tlongII
07-08-2008, 04:57 PM
http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/8324086/How-the-Blazers-got-back-on-track
With the updated 2008-09 salary cap coming on Wednesday, free-agent signings about to unfold and all the trade rumors abuzz, it would be logical to assume Kevin Pritchard would be involved.
After all, the Portland Trail Blazers general manager has become one of the most active participants in player movement these days, and once Wednesday passes, all of his deals on draft day will become official.
But if Pritchard's brief history is any lesson, the Blazers are finished making any substantial moves.
That's the way it was going into the 2007-08 season, essentially the same as 2006-07, Pritchard's rookie year. He makes a plan going into the draft, sticks to it with a little elbow room for flexibility, and lets it ride.
In the process he has masterminded what appears to be a magnificent transition from a potentially disastrous divorce between Portland and the Blazers at the end of the 2005-06 NBA season into a brand new love affair with great expectations. Once general manager John Nash was sent packing -- and less than a year later president Steve Patterson was nudged out the door as well -- Pritchard began spinning owner Paul Allen's wheel of fortune, and the franchise has reaped the benefits ever since.
Beginning with a five-player swap just before the 2006 draft, Pritchard has made 16 deals in his three drafts -- five each over the past two -- and the results have put the Blazers back on the map. Now, coach Nate McMillan and his team strike fear in the hearts of every team in the Western Conference, while new president Larry Miller and his staff mend the wounds with the fan base.
Granted, these Blazers haven't been to the playoffs either. But the sellout crowds are back in the Rose Garden, and going into this season, their projected starting lineup of center Greg Oden, power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, small forward Travis Outlaw, shooting guard Brandon Roy and point guard Steve Blake have postseason aspirations yet boast an average age of less than 24 years old. Blake, the old man at 28, is the next guy due to get beaten out by a youngster.
This team has already bonded with the fans that were stung by the hollow promises of the previous regime.
Along the way, there has been some good luck, only to be followed by bad luck. That involved winning the 2007 NBA lottery and the rights to draft Oden, the sensational teenage 7-foot All-American from Ohio State, who promptly injured his knee and required microfracture surgery last summer to end his season before training camp ever began. So he's a rookie again, buffed up to more than 270 pounds and presumed to be 100 percent recovered for training camp 2008. McMillan will also have a second 2007 first-round pick at his disposal, 23-year-old Spanish guard Rudy Fernandez, perceived as the top shooter in Europe this past season.
And that's not to mention Jerryd Bayless, the hot-shot rookie point guard from Arizona, who was the byproduct of Pritchard's five deals at this year's draft. It's hard to fathom any general manager could draft five players on a given day and trade all of them, but that's what Pritchard accomplished two weeks ago, adding Bayless and 19-year-old French swingman Nicolas Batum, who they expect to develop in France over the next couple of seasons. Obviously, with such a young roster there are only so many players they need, or even want.
Blake, center Joel Przybilla (28) and forward/center Raef LaFrentz (33) are the only players on the roster older than 24, and the 6-11 LaFrentz is crucial because his contract of nearly $13 million is expiring after this season -- opening the door for either a trade or free-agent acquisition down the road. They off-loaded problematic Darius Miles with a bum knee and more than $27 million on the salary cap with what was ruled a career-ending injury. (And even if he does make a comeback, it won't count on the cap -- although Allen would have to pay the salary as opposed to insurance coverage.)
Clearly, it's all part of the master plan of eradicating the losing culture.
None of it works if the players don't perform for McMillan, though, and he certainly turned the corner this past season. Having unloaded top scorer and off-the-court nightmare Zach Randolph prior to last season to make room for Aldridge and Oden in the post, the 2007-08 season began with neither Randolph nor Oden. Consequently, expectations were low, considering they had won just 21 games the year before. And that's the way it began, starting the season 5-11. McMillan, cut from the Jerry Sloan cloth of discipline, continued to rage.
But after a meeting with players, led by the precocious Roy, McMillan toned it down a few octaves, and the players responded by winning 17 of 18 games, including a 13-game winning streak that temporarily moved them atop the Northwest Division. That's not to say Pritchard didn't get involved in talks for veteran point guard Jason Kidd, before the New Jersey Nets moved him to Dallas. There was logic in adding a sure-fire Hall of Fame point guard to this mix of youth for the next few years, just not at the cost it would have required.
Nonetheless, Roy was named to the All-Star team and Aldridge became a top candidate for the league's Most Improved Player. Oh, they back slid late as both players began to physically break down, and Przybilla broke his leg following a solid year in place of Oden, but for them to finish at 41-41 spoke volumes.
So where do they go from here? With Oden, Fernandez and Bayless on board, there's reason to hope for a jump to 50 wins. That's not to say it will happen, though. The easiest improvement log is from the 20s into the 40s. It becomes proportionally more difficult from there, along with concerns for a perpetual heel problem that Roy must deal with, the uncertainty of Oden, and of course, the ambiguity of youth in the NBA.
And yet, in these rare times when the magic of a general manager and coach click as it has between Pritchard and McMillan, invariably success follows in major doses. Regaining the faith of the fans was the first order of business and they were rewarded with a .500 record. The next step is a return to the playoffs after a five-year absence (which followed a record-setting 21 consecutive postseason appearances) in the coming season.
If achieved, there is no reason to put a limit on anything they can accomplish with Pritchard putting the pieces together and McMillan making them work. It's too early to call for a second championship banner to go along with 1977 or Western Conference championship banners to join 1990 and 1992.
