Amigos' NBA Previews; Portland Trail Blazers

Recent Past Jailblazers to Snailblazers: a Requiem in Four Acts. Oh, come on, that's kind of good. Anyway, they were a very talented team for a while there, pushing the Lakers to the limit in the 2000 WCF. Then things fell apart (FORESHADOWING!), they went from legitimate contender to perennial first round knockouts, and eventually blew shit up. After the Sheed trade in '04 they had a few pretty poor seasons, but there was a plan (and a bit of luck), and that's what seperates the shitty and awesome rebuilds. They've been pretty decent for a couple seasons now, sort of emerging from the shitness...like a butterfly. What? Anyway, this could really be where they take the next step. If. Always...if.

Offseason They brought in Andre Miller, and Sergio Rodriguez and Channing Frye left. Oh, they got Juwan Howard, too. Which is...a thing, I guess. There's obvious questions of how this shit with Miller's going to work, as he's just a slightly above average player at this point, and Steve Blake has his backers. There's this shit with him failing a conditioning test, and getting angry about it coming out in the press...but that'll blow over. The shit where he may have to come off the bench...that'll blow over. The real problem comes when he decides to take too many jumpers outside the scheme, instead of just facilitating that beautifully efficient offense. But it ought to be an upgrade, and there wasn't much better on offer this off season. So it goes. Clearly, he's the place holder for...(dare I? no, I daren't).

Probable lineup Andre Miller, Brandon Roy, Nicolas Batum, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Greg Oden as the five. Steve Blake, Jerryd Bayless, RUDY, Martell Webster (totally not dead), Travis Outlaw, Juwan Howard, and Ghostface 'Billa off the bench. Probably.

General Overview Oh, Trail Blazers. The most beautiful of the not as beautiful. Or something.

There's no holes in that lineup, really. All over, it's just anywhere from solid to awesome. And if you get a bit more consistency from a couple places...maybe a bigger contribution from Batum (which I definitely expect, after watching him for France this summer), or more boards from LMA, and, you know, a healthy Oden..that's a fucking hard team to beat. For anyone. They've given the Lakers as many problems as anyone recently, and it's not a coincidence. They can match up all over the floor, with big dudes, athletic dudes, shooters, slashers...whatever. If you haven't noticed yet, this is sort of a theme with the best teams in the league. And yet, most people would place Portland just outside that category.

That's partially because it's a young squad. You don't expect a team led by a bunch of guys 25 and under (mostly) to compete for the title, just because...well, it's sort of absurd. And yet, most of these guys are veterans. They'll improve, sure, and they'll gain valuable experience down the line, but...it has to start somewhere, right? And it could very well be now. Now, on the "off the dome theoretical" thing, I wouldn't put them ahead of any of the big 4.5 right now, or any shit like that. But in a seven game series, shit happens. We know shit happens. We've all seen shit happen. And so, while I'm not going to predict a championship for this squad...well, any team that's about to draw them in the playoffs needs to watch their back, that's all I'm saying.

Now, of course, before you get to matching up with the Spurs, Lakers, or...whomever, the Blazers are going to have to beat out a solid fucking squad. And this is the West. And...well, you know. Shit. Happens. So, Portland? You watch your backs, too. For fucks sake. Don't get knocked out by Utah, or whatever. Please. This may sound like I'm bulshitting, or pointing out the exceedingly obvious, but while it's weird to say you "learn consistency", this is a team that needs to learn...that they need to have their shit together for every game, basically. Shit can't just fall apart temporarily, at any point during the season, but especially during the playoffs. That's how you win series, just keeping your shit together, and constantly challenging the opponent. Especially with such a solid squad, with no weak points, and threats all over the floor. If the team on the whole is consistently "keeping it together", or whatever...just not collapsing, really...they can knock off anyone, seriously.

But anyway. Going back into the more generic sort of...thing...this was a squad that trouble playing defense last season. Part of that was Oden's general iffyness, but a lot of it seemed to be a lack of commitment on that end, and just lapses in judgment, and concentration. They were 13th in d-rating last season, and if they can get into the top ten, while somewhat maintaining (or ideally improving, obviously) their number one offense...again, this is a potentially scary fucking team.

If they were a hip hop act Portland's beginnings, in their current form, were somewhat overshadowed by what they were thought to be attempting to emulate. Like the Roots, their style was compared with other greats, somewhat by habit, but also through a genuine expectation of similarity. But as they've "grown up", the Roots have really set themselves apart from their peers, expressing their own sort of sound, distinguishing themselves as the real standard as a hip hop band. There have been bumps, certainly, and inconsistencies, but along the way there has been a lot of pretty great shit.

There's a face to the band, in ?uestlove, that I'd imagine is somewhat identifiable to most moderate fans of hip hop. But beyond that, there's obviously Black Thought, and then a whole host of members that make up "the band". And so it is with this Portland squad. Roy and Aldridge, even Oden insofar as he's well known, those are the faces of the franchise. And with good reason. But what makes the squad is those that "backup" the main parts, a whole host of solid contributors that really make the "sound", as it were. There will be losses along the way, and it's likely they'll not be able to keep all these young guys, but the core will remain the same, and the key will be to continue to keep the surrounding parts strong.

And so as this squad "grows up", and differentiates itself from various predecessors, it's likely they'll become a standard others attempt to emulate. Or...something.

(I should note that this whole thing would have worked better if the Blazers had come after another team, but oh well)

Guessing how they'll do Mid 50s in wins, a real shot at the second seed, and I'll go ahead and say that I expect them to make the Conference Finals. They'll give the Lakers problems, as they tend to do, but ultimately fall short, and this will be one of those things that's seen as "a really valuable learning experience" down the road. Maybe.