Win Or (Likely) Lose, The Portland Trail Blazers Had A Heck Of A Season

The season is over.  The Portland Trail Blazers are going to lose.

You knew that, right?  Tell me you knew that?  Because it wasn’t a fluke that Golden State won 73 games this season.  It wasn’t a fluke that they won last year’s NBA Championship.  And it’s not a coincidence that they have 3 All-Star players and will likely finish with 2 players in the top-5 in this year’s MVP voting.  They’re a great team bordering on historic, and even without their best player, they’ll likely travel back to Oakland next Monday night with the second round of this NBA playoffs squarely in their rearview mirror.

And that’s fine.

The Portland Trail Blazers weren’t supposed to be here.  In fact, they weren’t supposed to be in the playoffs at all.

This year’s squad – which by now you’ve heard replaced 4 starters – was predicted by most to win fewer than 30 games.  I didn’t think they’d win much more than 20.  But CJ McCollum got a s**t-ton better, the newly acquired youth played with a purpose, and Damian Lillard proved to be the leader LaMarcus Aldridge was never going to be.  As a result, you and I were treated to a season’s worth of exciting and entertaining basketball, culminating with an unexpected trip to the playoffs, an equally unexpected trip to the second round, and more importantly, future expectations for a franchise with a foundation in which to build upon.

This isn’t a group in its prime.  Nor is it fraught with aging veterans in or beyond their peak performance.  This is a group whose best players are getting better, whose talent is young and impressionable, and whose destiny will be decided by the necessary moves to unlock its future potential.  The former which lies in the hands of the players, while the latter is dependent on Neil Olshey’s foresight and ability to make it a reality.

I don’t know what they need.  Could they use a stretch-4 who’d provide an outside threat and clear the paint for wings slashing to the hoop?  Sure.  Would they benefit from a big-man who could not only play with the energy of a Mason Plumlee, but also provide a back-to-the-basket game worthy of the defense’s attention?  Uh huh.  And would an additional offensive threat minimize the burden heaped upon CJ and Dame, creating a more complicated problem for opposing teams and coaches?  Yep, but how you’d prioritize them and more difficultly, how you’d acquire them is left up to the front office who to this point has proven up to the task.

I’d love to see Portland win a game or two, and admit to thinking it possible before last Sunday’s Game-1.  But this isn’t March Madness, a college football rivalry game, or the NHL playoffs where a hot goalie can take you all the way to a Stanley Cup.  This is the NBA playoffs, where the best team almost always wins, the best players almost always dominate, and David never beats Goliath.

It’s over Portland, and in this case that has to be alright.