Filed under: Cavaliers, Trail Blazers
These are dark times for the Portland Trail Blazers, even if they have won two straight heading into Thursday night's Orlando Magic game. The team rested its future on the Brandon Roy-LaMarcus Aldridge-Greg Oden trinity. Roy is playing without cartilage in either knee; Aldridge, while good, has yet to justify his lofty standing or contract; and Oden is Oden. The future looks bleak, and this once well-laid plan now smacks of nostalgia -- and denial.John Canzano sees it. In Wednesday's Oregonian, he advocated bold, decisive moves to tear down, then rebuild, the roster. I am not sure if that's the same as rebuilding. But it certainly is a break with the years of figuring that, once everyone got healthy and mature, these Blazers would take their place among the league's elite. Just like that. In Canzano's mind, other than Roy and Oden, everyone on the team must be put in play.
That's not the same as a fire sale -- in the same way that transforming the roster isn't rebuilding, right? -- but it's the only way for the Blazers to move on. Or forge ahead. Or something.
Roy and Oden don't make the list, either because of their injuries or because some dreams are just too hard to kill. But Canzano is willing to part with Aldridge. And Andre Miller. And Joel Przybilla. And Rudy Fernandez. The only problem is, I'm not sure that's enough to turn the franchise around and have it playoff-bound in no time. Here's Canzano on Aldridge: "LaMarcus Aldridge has big-time value. He'd be the bargaining chip most likely to bring a major shift. And his game isn't strong enough to make him untouchable." Translation: He's half-empty for us, half-full for the rest of the league.
Whether it's the Blazers in Portland, or Antawn Jamison in Cleveland, some of the NBA's saddest stories involve people too devoted, or polite, to seize the effin' day.
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