Feb 19 2009
Missed Opportunities
We had it. Teams were begging the Blazers to take away their useful players in exchange for scraps like Travis Outlaw and Raef LaFrentz. But Pritchard had to keep on pushing for those damned draft picks. Because, you know, the #15 pick in two years is more important than obviously turning the team into a title contender. This is the best possible opportunity the Blazers have had for improvement, but instead they decided to stand pat.
We don’t want you or your time-traveling Escalade.
This reminds me a bit of the good-to-great Mariners teams from 1995 to 2002. They had a great farm system and developed some of the best players of the last 25 years. However, when they were stuck in a playoff race and needed just one more bat or one more arm, they’d just stand still. They wouldn’t take the chance to make the move that would put them over the top. Then, of course, they’d falter in September, usually due to the flaw that should have been addressed at the deadline.
We had our chance, and we know our flaw. This team will not make it out of the first round of the playoffs as long as Travis Outlaw is getting more than 20 minutes per game.
These hard economic times are ideal for a team like the Blazers and an owner like Paul Allen. We have the money and we have the assets. We had a chance at three different small forwards that would instantly thrust us to title contender status, and instead, we stick with Travis Goddamn Outlaw. I know it’s easy to rag on Travis…I couldn’t come up with a “but” to that clause, it’s easy to rag on him. He’ll cost the team wins for the rest of the season, but now the blame isn’t on him. It’s on Kevin Pritchard, and Kevin Pritchard alone.
The man is a genius on draft day, and has created all the good parts of the franchise as we know it, but he’s hopeless at the deadline, and he may have just killed the team’s best chance to get better for a long time. This is a goddamn joke.
Now when we see Travis shoot a jumper with a foot on the line, it’s on KP. When Travis sags off the other team’s best shooter and the dude hits a 3, it’s on KP. When Travis watches a rebound hit the floor, it’s on KP. We had a chance to get rid of the team’s worst player, and he didn’t take it. I feel like I’m in an abusive relationship.
