Brandon Roy And Winning What Others Have Won

Brandon Roy has put together quite the list of accolades in just three NBA seasons. He was nearly unanimously voted Rookie Of The Year in 2007. In 2008 and 2009, Roy was selected as an All-Star. And his latest honor, that of being named to the All-NBA Second Team, might be his most impressive individual accomplishment yet. All in all, it’s been a stellar start to what will hopefully be a long and successful career.

What Roy has accomplished in his first three seasons, at least as it pertains to awards and All-Star appearances, is not unprecedented. There have been 24 players in NBA history who have won Rookie Of The Year, been named to two All-Star teams and at least one All-NBA team in their first three seasons. That number goes up to 25 if you count Tim Duncan, who would have surely made the All-Star team in 1999, his second season, had it not been for the lockout. Being the 26th player to receive that combination of distinctions is nothing to discount, especially considering thousands of players have come and gone through the history of the NBA, but it’s not as rare an achievement as one might think.

But scarcity doesn’t really tell the story; names do. With his combination of accolades, Roy joins the likes of Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Willis Reed and Bob McAdoo. Or on a more contemporary tip, there’s Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal and LeBron James. All members of the Rookie Of The Year/Two-time All-Star/All-NBA in the first three years club.

When you compile the list of players who have managed this somewhat esoteric milestone, you notice a common thread, one that, if history is to be trusted, will assure Roy’s status as one of the best to ever play the game as a Portland Trail Blazer.

It goes like this: Of the players in NBA history to have won Rookie Of The Year, been named to two All-Star teams and at least one All-NBA team, all in their first three seasons, just two who are eligible have not been enshrined in the NBA Hall Of Fame. Only Walter Davis and Ralph Sampson, both of whom were befallen by unusual misfortune (Davis with drugs and Sampson with injuries), have yet to make the HOF after achieving this particular set of accomplishments in their first three seasons.

Does this mean Roy is a lock for the Hall Of Fame? Hardly. And even if that were the case, I wouldn’t want to be the one to jinx it. There’s plenty that can go wrong between now and when B.Roy decides to hang ‘em up, but if he stays on this same trajectory, the sky is the limit.

UPDATE: Someone over at Blazer's Edge suggested I give the names of all the players who won Rookie Of The Year, were named to two All-Star games and made an All-NBA team in their first three seasons. Here's that list.

Bob Pettit
1955 NBA Rookie Of The Year
54-55 All-NBA
55-56 All-NBA
1955 All-Star
1956 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1971

Maurice Stokes
1956 NBA Rookie Of The Year
55-56 All-NBA
56-57 All-NBA
1956 NBA All-Star
1957 NBA All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 2004

Tom Heinsohn
1957 NBA Rookie Of The Year
60-61 All-NBA
61-62 All-NBA
1957 All-Star
1960 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1986

Elgin Baylor
1959 NBA Rookie Of The Year
58-59 All-NBA
59-60 All-NBA
1959 All-Star
1960 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1977

Wilt Chamberlain
1960 NBA Rookie Of The Year
59-60 All-NBA
60-61 All-NBA
1960 All-Star
1961 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1979

Oscar Robertson
1961 NBA Rookie Of The Year
60-61 All-NBA
61-62 All-NBA
1960 All-Star
1961 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1980

Jerry Lucas
1964 NBA Rookie Of The Year
63-64 All-NBA
64-65 All-NBA
63-64 All-Star
64-65 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1980

Willis Reed
1965 NBA Rookie Of The Year
66-67 All-NBA
67-68 All-NBA
1965 All-Star
1966 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1982

Rick Barry
1966 NBA Rookie Of The Year
65-66 All-NBA
66-67 All-NBA
1966 All-Star
1967 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1987

Dave Bing
1967 NBA Rookie Of The Year
67-68 All-NBA
70-71 All-NBA
1968 All-Star
1969 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1990

Wes Unseld
1969 NBA Rookie Of The Year
68-69 All-NBA
1969 All-Star
1971 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1988

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
1970 NBA Rookie Of The Year
69-70 All-NBA
70-71 All-NBA
1969 All-Star
1970 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1995

Dave Cowens
1971 NBA Rookie Of The Year
72-73 All-NBA
74-75 All-NBA
1972 All-Star
1973 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1991

Bob McAdoo
1972 NBA Rookie Of The Year
73-74 All-NBA
74-75 All-NBA
1974 All-Star
1975 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 2000

Walter Davis
1978 NBA Rookie Of The Year
77-78 All-NBA
78-79 All-NBA
1978 All-Star
1979 All-Star

Larry Bird
1980 NBA Rookie Of The Year
79-80 All-NBA
80-81 All-NBA
1980 All-Star
1981 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 1998

Ralph Sampson
1984 NBA Rookie Of The Year
85-85 All-NBA
1984 All-Star
1985 All-Star

Michael Jordan
1985 NBA Rookie Of The Year
84-85 All-NBA
86-87 All-NBA
1985 All-Star
1986 All-Star
*Eligible for Hall Of Fame in 2009

Patrick Ewing
1986 NBA Rookie Of The Year
87-88 All-NBA
88-89 All-NBA
1986 All-Star
1988 All-Star
NBA Hall Of Fame, Class of 2008

David Robinson
1990 NBA Rookie Of The Year
88-89 All-NBA
90-91 All-NBA
1990 All-Star
1991 All-Star
*Eligible For Hall Of Fame in 2009

Shaquille O'neal
1993 NBA Rookie Of The Year
93-94 All-NBA
94-95 All-NBA
1993 All-Star
1994 All-Star

Grant Hill
1995 Co-Rookie Of The Year
95-96 All-NBA
96-97 All-NBA
1995 All-Star
1996 All-Star

Tim Duncan
1997 NBA Rookie Of The Year
97-98 All-NBA
98-99 All-NBA
1998 All-Star
1999 No All-Star Game (Lockout Season)

Vince Carter
1999 NBA Rookie Of The Year
99-00 All-NBA
00-01 All-NBA
2000 All-Star
2001 All-Star

LeBron James
2004 NBA Rookie Of The Year
04-05 All-NBA
05-06 All-NBA
2005 All-Star
2006 All-Star