I’ve never been a very big NBA fan, but the Trail Blazers are my one exception. Watching the Blazers – our only major professional team (unless you count the Timbers) – compete is always a great time, and I’ve loved them since I was young. Over the past few years, we’ve come to expect big things out of this team.
Unfortunately, those expectations are about to make Portland fans feel incredibly let down. A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a column for this very site about how the lockout will end up literally hurting the Blazers. Here are we now, with Greg Oden likely out for the season, Brandon Roy retired, and LaMarcus Aldridge set to miss the first one-two weeks of practice with a heart condition.
Now don’t get me wrong; I want Portland to win. But their current roster is hardly built to last a 66-game season that’s full of back-to-backs and occasional back-to-back-to-backs. If you’re looking for depth – which is what the top teams will require this season – Portland doesn’t have it.
Of the five guards left on its roster, only two have started in an NBA game. After new starting PG Raymond Felton and third-year SG Wesley Matthews, the Blazers have a seriously disheartening drop off in the backcourt. Rookie Nolan Smith will team up with second-year PG Armon Johnson and second-year PG Elliot Williams, who missed all of his rookie season last year with a knee injury. Typical.
At the two forward positions, Portland will rotate Aldridge, Gerald Wallace, and Nicolas Batum – certainly the team’s most well-stocked position. Again, though, the drop off after those guys is ridiculous. Luke Babbitt and Earl Baron will attempt to fill in the minutes left over, but the chance of either of those players making a positive contribution is, at best, dangerously wishful thinking.
At center, Portland just added the oldest player in the entire National Basketball Association: Kurt Thomas. And they signed him to a two-year deal, essentially making it appear that they’re going to let Marcus Camby walk away at the end of the season and put all their hope in Greg Oden being healthy for the next campaign. We’ll see. In any case, Portland will start Camby, with Thomas and Chris Johnson picking up the backup minutes. How a 39-year 6-9 center and a 24-year old second-year player with only 14 career games played will help Portland win is yet to be seen, but I’m skeptical.
We’re looking at a Blazers squad with terribly limited depth that’s gearing up for what will be the most draining season any of its players have ever experienced.
Strap in, Rose City. It’s going to be an up-and-down ride.
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