TRAILBLAZERS

The Portland Trail Blazers have played in the NBA since 1971 and have won a single NBA championship with that title coming in 1977. The team started slowly in the early 1970s with six seasons below .500 and no playoff appearances until their 1977 season. The team finished second in the division behind the Los Angeles Lakers and took down the Chicago Bulls and Denver Nuggets before stomping the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals and defeating the Philadelphia 76ers in six games to win the title. Since their historic 1977 season, the team has only missed the playoffs twice, once coming in 1982 and the other time coming last season. The 2004 Trail Blazers finished the season with a respectable 41-41 record and even finished third in the Pacific Division but still missed the playoffs by two games. The team will look to bounce back this season and start a new streak of playoff appearances but they’ll need to perform better than last season if they want to keep playing in the postseason.

Last season’s team was led by Zach Randolph, a young player out of Michigan State who came into his own last year. Randolph was simply a beast in the paint last year averaging better than 20 points and 10 rebounds a night. The team also found help from players like Damon Stoudamire, Derek Anderson, and Ruben Patterson. Right before the trading deadline, the team managed to work out a deal that sent Rasheed Wallace to Atlanta. Wallace was the face of the franchise and was arguably the best player on the team but definitely had some discipline problems that the team was tired of dealing with. The team also made some off-season moves that should help the team out in the coming seasons. The off-season began when the team re-signed Darius Miles and acquired Nick Van Exel from the Golden State Warriors for Dan Dickau and Dale Davis. The team then switched its sights on the draft where they would be especially busy. In the first round, the team selected high school point guard Sebastian Telfair, a pick that will have a lot of “risk/reward” attached to it. In the second round, the team managed to draft two of the top Russian players in Sergei Monia and Viktor Khryapa. The team will need to come together and play well but there is certainly enough talent here to make a serious run in the playoffs.

The Trail Blazers will be one of the team most highly affected by the new realignment of the NBA’s divisions. The Blazers will move from the Pacific Division to the new Northwest division along with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Seattle Supersonics, the Utah Jazz, and the Denver Nuggets. The Timberwolves are arguably the best team in the entire league, the Jazz and Nuggets each upgraded significantly in the off-season and the Supersonics will be a team loaded with youth and talent, so the move to the new Northwest division might mean a bit of trouble for the Blazers. They’ll have plenty of guns in their lineup to take on all comers this season with Damon Stoudamire leading the way from his point guard position. Derek Anderson is finally back to 100% and will be a wild card type of player at shooting guard. Shareef Abdur-Rahim will start the season at small forward but the rumors are rampant that he’ll be dealt at some point during the season, possibly opening up a starting spot for Darius Miles or Ruben Patterson. Zach Randolph has become the leader of the team and will start at power forward while Theo Ratliff will lock teams down defensively at center. This Blazers team will have more depth than most teams, a factor that could come into play later in the season when starters have a tendency to get fatigued and injured. The Blazers should contend for a playoff spot but if they can make it in as one of the eight postseason clubs, they could be dangerous.

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