Then again, it may not be long before that becomes an expectation.
With the updated 2008-09 salary cap coming on Wednesday, free-agent signings about to unfold and all the trade rumors abuzz, it would be logical to assume Kevin Pritchard would be involved.
After all, the Portland Trail Blazers general manager has become one of the most active participants in player movement these days, and once Wednesday passes, all of his deals on draft day will become official.
But if Pritchard's brief history is any lesson, the Blazers are finished making any substantial moves.
That's the way it was going into the 2007-08 season, essentially the same as 2006-07, Pritchard's rookie year. He makes a plan going into the draft, sticks to it with a little elbow room for flexibility, and lets it ride.
In the process he has masterminded what appears to be a magnificent transition from a potentially disastrous divorce between Portland and the Blazers at the end of the 2005-06 NBA season into a brand new love affair with great expectations. Once general manager John Nash was sent packing -- and less than a year later president Steve Patterson was nudged out the door as well -- Pritchard began spinning owner Paul Allen's wheel of fortune, and the franchise has reaped the benefits ever since.
Beginning with a five-player swap just before the 2006 draft, Pritchard has made 16 deals in his three drafts -- five each over the past two -- and the results have put the Blazers back on the map. Now, coach Nate McMillan and his team strike fear in the hearts of every team in the Western Conference, while new president Larry Miller and his staff mend the wounds with the fan base.
Granted, these Blazers haven't been to the playoffs either. But the sellout crowds are back in the Rose Garden, and going into this season, their projected starting lineup of center Greg Oden, power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, small forward Travis Outlaw, shooting guard Brandon Roy and point guard Steve Blake have postseason aspirations yet boast an average age of less than 24 years old. Blake, the old man at 28, is the next guy due to get beaten out by a youngster.
This team has already bonded with the fans that were stung by the hollow promises of the previous regime.
Along the way, there has been some good luck, only to be followed by bad luck. That involved winning the 2007 NBA lottery and the rights to draft Oden, the sensational teenage 7-foot All-American from Ohio State, who promptly injured his knee and required microfracture surgery last summer to end his season before training camp ever began. So he's a rookie again, buffed up to more than 270 pounds and presumed to be 100 percent recovered for training camp 2008. McMillan will also have a second 2007 first-round pick at his disposal, 23-year-old Spanish guard Rudy Fernandez, perceived as the top shooter in Europe this past season.
And that's not to mention Jerryd Bayless, the hot-shot rookie point guard from Arizona, who was the byproduct of Pritchard's five deals at this year's draft. It's hard to fathom any general manager could draft five players on a given day and trade all of them, but that's what Pritchard accomplished two weeks ago, adding Bayless and 19-year-old French swingman Nicolas Batum, who they expect to develop in France over the next couple of seasons. Obviously, with such a young roster there are only so many players they need, or even want.
Blake, center Joel Przybilla (28) and forward/center Raef LaFrentz (33) are the only players on the roster older than 24, and the 6-11 LaFrentz is crucial because his contract of nearly $13 million is expiring after this season -- opening the door for either a trade or free-agent acquisition down the road. They off-loaded problematic Darius Miles with a bum knee and more than $27 million on the salary cap with what was ruled a career-ending injury. (And even if he does make a comeback, it won't count on the cap -- although Allen would have to pay the salary as opposed to insurance coverage.)
Clearly, it's all part of the master plan of eradicating the losing culture.
None of it works if the players don't perform for McMillan, though, and he certainly turned the corner this past season. Having unloaded top scorer and off-the-court nightmare Zach Randolph prior to last season to make room for Aldridge and Oden in the post, the 2007-08 season began with neither Randolph nor Oden. Consequently, expectations were low, considering they had won just 21 games the year before. And that's the way it began, starting the season 5-11. McMillan, cut from the Jerry Sloan cloth of discipline, continued to rage.
But after a meeting with players, led by the precocious Roy, McMillan toned it down a few octaves, and the players responded by winning 17 of 18 games, including a 13-game winning streak that temporarily moved them atop the Northwest Division. That's not to say Pritchard didn't get involved in talks for veteran point guard Jason Kidd, before the New Jersey Nets moved him to Dallas. There was logic in adding a sure-fire Hall of Fame point guard to this mix of youth for the next few years, just not at the cost it would have required.
Nonetheless, Roy was named to the All-Star team and Aldridge became a top candidate for the league's Most Improved Player. Oh, they back slid late as both players began to physically break down, and Przybilla broke his leg following a solid year in place of Oden, but for them to finish at 41-41 spoke volumes.
So where do they go from here? With Oden, Fernandez and Bayless on board, there's reason to hope for a jump to 50 wins. That's not to say it will happen, though. The easiest improvement log is from the 20s into the 40s. It becomes proportionally more difficult from there, along with concerns for a perpetual heel problem that Roy must deal with, the uncertainty of Oden, and of course, the ambiguity of youth in the NBA.
And yet, in these rare times when the magic of a general manager and coach click as it has between Pritchard and McMillan, invariably success follows in major doses. Regaining the faith of the fans was the first order of business and they were rewarded with a .500 record. The next step is a return to the playoffs after a five-year absence (which followed a record-setting 21 consecutive postseason appearances) in the coming season.
If achieved, there is no reason to put a limit on anything they can accomplish with Pritchard putting the pieces together and McMillan making them work. It's too early to call for a second championship banner to go along with 1977 or Western Conference championship banners to join 1990 and 1992.
Then again, it may not be long before that becomes an expectation.