Testament to toughness

Where were you on Oct. 27, 2009? That was the night Portland Trail Blazers fans saw all the pieces come together—from Greg Oden’s off-season training to last-minute trades that brought Andre Miller and Juwan Howard to town—and celebrated a vengeful victory over the Houston Rockets after they bumped the Blazers from last year’s playoffs.

Within two months, seven Blazers were injured, including season-enders to big men Oden and Joel Przybilla. Even coach Nate McMillan busted up his foot in practice. It seemed as though all the pieces had fallen apart. Suddenly, Portland was expected to win under 40 games and have no shot at the postseason. However, even down to eight players at one point, they stayed tough and upset healthy teams across the league.

Between 13 Blazers, 309 games were missed due to injury, but they hung tough enough to net 50 wins and earn the sixth seed in the Western Conference. Only Miller and Martell Webster played in every game this season, but the roster jostling didn’t derail the Blazer locomotive nor the fans onboard—every Rose Garden game was sold out.

  ?So how did it happen? Is there some mystical force, some basketball god who saw the injuries as sacrificial offerings and thus empowered the remaining healthy Blazers?

Hardly. It’s thanks to the basketball IQ of veterans Howard, Miller and now Marcus Camby, the intense determination of Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge and the youthful energy of Jerryd Bayless, Dante Cunningham and Rudy Fernández. Those are all essential ingredients when concocting success. Sure, the off-court distractions soured the blend—Oden’s nude photos, VP of Operations Tom Penn’s firing, Miller arguing with McMillan—but no sport is without its drama, and the NBA is far from an exception.

I point to poor personnel management as the worst part of this season. No, I’m not talking about Kevin Pritchard’s seemingly eminent dismissal—which, for the record, would be a mistake. I’m talking McMillan’s inability to manage the rotations of his players. There were too many months before team roles—and the minutes they entail—were clearly defined, though I do concede that it must have been difficult with the unpredictable availability of players.

McMillan’s a great coach when working with a developing squad. This year, with so much talent, he spent the first leg of the season sending players in willy-nilly, and he didn’t have much to do with successes when they came: They often came because the players just knuckled down to score, rebound and defend with gusto in crunch time.

In other words, I’d be happy to see a new coach next year. We need a coach that can manage this high-caliber squad and appropriately define the roles and minutes that will spare fans the agony of a blown 20-point lead.

While I’m at it, go ahead and dump Oden too. He’s played a total of 82 games since being drafted—one whole season in three years—over Kevin Durant, who earned Rookie of the Year and this season’s scoring title. What’s worse is that even when Oden does play, he’s not the powerhouse he was in college. He thrived there as a man among boys, but now he’s just an uncoordinated dude among the best athletes in the world.

For now, it’s time to focus on the postseason, where the Blazers face the Phoenix Suns in the first round. Let’s hope they can hang tough long enough to go deep into the playoffs.
Keep the faith, Rip City!

Trail Blazers Playoff Schedule
Gm. 1    Sat    at Phoenix    7:30 p.m.    KGW/ESPN
Gm. 2    Mon    at Phoenix    7:30 p.m.    KGW/TNT
Gm. 3    Thur    at Portland    7 p.m.        KGW/NBA TV
Gm. 4    4/24    at Portland    1:30 p.m.    KGW/TNT
Gm. 5*    4/26    at Phoenix    TBD           TBD
Gm. 6*    4/29    at Portland    TBD           TBD
Gm. 7*    5/1       at Phoenix    TBD           TBD
*if necessary