The latest game against the Utah Jazz, I believe, is a microcosm of the problems our team has had with being consistent, learning how to maintain a lead, and having the killer instinct needed to put teams away.  We had a chance to put Utah away when we went up by 11 points...but the Blazers bumbled and fumbled around, and let a team that had lost all momentum get right back in the game.  The Blazers never recovered after that, and it has made me consider a few things I'll share in a moment. 

For three quarters against the Jazz, the Blazers played a very acceptable and reasonable game considering the talent we have...it wasn't perfect but they outplayed the Jazz and played the way we know they are capable of playing (and have come to expect from them by this point in their progression)
Then they reverted to 2005 in the fourth quarter. I think most Blazer fans can relate to my frustration in this. 

Kevin Pritchard has done a fantastic job so far, and I simply want to say that I hope he is not done.  As frustrated as I can get at Nate for what I think are questionable lineups, a lack of flow in his offensive schemes, and some of his in-game decisions, he is not to blame for every little thing that goes wrong.  The thing I think is holding our team back from the success we hope to see, (and the point I want to make here), is that many of the players on our roster are really just one dimensional talents. Some would try to argue with me that they are "role players," but please hear me out.  We lack players with multi-dimensional talent and skill on this team, and it will continute to be our achillies heel. It will really continue to hurt us, as long as these one dimensional players continue to get big minutes. That is why we are sloppy on offense, and are allowing 50% shooting on defense.

We only have two players on this roster, in my opinion,  that are well-rounded and polished.  They are Brandon Roy  and Rudy Fernandez.  Roy can penetrate, create his own shot, take care of the ball, and play good defense.  Rudy can do all of that as well as shoot lights out from 3-pt range.  His D is weak, but he'll get you a steal or two a game.  Beyond that, we simply don't have multi-dimensional talent.

Oden, LMA, Webster, and Bayless,  have potential to be well rounded, but they definitely are far from polished right now.  Oden is raw offensively. LMA has lacked an interior presence on both sides of the ball, Webster is becoming more of an all around player, but needs to stay healthy and finally live up to the "potential," and Bayless is kind of like Travis Outlaw in a guard's body...that isn't meant to be a knock on him, but he needs to learn how to be a PG in the NBA, and his one year in college was more of a combo guard type of role. 

1) Steve Blake- sufficient shooter who can run an offense.  Can't drive past opposing guards, and often time is blown past by opposing guards.  He would be one of the best back up PG's in the league.

2) Joel Przybilla-Good defender...and that's about it. He would be one of the best backup centers in the league.

3) Sergio Rodriguez- Great court-vision for passing...and that's about it.

4) Travis Outlaw- Valuable when his jumper is falling...poor defender who also takes the offense out of its flow way too much.

5) Channing Frye-see Travis Outlaw minus the offensive flow part.

6) Ike Diogu-reputation for his low post game, but his athletic ability seems lower than Zach Randolph's

7) Nicholas Batum- Mostly defense, though he has potential to be multi-dimensional.

8)Shavlik Randolph- Who cares

9) RLEC- Only has cap relief value, or so I've been told.

So let's be honest.  Six of the 9 or 10 guys who are seeing major minutes on our team are very one dimensional talents who bring significant liabilities to our team. So it should be no big shock that the best we can do is just sort of hang with teams, rather than whoop up on them.  Having Martell Webster and Greg Oden back will be tremendous for this team. I think Martell has grown up and he's a big part of our team's future.   

I think Channing Frye, Ike Diogu, Sergio Rodriguez, and RLEC should be gone by this time next year at the latest.  You could even throw Outlaw into that group too, although I'd like to keep him as our backup 4.  I don't know how we are going to do it, but we need an upgrade at point guard.  We need to be able to put pressure on opposing defenses by driving to the hoop, and we need to take pressure off of our own defense by slowing opposing point guards down.

Our lineup should be

Starters                                   2nd Unit

Webster-SF                            Batum

Aldridge-PF                            Outlaw

Oden-C                                   Przybilla

Roy-SG                                   Fernandez

???-PG                                   Blake

Eventually Bayless will overtake Blake, and then maybe even the starting job at some point down the line. I wouldn't mind Kirk Heinrich, but it would be nice to have a point guard that can get to the hoop, draw fouls, and finish (What we all hope Bayless can be). I'm not sure if Kirk can do all of that.

What are your thoughts?