A New Era Of Portland Trail Blazers Basketball

The Championship team of 1977.

Up-and-down 80’s.

Clyde the Glide.

There have been a whole variety of eras in Portland Trail Blazers basketball history. Some good, some bad. One title, numerous playoff runs, fourteen head coaches, and a lot of headaches.

In the moment, it is hard to name recognize the era we are in. But 10 years from now, we may look back on this era of Blazers basketball as a very special one.

Last year we saw a young, energetic team really come together and stay healthy throughout the year. Not only did they completely shatter all of their expectations, they did something a Blazers team hadn’t done on in 14 years – they won a playoff series.

With the same team coming together this year, with a couple improvements to the bench, the expectations are even higher for the Blazers. The team knows they will be expected to compete at the same level and want to keep the momentum from last year.

Wesley Matthews said, “We still have that hunter mentality. We’re excited about what we did last season but we know that’s fragile. We know it can come and go. It’s just embracing it and knowing we have this opportunity, we have the talent, we have everything that we need just to go do it.”

This team, led by Damian Lillard and LaMarcus Aldridge, is now expected to make the playoffs and compete in one of the most competitive conferences in NBA history. Rewind just a year and it was a completely different story. The Blazers have legitimate star power in their two All-Stars and are expected to perform at the level that they did last year.

What’s next for this team? How could they improve on the 2013-2014 campaign?

Nothing is going to come easy to this team that has caught the attention of coaches and players around the league. At the beginning of last season I felt as though the Blazers took some teams by surprise with their fast and flowing offense. Some of the teams started to catch on as the season progressed and the going got a little tougher for the Blazers.

We all know that the Blazers need to get more production out of their bench and play significantly better defense to make an even deeper run in the playoffs, but looking long-term, what will define this era of Blazers basketball?

The players, coaches, fans all agree that a championship would be the ultimate exclamation mark for an era. But championships are hard to come by. There are 30 teams all vying for the same trophy. This team has a long ways to go before they can really be expected to compete for a title.

On the other hand, why not the Blazers? They have an All-Star point guard, good defenders on the wing, an All-Star post player that can score in a lot of different ways, and a center that gives them the defensive support they need. If you read that sentence over again you may be describing the San Antonio Spurs (who won the NBA Finals last year) or the Dallas Mavericks (who won the NBA Finals in 2010).

I am not saying or predicting that this is a championship team this year; all I am saying is that they have all the right ingredients. If they can stay healthy and continue to improve as basketball players, this could be an incredibly fun era of Blazers basketball.