Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 at 4:48 pm  |  41 responses

You Can Learn A Lot From History

‘OKC, take heed to what’s happened to Portland…’

by Eddie Maisonet, III

Lets take a step back in time (Hot Tub Time Machine style) to just a couple of years ago.

The Portland Trail Blazers were the “it” team in the NBA, loaded with a crop of young stars and were the envy of the Association. With a triumvirate of players consisting of the do-everything swingman Brandon Roy from UDubb, the versatile big in LaMarcus Aldridge from Texas, and the ever loquacious big man Gregory Oden from Ohio State, they seemed primed and ready to take assault in the Western Conference.

They were going to be the next “Big 3” so to speak, and with a very deep supporting cast that included the likes of Steve Blake, Nicholas Batum, Joel Pryzbilla, Martell Webster, Rudy Fernandez, Travis Outlaw, and Sergio Rodriguez, they were setting the example of how you revamp a franchise with young talent and bring a team back to prominence (everyone pour out a little for the Jail Blazers). Plus, the Blazers were being led by a player’s coach in Nate McMillan, as he was chosen to lead a team that had been riddled with cap problems, as well as off-the-court drama. His ability to calm the waters in The Rose City has been huge for the turnaround. All hail Blazers’ GM Kevin Pritchard as well, as he was savvy enough to make the draft picks, trades, and financial resources available to assemble this team. He is theKevin Durant & Jeff Geen man who made it happen.

Now, let’s fast-forward to present day.

Look at the Blazers now; notwithstanding their struggles to deal with injuries, do we look at Portland as a team that is elite? Outside of Brandon Roy, are any of the players on this roster capable of even being an All-Star? Once you get past the top two players (Roy and Aldridge), none of the other players on this team stand out as being clearly better than the other guys at their positions. Even when Joel Pryzbilla and Greg Oden come back from injuries, even if they decide to keep Marcus Camby, are they going to be any better than a top-three team in the West? The answer to that is…of course not.

The Blazers had opportunities in free agency and with potential trades to bring an elite player to help Brandon Roy lead this team, yet they decided to continue to let their young talent develop. Going into 2010, in the wake of the greatest free agent class maybe of all-time, they can’t do anything of significance in signing anyone, outside of attempting to resign Roy (which him resigning is not a guarantee). BRoy goes night-in and night-out and puts it all on the line, while having the equivalent of Cray paper, pixie sticks, balsam wood, hot Velveeta, and a fairy’s wishes holding his knees together. He works extremely hard to put up points for an offense that, at times, struggles to get quality scores. Simply put, I’m not sure you can win a title with Brandon Roy being the best player on your team.

So what’s the true outlook of Portland now? They’re fighting for the No. 8 seed in the West. In short, the Blazers might have already peaked and it’s possibly time to go to Plan B.

Hello? Sam Presti…Oklahoma City Thunder staff…are you paying attention?

You see, the Thunder are in a similar, if not even better, position than the Blazers were in previously. They have clearly emerged with a “Big 3” and have a plethora of young talent as a supporting cast to really help this team get to the next level. The concern I have is this: Do you wait to see what this team will look like in 2-3 years, all while having to re-up all three players’ contracts and hoping to keep the team relatively intact?

Therein lies the problem, we’ve all seen how a team’s window of opportunity can suddenly slam shut. Now, I’m not saying the Thunder’s window is going to shut soon, but there’s no sense in waiting 4-5 years to see if this team can make a run at a title. Portland saRussell Westbrookt back and they got bit, and because of it they are another major piece away from being elite. OKC needs players to fit a role, and they need veteran leadership. Kevin Durant has a chance to be the greatest player of the 2010’s, Russell Westbrook has officially put his name in the hat for the throne of this decade’s best point guard, and Jeff Green leads the role players on a mission to not let KD down.

