-handedness and irrationality have not been entirely rooted outfrom our midst.

Does the Communications Ministry perhaps fear that our sidewalk cafeswill be inundated with hand-held gadgets? Are ministry functionarieslooking out for our wellbeing in the same manner in which the culturalcommissars of the 1950s sought to protect our souls from televiseddecadence or in which their 1970s torchbearers valiantly attempted tohold back the tides of inexorable progress?

Whatever skewed logic triggered this folly, one result isunquestionable – Israel has iPadded itself into an internationallaughingstock. This hardly bolsters our reputation as a worldtechnological powerhouse.

data Erasing celebrating independence day, ipad