People Get Ready

The feeling in Portland is downright giddy. Looking out across the Broadway Bridge onto the Rose Garden Arena perched above the Willamette River you sense that something special is happening at One Centre Court. The Portland Trail Blazers, the only major league franchise is the City of Roses, are simmering. After seven years of sporadic play, poor teamwork, and more appearances in the Portland police blotter then NBA playoffs, the Blazers and their fans, like Nebraska -era Boss, have found a reason to believe.

Although this rebuilding project has been happening since 2006 when the team landed Washington guard Brandon Roy and Texas forward LaMarcus Aldridge through wily draft deals by general manager Kevin Pritchard, it was not until the team jettisoned black hole but incredibly talented scorer, Zach Randolph, to the NBA wasteland that resides on 7th Avenue between 31st and 33rd streets in Manhattan that these efforts truly took shape. Although it was widely reported that Roy had taken emotional leadership of the team earlier in the previous campaign during a locker room confrontation with Randolph, the Michigan bred forward had remained the franchise cornerstone due to his impressive statistics, knack for scoring, and large contract. It became increasingly evident to all Blazer fans that Randolph was holding this team back. I didn’t necessarily want to believe it myself at the time because Z-Bo simply put up numbers game after game but his style of play (poor passer, lack of defense, me-first attitude) kept the Blazers in neutral. Once Randolph was gone, Roy, Coach Nate MacMillan, and an assortment of young and hungry Blazers could revamp their schemes and begin establishing the “new culture” that Pritchard had vowed when he first was named assistant General Manager in 2006 and ultimately General Manager in 2007.

The “new culture” received a swift kick in the ass from Lady Luck when the first pick in the 2007 NBA draft was miraculously bestowed upon Portland and Greg Oden, a man-child center from Ohio State landed in our laps. The moment The Big Silly was drafted an excitement shot through Portland as if Clyde Drexler had performed a pterodactyl like swoop to the basket. Fans began seeing visions of Bill Walton’s beard bopping down Broadway celebrating Portland’s only NBA championship in that glorious summer of 1977. Then, the record skipped.
It was year ago now when he learned that a knee injury would keep Oden off the court in 2007-08. Collectively, Portland experienced something like that first heady night you tried to unstrap your crush’s bra and realized, “I can’t do this! This is not going to happen tonight! This is harder than I expected!” So it was that we played last year without our big man as he went about rehabbing his knee, setting the newest trends in ironic haircuts and displaying humility, public poise and a legitimately witty sense of humor.

If case you studied abroad last winter or don’t care to follow the NBA, want to guess what happened? We banged it out. 13 game winning streak. .500 record. All Star Brandon Roy. LaMarcus Aldridge established himself as one of the most promising big men in the league; Young Travis Outlaw became a 4th quarter assassin, and an assortment of role players reminded Portland what it felt like to have a team that played hard instead of giving lip service to that concept in playoff post-game interviews. I have been living in Portland for the past 8 years, truly since the dawn of what native Oregonians like to call the “Jail Blazer” era. I have seen some pretty fun games in the Rose Garden during those eight years, of course more frustrating ones. I had never seen Portland fans or the Rose Garden light up like it did last year. Now, Portland fans are great, primarily due to their authenticity. I don’t necessarily consider us the “best in the NBA” like all other cities will say about themselves. Truthfully, I think we should be louder more consistently. However, just like those Coors Light fueled summers at the beach when you get back together with your ex, the love affair between the Blazers and the fans was rekindled in earnest last season. Passionate, team oriented play and fanatical fan response go together like Michelle Tafoya and excessive make up. Believe it. David Stern and the NBA offices had their eye on the noisy Rose City last winter.

Although modern professional sports, with their ungodly sums of money, bottom line business tactics, and pampered, me-first athletes often appear far removed from the passion, sacrifice, and teamwork that makes basketball and sports in general so alluring, it appears that the people of Portland take great pleasure and comfort in Blazer management showing signs that they understand the subtleties and challenges of constructing an NBA contender from scratch. It’s the summer of 2008 and with the addition of added scoring punch in Spanish star Rudy Fernandez, Vegas summer league MVP Jerryd Bayless, and the impending debut of Greg Oden, holler from the roof tops, Rip City is where its at!