Look at the standings…Oklahoma City is fighting for home court in the first round of the playoffs. Who knows, this team could be ready to be title-bound in the next year or two; they’re that good. Sam Presti’s hard work is just getting started, with him realizing that half the battle is going from bad to good. How will Presti and Co. take the Thunder from being good to great? (Jim Collins reference, go read the book sometime).

What do you all think? Is it a quality big man? What about a veteran swingman? What would it take to turn the Thunder into a dynasty? Let us know your thoughts.

(Oh yeah, we won’t even mention the fact that the Blazers could look much different if they would’ve picked Durant at No. 1 instead of Oden. That wouldn’t be fair).

Eddie Maisonet is a freelance sports writer, blogger and big time hoops fan from Oklahoma who currently resides in Cincinnati. Keep up with Eddie at SLAMonline as well as his award-winning blog Ed The Sports Fan and on Twitter.

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  • ab_40

    I’d take a 100% healthy portland over a 100% healthy OKC in a 7 game series.

  • http://www.prosportsdaily.com/forums/blog.php?u=3908 denbutsu

    “Already peaked”?!?

    Wow…

    I’m a Nuggets fan, so I’m not looking forward to this happening, but the Blazers will be proving you wrong in a fairly dramatic fashion over the next couple of seasons.

  • B

    Roy hasn’t had a single knee problem this season, nor last that led to missing any game time (he had debris removed one summer to clear up discomfort, but it resulted in no downtime). I’d also like to see OKC in the same position considering injuries. As of a few weeks ago, Portland’s top 6 players had missed 162 games this season. At the same point in time, the Thunder’s top 6 had missed… wait for it… 2 games. The comparison is faulty in that respect. The complimentary pieces on the team have been quite excellent when able to play (such as Batum).

    Also, I don’t know what free agent and trade scenarios you were looking at the past couple seasons but they were some of the weakest of the decade. I’d like to hear a single star player that was available for signing or trade that wouldn’t have required giving up Roy/Aldridge or luxury tax. With the necessary Roy and Aldridge extensions and the existing looming salary cap, there wouldn’t be any money for 2010 no matter what happened. It was a use it or lose it situation. Some misguided opinions going on here.

  • chris

    “already peaked”

    LMAO. Almost every single important player on the Blazer’s roster is under 25. The reason they’re even in the 8th spot is because of an avalanche of injuries that is practically unheard of.

  • David

    Unfortunately, I don’t think Green will be in the Thunder’s long-term plans. I don’t think it would be hard to imagine eventually trading a bunch of the role players for more picks or better vets. Lots of good pieces but the team has to upgrade in a few of those positions. I know Presti’s come from the Spurs, but Durant is not the same as Duncan.

  • Twinparadox

    They definitely need a quality big body down low (thank god Tyson Chandler didn’t pass the physical earlier in the season). Maybe they should’ve drafted that Oden kid LOL.
    Seriously though, Portland isn’t as bad as you depict them too. All Portland has peaked is Greg’s aging face. I think they are just going through a string of bad luck and bad injuries. These are two young squads that have a bright future ahead of them.

  • roybot

    man, just when slam showed some love for the blazers another article comes up and brings them down again. Blazers are still one of the youngest teams in the NBA. Greg Ode will come back strong and prove all the doubters wrong, just check out his stat lines the last few games before he went down.

  • Scott

    While my urgent, impatient side agrees with you, I actually am starting to believe that Presti and Co’s slow and steady approach might be exactly what the Thunder need. We’ve seen teams year in and year out attempt to cast all their chips in and go for broke in the pursuit of a banner. But, it historically hasn’t been all that effective, especially in attempting to build a Dynasty. Sustainability is the mantra of the Thunder brass and coming from the Spurs management, Presti understands all too well the patience that it takes to build a Dynasty. I think the Thunder won’t make a huge splash in Free Agency this summer and will simply look for a team in a bind and make a well planned, high-reward, low-risk, move because of their favorable cap space.

