May 21 2009
Positional Progress: Power Forward
This position, which was somewhat of a question mark before the season, turned into one of the Blazers’ greatest strengths as the season went on and LaMarcus flipped a switch from asleep to berzerker rage. It was a beautiful thing.
What We Have
A potential All Star
A beloved local hero that can’t shoot
A guy with a rad lizard collection
A dude that appeared in an Asher Roth music video
What We Don’t Have
Uh, not very much rebounding and defense
What We Need
A bruiser: a man who can play solid defense and pick up a few rebounds
We’ll begin this with the bench warmers. In the most lateral trade in NBA history, the Blazers got Michael Ruffin for Ike Diogu. Both played the same sort of game, and by that, I mean they didn’t play at all. The only remarkable thing about Ruffin was the story about his lizard collection. Shavlik Randolph did close to nothing this season, but he made friends online from appearing on Blazers Edge to take questions from fans. Not really a serious contribution, but worth mentioning. Either way, you should probably hold off on buying your Ruffin jerseys, because these guys probably won’t be back.
Next up is Channing Frye, the guy every Portlander wishes was better for his sake, and for our sake. He’s taken to the city perfectly and is a fixture at breweries in the area and at art galleries. Unfortunately he just can’t play. Maybe he needs serious minutes to produce. Maybe he’s lost it altogether. No matter what, he’s no longer a fit here. He needs to go, not only for the Blazers’ good, but for his own good. Hopefully he can get on with a team where he can pick up minutes and become a solid 13 and 8 guy.
Finally, there’s LaMarcus Aldridge. Through the first half of the season, it seemed like he dozed through games, listlessly taking token swipes at rebounds on the defensive end. After the All-Star break, things changed. LaMarcus owned both ends of the court and led many of the blowouts that ensued. His status changed from “untouchable due to potential” to just “untouchable.” With a bit more improvement from LaMarcus and the team, we could be seeing two Blazers on the Western Conference All Stars next season.
Going Forward:
We’re in a great position because it looks like we have the starting power forward we need. No matter what happens with the backups, we’ll be better at this position next year exclusively because of LaMarcus. Granted, there is room for improvement. With heavy rebound hustle guys like Brandon Bass and (gulp) The Birdman up in free agency, there is definitely some talent to be had. This is one of the little signings that could really go a long way. There will be less worry about foul trouble, LaMarcus could get more rest, and we would be that much more dangerous in the playoffs. Here’s hoping we make a signing during this long, long offseason.
