Brandon Roy is back coaching at Garfield, and he already knows what you think

It seems Brandon Roy can’t start a basketball season without a sigh.

“Here we go again,” he said of preparing for his return as Garfield High’s boys basketball coach after stepping down from the position for the 2021-22 school year.

The Washington Interscholastic Activities Association didn’t have a traditional season or hold state championships in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Roy stepped down after leading Garfield to the Class 3A boys state championship in 2020, which was after he returned from stepping back for the 2018-19 season. And that was after winning the state title in 2018, which followed his 2017 state win as coach for Nathan Hale’s boys basketball team.

It’s a revolving door almost unheard of in sports.

“I know what it’s going to look like,” said Roy, a Garfield alum who starred at the University of Washington and was a three-time NBA All-Star with the Portland Trail Blazers. “Sometimes you take those deep breaths and are like, ‘Whatever, I’ve got to make this decision anyway and forget what people are going to say about it.’ That’s been my life since I made it professionally. Every decision is hard.”

Those experiences are what the Bulldogs are grabbing on to this season. With their coach back on the sideline, the talented roster feels they can handle the outside scrutiny in pursuit of their third state title in five years — each with Roy as the head coach.

“When he’s coaching us, it feels like the team just really comes together and are one unit.” Garfield senior forward Emmett Marquardt said. “This is no knock to the coaches that were coaching us last year. I love those coaches and [JayVon Nickens] brought us to state and we were 24-1; we had a great season. It’s just, Brandon Roy, he has that extra little something to it. It’s hard to explain. We’re excited to be around him. We’re excited to come to practice. We’re excited to work hard for him.”

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Another person might be given some grace. Roy’s reasons for skipping seasons are a divorce coupled with the mental strain of getting shot while visiting family in California and surgeries for a ruptured Achilles and back pain. That’s after an approximate six-year pro career that ended mercilessly in 2012 after six surgeries because of degenerative knees.

The Achilles injury happened while Roy, 38, was shooting hoops with his oldest son, Brandon Jr., about two weeks before Garfield tryouts were scheduled in 2021. Roy had delayed getting back surgery because of the onset of the pandemic in 2020, opting to do both procedures back-to-back last winter.

Nickens, who was part of Garfield’s 1998 Class 4A state championship team, was the interim coach for Roy twice. When Roy coached, Nickens was his top assistant.

“If he wants to come back, we’ll embrace him with open arms,” Nickens told Scorebook Live last year. “He’s our coach; we love him. He’s more than a coach to a lot of people in the community, right? A lot of people want him around. But it is what it is for now.”

Although Roy was healthy by January, he said he didn’t want to confuse the team by having two coaches and remained a volunteer. Nickens, who was unavailable for comment, won’t be part of the staff this year because of a conflict with his full-time job, Roy said.

Despite the explanations, Roy expected people to talk. The latest rumor for his return is because Roy only wants to coach a roster of top-tier college prospects he recently recruited. It’s a theory that has trouble standing up considering UConn-bound forward Jaylin Stewart, the top player in the state, has been part of Garfield’s roster since his freshman season.

Roy is helping Stewart, the oldest son of former Southern California and Rainier Beach star Lodrick Stewart, fine-tune his natural gifts to further his possibilities on the court.

“He’s taking charges now,” Eastside Catholic boys basketball coach Brent Merritt said of Stewart sacrificing his 6-foot-6 frame for the offensive foul. The Crusaders lost to the Bulldogs 63-55 last week.

“I’m excited for his future,” Merritt continued. “He has improved so much and that’s pretty much what you want for all the kids when you’re coaching with them, against them — you want to see improvement for them. Jaylin has really taken his game to a new level where as a freshman, you thought he was going to be good. I didn’t know he could be this good. Like, he couldn’t really dribble like he dribbles now. He was a catch-and-shoot guy. Now he puts it on the floor and can create his own shot, he’s special.”

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Roy can’t escape complaints that when he does decide to coach, transfers flock to his teams. Seven players enrolled at Nathan Hale led by eventual NBA lottery pick center Michael Porter Jr. The following season, two of the Hale players transferred to Garfield.

This season, six Bulldogs were part of the roster that in March suffered an overtime loss in the state tournament quarterfinals to an Auburn team that would win the Class 3A title.

Garfield senior point guards Myles Daymon (O’Dea) and Jamari Jackson-Kinz (Franklin) and senior guard Darus Harvey (Cleveland) are transfers.

Bulldogs athletic director Carole Lynch was unavailable for comment. Seattle Public Schools has open enrollment for students who live in the city limits and transfers are permitted, but, according to SPS, requests are denied if made for curriculum, convenience or athletics, among other preferences. Or if a player moves with his family into a school’s boundary, they are eligible to play.

Merritt, who has coached Eastside the past eight seasons, said he’s reported coaches trying to poach his players in the past but nothing was done.

“If it’s ‘Brandon Roy,’ then it’s because of Brandon Roy the basketball player,” Roy said in addressing rumors that he recruits players. “The guy who played in the pros and the guy that they ask, ‘Did you know LeBron James? Did you play with Steph Curry?’ Sometimes we judge these kids like they’re the guys making millions of dollars, and they don’t have the money. It’s unfair to them and the work they put in.”

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A 360-degree look around the foyer outside Garfield’s gym or 10 minutes talking to Roy sheds light on why a player would want to be part of the program.

The trophy case is stacked with championship wins in nearly every sport. And, although Roy is known for the NBA career he didn’t have because of injuries, he was name-dropped by Kobe Bryant as the hardest to defend.

“Roy has no weaknesses in his game,” the late Bryant told NBC Sports in 2010.

Marquardt said story time with Roy is about playing against legends, how to look at the game differently and work ethic. The co-captain said Roy’s journey through injuries and how basketball can’t be their only future plan — sage advice from a player who had to retire at 28 — are invaluable lessons.

Roy, who opened the season with an 82-6 record as a high-school coach, realized the questions are therapeutic for him, too. Each conversation unlocks another memory, whether it’s sitting down for a podcast with Porter, a phone call with former Garfield forward Tari Eason before the NBA draft last summer or catching up with Bulldogs alum and UW guard Koren Johnson before a game last week.

“I wanted to coach, but I didn’t know the fulfillment that I would get out of it,” Roy said. “I don’t want to say I was trying to let basketball go, but it was hard to watch basketball because I couldn’t be a part of it. And I was a pretty young guy, so there was that ego. So, to have these guys be a part of my life and me be part of theirs is special.”

There’s a sigh when Roy is asked how long this stint at Garfield will last. The goal is to coach his son, a sophomore guard on the junior varsity team, but Roy knows plans can change.

For now, the focus is getting the senior-laden varsity team ready for a state run.

“They look like a team that can compete to win a championship; I would be lying if I said that they couldn’t,” Roy said. “Jaylin is probably the best player in the state. Having that with Sherrell (McCullum) and Emmett, who’s a force, they could win a state championship. But my Mom used to always tell me, ‘Big things start with small beginnings, son.’ So, we’ll start small and work our way up to that.”