    Also, remember that James Harden, Eric Maynor, and Serge Ibaka are rookies. All look to be rock solid bench players if not starters moving forward.

    I really do want to agree with you because it is more fun and I want gratification now, but I constantly have to remind myself that these guys are 23 and younger! It’s unreal. Their best days (barring injury) are ahead of them and with some key role players, I think they’re much closer than all of us realize.

  • Young C

    I have to disagree with almost everything you have said in this post. Beside the fact that you ignored the fact that their roster has missed a huge amount of time due to injuries this year yet they still are in the playoffs in the tough western conference, you also seem to imply that being a top 3 team in the west if healthy is something to scoff at. The only ways that you could argue the Blazers blew it was picking Oden over Durant and maybe using their cap space on someone better than Turkoglu or Andre Miller, but thats not completely in their control. They did try to get Milsap, which would have helped them with all their injuries, but Utah matched. Who else should they have spent money on? The Blazers still have depth when healthy and they still have a couple of years before they reach their peak and need to add a bigger star than Roy.

  • Scott

    @David
    You’re right Durant is not Duncan. Durant’s a younger better version respective to their positions.

  • jeff

    not sure what you mean by maybe resigning roy, he signed a max deal over the summer that kicks in next fall, and lma signed a contract that kicks in next fall too.

  • Rasteve

    “Going into 2010, in the wake of the greatest free agent class maybe of all-time, they can’t do anything of significance in signing anyone, outside of attempting to resign Roy (which him resigning is not a guarantee).”

    I’m pretty sure Roy signed a 5 year 82 mil deal. Is there someting I’m missing?

    I’ll still take Portland’s chances over 90 percent of the teams in the league.

    With a healthy Oden I think you have to put them in the top 3 in the west. I would also take them in a series over the Thunder.

  • Michael Scorn

    “Past” History? As opposed to the other kind of history? Wow.

  • The D Train

    Hello? Sam Presti…Oklahoma City Thunder staff…please make sure to not anger the basketball gods by stomping on an entire fan bases’ heart and leaving behind a city that loved its local team. Cuz if you do, you might find yourself overcome by a catastrophic amount of player injuries, not to mention having your overall franchise plan and performance called into question because of said injuries. We’re still paying for employing The Nanny Stopper, so who knows what the bball gods would do if you were a team that committed the atrocities I listed above.

  • http://www.yougotdunkedon.com LilKDub503

    Haha, funny. I’m from Portland but not a Blazers fan, but my point is that this article seems to contradict every SINGLE statement made in another article about the Blazers. Love it, because I know all the sides.

  • http://www.edthesportsfan.com Ed The Sports Fan

    Haha…glad you all enjoyed the post. The article’s main focus is a call to action for the Thunder, and not necessarily attacking the Blazers. Do I think the Blazers will be much better if fully healthy? Yes. Do I think they’d be an elite team in the West if healthy? No. I could be wrong though. However, OKC has an opportunity of a lifetime, those opportunities to go for it all don’t come around often. Thus…the Hello, Sam Presti.

  • don

    author forgets that a rash of injuries (specially to the core players) can derail any team’s chances of winning.

  • vanillagorrila

    Saying that durant is better player in his position than duncan is a travesty. Durant may bring around the rest of his game and develop into a better player than timmy was but he certainly is not that player right now.

  • Sporting-Lisbon-Blazers

    the guy who wrote this piece should be fishing for a living…dude, oure sayin the window closed for a team as young as Portland?! are you insane?! MOST OF THE SEASON WAS WITHOUT Oden, Pryz, Outlaw, Rudy, Batum, and A MOUNTH WITHOUT BRANDON…even Aldridge missed some games! Eddie, how bout you trying to figure out some other sport to write about, curling prolly has your face in it!! lol, a young, COMPLETELY DERAILED BY INJURIES, TEAM should be given AT LEAST 2/3 seasons to see what they can do after they overachieved last year…YOURE A JOKE EDDIEBOY, oh and youre sister and wife are saying hello down here from my crotch!!

