Time to preview the 2010-11 Portland Trailblazers
Music to listen to: Ocean Breathes Salty by Modest Mouse
Last season/offseason changes: Portland is in an unstable situation as a franchise.
Last season, you had top draft pick Greg Oden suffer another season-ending injury, putting further doubt into him being an elite player in the NBA.
The Blazers also saw its top player, Brandon Roy, rush back from a knee injury of his own in the playoffs which proved to be ineffective as Portland fell in the first round to Phoenix last season.
However, Portland found a way to win 50 games despite all of this so that’s the positive spin to put on things.
This offseason, Portland fired its highly regarded general manager Greg Pritchard literally hours before the NBA draft and that has begun a leak of stories about the negative ways that the ownership has had on the operations of the team.
The Blazers lost Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw and Rudy Fernandez, three perimeter players who were honestly overrated by analysts and really anyone associated with the Blazers organization.
Portland brings in Luke Babbitt and Wesley Matthews.
Strength: Portland does have the advantage of having one of the top players in the NBA with Roy. When healthy, he has the ability to dictate the entire pace of the game with the ball in his hands.
The Blazers have also seen major contributions from LaMarcus Aldridge, who seems to have finally found his niche in the NBA with Portland.
Weakness: The Blazers seem to find a way to score points, seeing how they were in the top-ten in offensive production last year, but the defense continues to disappoint.
Some may want to point the problem as being Oden not being able to play but Portland had the services of Marcus Camby, one of the better defensive centers in the NBA, and still gave up too many scoring chance to the opponent. You could see this clearly in the Phoenix playoff series.
Most important player: Its clearly Oden.
I’m not going to go with the Oden vs. Durant argument because its clear who the better player will be in the future.
What you have to worry about Oden is his physical health. He had injury issues at Ohio State and even had hints of knee troubles going into the draft. For that reason, I would have taken Durant over Oden in the draft. With that being saind, everyone needs to just move on.
We’ve seen in Oden’s absence that Portland can score but needs defense and rebounding, two strengths that the Blazers were hoping to get from their center the past few years.
If Oden can come back to full strength, the Blazers has the peak of being the second-best team in the West.
Celebrity crush from the city: I’m a fan of Meredith Brooks for her talents.
Coaching: Nate McMillan is an interesting case. He had a good tenure with Seattle before going down to Portland and has been there a few seasons.
It seems like he is in the hot seat every year even though the Blazers make the playoffs consistently.
First memory of team: While everyone was jumping on the Michael Jordan train, it seemed like Clyde Drexler didn’t get much love. That was wrong, he was an excellent player as you’ll see below.
Best case: Western conference finals
Worst case: Missing the playoffs
Uniform grade: Portland has stuck with the same color scheme since its inception and should be applauded for it. My theory is that you can use black in your uniforms if it is part of your main color scheme and the Blazers are a prime example of properly using this in practice. I also enjoy the usage of red road uniforms, which not only lightens up the overall look of the squad but is also a nod to the teams of the 1970’s whose road unis were that color. Grade: B+
Overall outlook: Having Brandon Roy is a great start for any team but the rest of the West is looking formidable as well. You have the Lakers, Oklahoma City, Utah, Dallas and maybe San Antonio all vying for the top spots.
While Portland will probably make the playoffs, getting beyond the second round is probably not going to happen.
Those are my thoughts, what about yours?
2010 Backdoor Cut Previews:
Atlantic Division
Central Division
Southeast Division
Northwest Division
The Sports Inquirer 
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