No promises, says Brandon Roy, but doubt him at your own risk

here was a bit of false advertising for a charity basketball event in Seattle on Saturday, which promoted Trail Blazers star Brandon Roy as the headliner of a group of NBA stars who would play a game to benefit a Seattle youth program.

Roy didn't play, citing the risk of injury and a curious case of phone tag between him and team doctor Don Roberts, leaving Jamal Crawford, Martell Webster and Michael Beasley to provide the oohs and aahs to a crowd of about 5,000 at KeyArena, which hasn't seen NBA basketball since the SuperSonics left to become the Oklahoma City Thunder three years ago.

But from Roy himself, there was absolutely no false advertising.

Roy said he will make no declarations that he should be a starter when the Blazers return for training camp after the NBA's labor strike is settled. No proclamations that he is back to his old self after his latest knee surgeries -- arthroscopic procedures on both knees in January. And no concessions that he is now a bench player who needs to adapt his game to compensate for what was left on the operating table.

In fact, Roy wants to make it clear there will be no self-advertising whatsoever when it comes to his game.

"I just don't even want to put anything out there," said Roy, who celebrated his 27th birthday Saturday. "I don't want to get hopes up one way or the other. I'm just trying to work to get better. And if I surprise a million people, that's better. Hopefully, I can surprise some people."

At the same time, Roy let it be known he knows what has been said about him. That his knees no longer allow him to move with the surgical precision that made him one of the most crafty and effective players in the NBA. That he can no longer leap high enough to finish drives to the basket. And that the bone-on-bone condition of both his knees has all but ended his career.

He has heard all of it, and in a way, it motivates him.

"I'm definitely fine with how some things are said, and what people are saying about me," Roy said. "I kind of like to be doubted and counted out. That's a good place for me. I like this role."