  • Sporting-Lisbon-Blazers

    oh and co-sigh ab_40!

  • Float_world

    Cmon SLAM, u gotta know Roy already re-upped on his deal.

  • Jon

    bayless roy durant alridge (insert big man). wow.

  • David

    @Scott – but Duncan was really really good in his first few years, too, and you knew he was going to be a franchise-type of low-post player around which to build.

    There aren’t as many championship squads from the past built around lanky, score-from-anywhere forwards. I’m not saying that it can’t or won’t be done. Just that there’s not as many successful examples.

  • THree

    Are you saying that Durant, Westbrook and Green are superior to Roy, Aldridge and Oden. I don’t think that you can claim that OKC has the better BIG 3, Portland hasn’t even shown their hand yet and we have seen what OKC can do. OKC role players? Harden, Maynor and Ibaka? Portlands role players Rudy, Batum, Miller, Cunningham, Webster and Bayless, not sure I undderstand how OKC has a better bench?

  • tom

    imo they need a “veteran” PF/C like stoudemire, big al, bosh or even boozer. if one of them is going to decide for okc instead of stayin where they are or playing with dwade or lbj is another question…

    I don´t think this article is attacking the blazers, it´s an interesting perspective.

  • http://www.inbox.lv smiles

    not a blazers fan, but this article is a pile of sh1t top to bottom to say the least.
    as refers to roy not being good enough to lead his team to ship, look back at the pistons of 04, and try not to forget the fact that they drafted darko the year before instead of melo,bosh,wade,kaman,dwest,jhoward. Having a top 3 player on your team shouldn’t hurt but to win a championship doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to have one.
    and the thunder surely are on the right track with know-how gm, a group of talented hard-workers with great chemistry and a well respected coach who preaches defense I mean what else is in the recipe for championships?!

  • http://www.slamonline.com/ niQ

    I’m not going to lie, a Roy and Durant duo could look extra nice right about now.

  • Pingback: Wednesday Bolts – 3.17.10 | Daily Thunder.com

  • The D Train

    All you wanted to write about was knocking the blazers down after reading the article RIGHT BEFORE THIS ONE.
    Go pound some sand.

  • Jon

    The Thunder need Bogut. He’s perfect. He has some experience, he’s tough, and most importantly he’s not too big a star (at least not yet) and he might fit in with their offense better than a Dwight Howard, Jermaine O’Neal, or Shaq might. Get Bogut outta Milwaukee! I hate the Bucks…………

  • http://okcthunderfans.com Jimmy E.

    How does the Thunder “go from good to great” in the next couple of years? That is indeed the question of the summer, since Sam Presti stood pat at the trade deadline. But IN PRESTI WE TRUST! OKC has a tremendous amount of assets to package to get the final piece of the puzzle – a rapidly developing post player in Serge Ibaka (looking more and more like a pre-baby-daddying Shawn Kemp every day), five draft picks in the next two years, a ton of expiring contracts and cap space (not just to sign “The Big Three”, but a fourth as well) and an ownership group whose pockets get deeper every time the price of natural gas rises.

    We’ll know by October whether the Thunder is another Portland (and that’s not a bad thing) or another San Antonio 1995-2005. I personally think it’ll either be a signing of Brendon Haywood, or packaging assets to move up to draft someone like Greg Monroe, but I will never again question Presti’s calls (like I did when he drafted Westbrook over Jerryd Bayless)!

  • The D Train

    hmmm…quote at 10:39 is not from this D Train…

  • LA Huey

    Mr. Maisonet, unless OKC chooses to kidnap/hire the training staff in Phoenix, there isn’t a damn thing the Thunder can do to avoid the Blazers’ fate this season.

