It was another tough season for us Trail Blazer fans. For the second season in a row, our up-and-coming squad has got out to a hot start only to fizzle later in the season, without making a deep playoff run. Of course there have been many hiccups along the way, namely bad luck with injuries. Oh dear…injuries. Portland’s injury woes stem all the way back to Sam Bowie (we picked him instead of Michael Jordan back in the day), and have only been further perpetuated by the devastating blows of losing Brandon Roy and Greg Oden.
For those of us who have been following Portland over the years, there have been flickers of pure brilliance in the play of our hometown boys. The 2006 NBA Draft was a huge turning point for Portland. Through some solid draft day magic, we were able to secure Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge in the same draft. Crazy right? This was the beginning of the core of players that were meant to be our future. Surely times have changed with many roster variations since then, but can we all just take a moment to think about the talent that has come through the rose city? Here is probably the potentially best starting 5 Portland could have cooked up:
PG: Damian Lillard, SG: Brandon Roy, SF:Nicolas Batum, PF:LaMarcus Aldridge, C: Greg Oden
Wow…that is a championship caliber squad in a perfect world. However, things go awry when you least expect it.
This brings me back to Wesley Matthews. Portland lost the heart and soul of their team only shortly before their first-round playoff matchup with the bruising Memphis Grizzlies. Not only was Wesley having a fantastic year (15.9 ppg, 2.3 apg, 3.7 rpg, 1.3 spg), but he was really solidifying into a scrappy defender and confident offensive threat. Unfortunately, we only had him for 60 games this season. Going into the first round, I was still confident that we would put up a good fight against Memphis. After acquiring Arron Afflalo, Portland was looking primed to have a shot at going deep in the playoffs. With Wesley suffering a season ending injury, Afflalo was thrust into a position he wasn’t planning for. He came into Portland with a sixth-man mentality, and that was shaken when Wes was taken out of commission.
Losing Wesley Matthews was like losing our fire. Wesley is the type of guy that you look over to at practice and just see covered in sweat, diving for loose balls, hitting back-breaking shots, and staying “in your shorts” on defense all day long. The type of guy who pesters you all game, knowing that you won’t be able to outwork him. He is gritty, determined, underrated, and under appreciated; but he loves it.
Portland was torched by Memphis perimeter players in the series, even though that is not a strong suit of their club. Memphis is an old-school back you down and hit you in the mouth kind of team. With Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol leading the front court, they were able to control the glass and win extra possessions. Even with Mike Conley going down with injury, Courtney Lee ran wild against Portland. Having Wesley there to guard him would have been very valuable. Aside from his defense and 3-point punch, the biggest thing they missed from Wesley was his leadership and determination. News articles and ESPN alerts keep popping up on my phone that have not been very encouraging for my home town team. With Nicolas Batum and LaMarcus Aldridge already potentially considering leaving Portland, Wes will have a big decision to make heading into free agency. Does he come back to Portland, the city where he hit his stride and became a relevant and legitimate 2-guard? Or does he leverage the increased popularity and respect to head somewhere he can win now?
This seems to be the plight of many rip-city stars. Making the decision between staying in Portland and trying to bring a championship back to this great city, or leveraging newfound success to land big money contracts with big money teams that are farther along in their development. As a Blazer fan, of course I am biased and want these guys to stick around. Portland needs the archer back next season. Big time. I am hoping the front office of Portland knows this as well.
Conor's Blog 