Trail Post - A Portland Trail Blazers Blog

With the season ending, it’s time for some introspection. This season was one of the best in the history of the franchise and the best performance by a young team in the history of the NBA. Top to bottom, many of these players could find a home in a playing rotation on any other team in the NBA. It’s scary. However, there is something that’s up for grabs: the team MVP race. Okay, I phrased that badly. The not Roy race is incredibly tight.

On to the team!

The Riding The Pine Division

15. Raef LaFrentz - He had a shot to be one of the most valuable players of the season, but instead his contract was pocketed by the Portland front office. The strangest mix of off-court value and on-court value in the league’s history. Still, it’s confounding that someone paid a soft three-point shooting center 14 million dollars for a season.

14. The Stud Ruffin/Ike Diogu - The DNP Coach’s Decision division. Both players have worked hard all season and received no minutes, not even in the epic blowouts throughout the season. The vocal minority who call themselves the Ruffin Wranglers will not let Nate hear the end of this.

13. Martell Webster - The DNP Injury division. The only reason he ranks this high is because he actually helped a woman out of the snow while wearing a boot. He’s been injured all season, and he hasn’t deserved it. The worst story to come out of this is the suspicion that the Blazers’ training facility is some kind of butchers’ shop that turns two week injuries into career-enders.

12. Shavlik Randolph - The Steven Hill memorial twelfth man award. Yes, he beat out the mountain man, but he’s done a great job ingratiating himself to this fan base. What other player in the league hops on Blazers Edge and takes questions from fans while getting that he’s in on the joke?

The “We Love You and Hope You Live Here For the Rest of Your Life But Get Off of This Team” Division

11. Channing Frye - Poor Channing has represented everything that’s great about the city’s culture on the Blazers. However, it’s telling that his most valuable contribution during any game is the commercial where he tells us not to run water while brushing our teeth and to carpool with a buddy while holding his fat bulldog. His brand of outside shooting and lack of rebounds have been killer to the team when Oden and Przybilla are out of the game.

The Incredible Potential Tweener Division

10. Jerryd Bayless - He wowed us during the summer and made us want the regular season to start as soon as possible when he won the MVP. During the regular season, he’s been largely nonexistent. He had his big moment against the Pistons as he keyed the comeback and the big game at New Jersey where he took over. Still, the question remains: Is he our point guard of the future?

The Playoff Bench Rotation Division

9. Sergio Rodriguez - It’s incredible what kind of leap Sergio has taken this season. Last year, he, along with Jarrett Jack, was the goat of the team. Everything that went wrong was firmly put on his back. However, he worked hard over the offseason, and came back with an improved shot. He’s had to fight for his position in the rotation over the course of the year and he’s earned it. Even his defense isn’t disgustingly bad anymore. He gutted it out and earned his position.

8. Nicolas Batum - His surprising improvement over the course of the season just gives him the award due to relativity. He was the worst project on the team during the summer league. Guys like Steven Hill and Petteri Koponen looked much better than him. He missed open jumpers and looked lost around the three point line. Then Martell went down and Nicolas stole the starting SF spot from Travis and never let it go. He went from a surprising starter to a no-brainer. He’s drawn the hardest matchups and done an admirable job in all of them. Then there’s the decision to make Pau Gasol his personal bitch. You can’t help but love this guy.

7. Greg Oden - This will be the lowest he’ll be on a list like this in his career. However, the missed games and the missed opportunities this season drag him down. When he has been in the game, he’s been incredible, doing damage on the boards and to the rim with furious dunks and soft hands. He has had a couple of great breakout games this season and he did an admirable job fronting Yao during the playoffs. It’s hard to underestimate his contribution to keeping Joel Przybilla healthy over the entire season, also.

The Heavy Minutes Division

6. Travis Outlaw - I never thought I would put Travis this high on the list. Just earlier in the season this blog was railing against Travis calling him the League’s Friendliest Cancer, and eagerly counting down the games until he was traded away for Richard Jefferson, Vince Carter, or Gerald Wallace. Well, something strange has happened since the trade deadline; Travis earned his minutes. He stopped taking as many crazy shots and even played decent defense. However, that changed once the second season rolled around. Much has been made of Travis’ failure in the playoffs, so no need to reiterate it here.

5. Rudy Fernandez - Rudy had the expectations of becoming the Spanish Michael Jordan when coming over. He didn’t quite hit that level, but he had an incredibly memorable season. The five points in two seconds, the dunk contest, The Foul, the countless lockers in Portland area high schools with his picture in them. He set the city’s heart aflutter. He became one of the most fun players in the league to watch and defined the soul of the Blazers as the league’s lovable underdogs.

The We Have No One Else To Turn To Division

4. Steve Blake - It seems like every single fan has a pet point guard that they want to trade for in order to unseat Blake. It’s kind of hard to argue with them. Blake isn’t particularly athletic, he isn’t a great scorer, and he plays pretty bad defense. However, in this system, he’s a complete fit. All Nate requires is that the PG not turn the ball over much, hit open threes, and play defense well. Blake, for the regular season, did the first two things well, occasionally adding the third part, too. Our team was lost when he was out due to injury during the middle of the season, which really defines the value he had. Still, he was bad in the playoffs. The two games where he showed up were the ones we won, also showing how much this team relies on him.

The Portland’s Favorite Republican Division

3. Joel Przybilla - Joel’s performance this season propelled the Blazers to well over 50 wins. When Greg went down with an injury, he was there, shooting that ungodly 80% from the field. He cleaned up the rebounds, and taught the younger players about the NBA’s 401(k) system. He was the team’s elder statesman and enforcer, and relished both of those duties. Even more important, he played through plenty of pain and injuries this season to appear every time the Blazers took the floor. He was the first free agent to see something this team, and he’s ridden it into the playoffs. Hopefully our ending will be better next time.

The Borderline All-Star Division

2. LaMarcus Aldridge - If we did this list at the All-Star break, Joel Przybilla would have a firm grasp on this position. However, LaMarcus evolved after the break, into some sort of gangly gazelle that dunks a ton. He added something new to his repertoire - effortlessness. It no longer looked like he was trying to be better than everyone - he was just that way. He’s got someone on his back in the post? Spin and jumper, all net. No big deal. Gliding down the sideline to go up for an alley-oop? Yawn. He wasn’t just doing these things - he was meant to do these things. During the playoffs, he was the only player to show up besides Roy. And let’s dispel one more thing. Scola only outplayed LaMarcus twice during the series. Aldridge won the other four games.

The Duh Division
1. Brandon Roy - You’re stupid if you think anyone but Brandon should be in this position. He’s one of the best offensive players in the NBA, and still improving on defense. Some nights, Brandon Roy is the best shooting guard on the planet. I think that’s the easiest way to describe his greatness. Sure, Kobe and Wade take the title a little more often, but Roy’s now in the conversation for the best 2 in the league. And he’s only getting better.

What We Know Now

This season was better than any of us could have hoped, and it’s stupid to complain about how it’s ended. The only complaint we can possibly have is that it will be another six months until we see a Blazers basketball game that matters.

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