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com BETCATS

    I dont agree with the synthesis of this aritcle at all. OKC and Portland are two completely different teams. Portland was set up as a “collection of talent”. Just a lot of really really good young players with injury prone veterans, with no real focus other than Brandon Roy. OKC was put together piece by piece through Presti’s good judgement. Presti is a far supperior GM compared to Prichard. Prichard just buys talent. Presiti evaluates it, then picks and chooses. The Thunder are 1 dominate defensive bigman away from being a top 3 team in the West. While the Blazers were at the same exact spot, they just chose whoever the ‘experts’ said was the best. This logic has landed them Oden, Tyrus Thomas/LaMarcus Aldrige, and now Marcus Camby. Presti actually is an expert, and will get someone who is better and who will fit.

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com BETCATS

    Just to show the differences between Presti and Prichard can be seen in their drafting styles. Prichard needs a big, he drafts Oden just because everyone says Oden is gonna be good. Turns out that further evaluation proves Oden is injury prone and fouls a lot. Presti needs a big, everyone says Thabeet is the perfect fit. Presti evaluates, sees all the flaws in Thabeet’s game and fills another need by drafting Harden, who most ‘experts’ didnt think would work. That is the difference to me; Prichard just takes, Presti actually thinks then takes.

  • http://www.inbox.lv smiles

    exactly, adding to the core of 6 young guns an athletic defensive big man named Hassan Whiteside would fitt the bill, Presti just needs to move up in the draft a bit and he’ll be erasin for OKC
    And I doubt Haywood is in thunder plans although he’s a serviceable big who had his best season so far this year – let’s not forget it’s his contract year and he’s 30 and a chance of a repeat season is slim – anyways naturally he’ll demand good money and somebody will give him more than presti will offer
    DeAndre Jordan actually is another guy who should be kept in mind cos next summer there should be less playing time…

  • http://okcthunderfans.com Jimmy E.

    Pretty good choices, there Smiles… I’ve been watching this Whiteside from Marshall shoot up the draft boards like Westbrook did… He seems like he may indeed be Presti’s type of guy.

  • Sporting-Lisbon-Blazers

    are you joking BetCats?! are you that blind?! ok, Oden over Durant was bad but 30 out of 30 GMs would have made that mistake…and youre saying Prithard doesnt evaluate talent?! getting Roy and ALdridge in the same draft? Batum from the Rockets and Rudy from Phoenix in the late first round?! JUST CAUSE YOUR TEAM DRAFTS ADAM MORRISSON Nº3 IN 2006 WHILE Pritchard GETS LAMARCUS AND ROY 2º AND 6º does not mean you have to be that bitter dude…

  • Sporting-Lisbon-Blazers

    are you joking BetCats?! are you that blind?! ok, Oden over Durant was bad but 30 out of 30 GMs would have made that mistake…and youre saying Prithard doesnt evaluate talent?! getting Roy and ALdridge in the same draft? Batum from the Rockets and Rudy from Phoenix in the late first round?! JUST CAUSE YOUR TEAM DRAFTS ADAM MORRISSON Nº3 IN 2006 WHILE Pritchard GETS LAMARCUS AND ROY 2º AND 6º does not mean you have to be that bitter dude…

  • http://www.hibachi20.blogspot.com BETCATS

    we are comparing the Thunder and the Blazers, not the Blazers and Bobcats. My point is, the Thunder make sure to see the player is a good fit and will produce, while the Blazers just take the best of the best. It works out good for both teams, but at the end of the day the Blazers are just a bunch of really good pieces around Brandon Roy while the Thunder are a unified team around Durant.

  • Sporting-Lisbon-Blazers

    ok, youre opinion and i wont contest but maybe your reacting on a injured derailed season for1team and an overachiving season for OKC, just like Portland had last year…IF THEY TOOK THE BEST OF THE BEST THEY WOULD TAKE DURANT OVER ODEN(witch obviously they shoud´ve done), but no, they thoughed a dominant defensive center was THE PRESSING NEED FOR THIS TEAM…obviously if he could stay on a bball court that might´ve worked!

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