Trailblazers=many championships to come
Posted on: Sat, 07/19/2008 - 11:54pm
warriorfan17
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Trailblazers=many championships to come
How good of a core do the trailblazers have in comparison to all time teams. I believe that if they keep the players that they have they will be able to win close to 7 or 8 championships to come. Oden, Roy, Bayless, Aldridge, Batum, Blake, Diogu, Fernandez, Frye, Outlaw, Rodriguez, Webster, lafrentz, and pryzbilla. I think that that team is ridiculously young and talented
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The Trailblazers have a great young team that in some aspects remind me of the good young talent that the Bulls had a couple years ago (Although the Blazers group have players who are not tweeners like "Ben Gordon" or "Tyrus Thomas").
The two biggest concerns going forward that has yet to be asnwered: Can Bayless be a NBA PG not a small 2 guard (I think he can) and can Greg Oden be healthy and dominant (He already appears to get injuries as often as Yao with the Broken hand and the micro fracture surgery). These 2 players are the most important in the entire group because of the position they play: PG and Center.
Roy is the sure item and Aldridge is very nice as well but they too have had health concerns (Knee for Roy and Back for Aldridge) that may derail this team. But the biggest obstacle for MANY championships is not injury or development it is the Luxury tax and Salary Cap.
As an avid Oakland A's fan I know about developing young talent that make a magical run o the playoffs only to falter during Championship series and to see your players team dismantled and rebuild (Giambi, Tejada, Ramon Hernandez, Hudson, Mulder, Zito, Swisher, Haren, Byrnes, and Harden) That is a lot of talent who in other markets could have developed into a dynasty.
Well the Portland fans are going to brace themselves for the inevitable. Some of this young talent will not reach their peak potential under a Blazers uniform. Kevin Pritchard has a tough road ahead of him. He needs to decide (as Billy Bean did when he chose to sign Eric Chavez and let the MVP Miguel Tejada go) who he will give a Max deal to and who he will not. Brandon Roye is a max player when healthy (if the Blazers don't think so another GM will). Greg Oden is projected as a Max Player. Where does that leave the rest of the team? These are all young players who will not yet be financially secure enough to turn down the highest bidder. Granted LaFrenz's contract will come off the books and maybe Batum is not an essential piece but one of the big name young players will go.
Pritchard and Nate MicMillan realize this and a possible championships is not out of reach. But San Antonio was able to continue its dynasty by keeping a core group and having good late pick drafts. Unless Greg Oden will be the next Shaq (meaning so much more dominant than the other centers in the league when he was making his Championships run), I have a hard time visualizing the Portland dynasty. This may be a pessimistic view and by no means am trying to criticize the job done in forming this group. I must mention that I believe that the rebuilding of the Blazers was really well done.
To all Portland fans:
Enjoy while it lasts!