The Portland Trail Blazers’ first-round acquisition in this past year’s draft, Brandon Roy, has been awarded the Eddie Gottlieb Trophy as the league’s 2006-07 T-Mobile Rookie of the Year. (Everything is branded nowadays, isn’t it?) He received 127 total first place votes out of a possible 128, yielding a total of 638 points. Andrea Bargnani (264 points) of Toronto and Memphis’ Rudy Gay (93 points) came in second and third place, respectively.

The votes were cast by a panel of sports writers and broadcasters. First place votes garnered five points; second place, three; third place, one. Roy becomes only the third Blazer to ever win the award, and the first in over 30 years – the previous winners were Geoff Petrie and Sidney Wicks in the ‘70s.

Brandon Roy was the sixth overall selection in the 2006 NBA Draft, taken by the Minnesota Timberwolves. They, in turn, traded Roy to Portland in exchange for the draft rights to Randy Foye. Despite playing on a team that won just 21 games last season and suffering injuries early in the season, Roy posted terrific numbers. He played in a total of 57 games, averaging 16.8 points a contest, 4.4 boards and 4.0 assists on 45.6% shooting from the field.

While the Blazers were not in the playoff hunt this season, they did improve their record to 32-50 – a total of 11 more wins than last year. Clearly, Roy is the key element to turning this franchise around. The Blazers haven’t been in the playoffs for four years running.

“Now that it’s over, I want to work hard and get better and be an All-Star,” Roy said. It will be a monumental challenge to overcome in the crowded Western Conference, but Roy certainly has the ability to do it.