This is our team: What a difference 7 years can make

It's December 7, 2008. In December 2001, Sports Illustrated gave us this priceless article, among many great anecdotes chronicling a Blazers charity event that took place 7 years ago to the day:

On the morning of Dec. 7 the Portland Trail Blazers gathered outside their arena to serve breakfast and distribute Christmas trees to families in need. It was clear that Rasheed Wallace would rather have been anywhere else. The team’s best player and co-captain, Wallace spent most of the 90-minute session speaking on a cellular phone, the hands-free device dangling from his right ear, and, like most of his teammates, he checked his pager incessantly. When a Blazers employee suggested that Wallace wear a Santa Claus hat, he declined, saying cryptically, "I’m a supervisor." At one point a teenager beseeched the 6’11" Wallace for an autograph. "You ain’t got a Sharpie?" Wallace responded. As the kid retreated to find Wallace’s preferred writing implement, the player cursed at no one in particular and yawned uninhibitedly.

Among other timeless quotes like Whitsitt's "I wasn't a chemistry major", the same article contained this statement:

Fourth-year swingman Bonzi Wells is an emerging star, but he hasn’t captured the public’s imagination. Not that he minds. "We’re not really going to worry about what the hell [the fans] think about us," Wells says. "They really don’t matter to us. They can boo us every day, but they’re still going to ask for our autographs if they see us on the street. That’s why they’re fans and we’re NBA players."

And that's not even looking at any off-court legal incidents - and there were many over time. I give people the benefit of the doubt and believe in their ability to change and grow, so today they might have changed their ways and minds. But you see a pattern of statements and actions that made being a fan of this team highly unattractive in December 2001. And so a lot of people turned away.

The present. Let us compare that with today's Blazers and the best player setting the tone. Several fans already shared great stories this year on Blazers Edge about how awesome it was to meet the team after away games from Washington to Kansas City. How much time the players, coaches and others took for them. How fun the fan fest during the pre-season was. Ben shared this little story a while ago, and summarized it for the game preview of the Celtics game:

The best thing people might not know about Brandon is that he pays respect to his elders and takes seriously the idea that he's a role model for younger players.  A quick story: About 2 months ago, there was a small AAU event here in Portland that featured top high school players from Oregon and Washington.  It was held on a Saturday night.  Brandon had just played a preseason game on Friday night.  During halftime of the AAU exhibition -- keep in mind there are no more than maybe 1,500 people at this event -- Brandon Roy (All Star, millionaire, Prince of Portland) stops by to show love to the Washington AAU coaches (Brandon is from Seattle) and to exchange phone numbers with some of the Washington players (he texts some of the regularly).  The whole gym went nuts.  Cheerleaders were posing for pictures, Brandon was signing autographs, the whole nine yards.  Keep in mind this is a Saturday night and he just flew home from 2,500 miles away that morning.  He could have been anywhere.  But Brandon is the kind of person where that gym was the place he wanted to be more than anywhere else in the world (more than his couch, more than a club, etc.): to thank the coaches that helped turn him into a star and to help the younger guys realize their dreams. That's Brandon Roy.

You say pictures say more than a thousand words? How about these from a recent community event similar to the one described above in the SI article seven years ago (the annual harvest dinner in October). Players looking like they wanted to be anywhere else? No! We don't wear stupid hats, we are important? No! Talking to common people is beneath us? No! We are millionaires that have little time for young fans and prefer to be on the cell phone instead? No! (Well, millionaires yes.)

Apart from the current team (roster) probably being more talented and thus able to entertain more and win more in the future, I will be infinitely more happy about this group of people just for how they conduct themselves and appreciate the fans and community ("Make it Better"). Watching them grow and succeed over the next years will be a lot of joy.

Thanks to everyone in the Blazers organization from the top down and the bottom up for changing the culture of this great team so fundamentally. Thank you so very much. What a difference seven years can make.