The Portland Trail Blazers now sit alone atop the NBA’s Northwest Division.
Let that sink in for a minute. Do you have goose bumps? I sure as hell do.
Because the last few years of long, dark, rainy winters in the Willamette Valley with an absolutely unwatchable pro sports franchise plaguing the Rose City have been hard, it now looks like the Blazers have finally gotten it right.
And thank heavens, because Oregon is a much nicer place to spend the winter when the Blazers are good. Obviously, as a student here and a beat writer for Oregon men’s basketball, the Ducks are my main focus. I’m sure the Ducks are the main focus of many of my readers as well, but the Ducks play just twice a week; isn’t it nice to have something else to liven up at least a couple of the other five days?
I went home to Portland over winter break, and the buzz is definitely back. Not the “Rip City” level buzz that the Trail Blazers fans are famous for, but buzz nonetheless. Every bar has the Blazer game front and center, and everyone you see on the street wants to chat Trail Blazer basketball.
Blazer fans had every right to be elated when the team drafted Greg Oden with the No. 1 pick in last June’s draft. The optimism surrounding the franchise was palpable, and for good reason. Oden is not only a once-in-a-decade talent, but a young man of character and not one of the flashy, lazy, selfish superstars that Blazer fans had grown so weary of.
Blazer fans also had every right to bemoan the knee injury he suffered this summer, effectively ending his rookie season before it ever started. In the weeks following the announcement of the injury, it seemed apparent the “new look” Blazers, a team centered around solid character and promising young talent, would have to wait another season to build on that positive momentum and start to realize its potential. Blazer fans went from a zenith of optimism to a slough of negativity in a flash.
And the NBA season started with a whimper in Portland, limping out to a 5-12 start. No one was surprised; Blazer fans had resigned themselves to one more season of ineptitude and irrelevance from their team.
Fans were back, thanks in large part to 2006-07 Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy (can we all agree to just collectively forget he was a Husky?), but there wasn’t a buzz in the air or in the Rose Garden. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Blazers shocked everyone by rattling off 13 straight victories, climbing above .500 in the standings and into contention for a playoff spot.
And when the streak ended, many wondered if the Blazers could avoid a backward slide of the same magnitude, given their youth; however, they have won 5-of-6 since the streak ended to claw their way to the top of the division.
And the ride is far from over, because no matter how this season shakes out down the stretch, (no, I’m not ready to anoint the Blazers contenders for an NBA title, yet), the future looks incredible.
Sure, Oden is considered by most to be the greatest basketball talent in the world that has yet to play in an NBA game, but Portland General Manager Kevin Pritchard said in a recent radio interview that the other piece they acquired in last year’s draft, Rudy Fernandez (24th overall pick of the Phoenix Suns, acquired for cold, hard cash), may very well be the second player on that list. So a team capable of grabbing first place in their division will be adding the top two non-NBA players in the world to their roster next season? Look out.
Which brings me to a conversation we were having about the Blazers at the Emerald sports desk the other day. The question was put to me, “So what do the Blazers need to get in the draft next year?”
My answer, for the first time in what seems like forever and with great relish? “Nothing.”
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