New Jersey is better off than Portland. Seriously.

  <!-- @page { margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } -""   "When you're young, your potential is infinite. You might do anything, really. You might be great. You might be Einstein. You might be Goethe. Then you get to an age where what you might be gives way to what you have been. You weren't Einstein. You weren't anything. That's a bad moment.” Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

The line from Confessions seems very appropriate for Portland's current situation, not only because the Blazers have officially moved from the land of the possible to the land of what is, but because if you're like me, you're as disheveled and freaked out right now as Sam Rockwell was at the beginning of the movie over recent developments in Blazerland.

I came to a very disturbing realization last night when the Blazers blew another winnable game: New Jersey, who's about to tie the record for the worst start in NBA history, is in a better position than Portland. Consider this:

--New Jersey has a hell of a lot more cap space that Portland, meaning that they can make a serious run at Lebron, and when that doesn't work, they can go after Wade or Joe Johnson, and add another franchise guy. Portland, meanwhile, spent its money on a guy who didn't play in the 2nd half last night, and two other guys who's heart was openly questioned by their coach in a blowout loss to the Grizzlies at home two days ago.

--Forgive me for speaking so bluntly, but the Nets' owner doesn't have serious health problems. For a long time, the logic was that if Portland got into trouble, Paul Allen would just spend us out of it...but if he's not running the team anymore, and the people taking over view an NBA basketball team as just another money-wasting venture (which will probably be the case), then we're cut off. Let's ask Suns fans how Robert Sarver's working out for them.

--Since the Nyets are owned by a rich Russian dude who doesn't care about spending money, he will go the extra mile to re-make the franchise into something great in Brooklyn. Those Mark Cuban comparisons aren't far off, and this will make New Jersey/Brooklyn a free agent magnet akin to L.A., Chicago or New York, meaning guys will be willing to make less money to play there. Portland couldn't even sign an over-30 Turkish guy with a neck beard when we offered him the key to the city last Summer.

--Because of their (historically) terrible record, the Nets will probably get a top-3 pick in the 2010 draft. That means they can land Evan Turner, Derrick Favors, or even (GASP) John Wall. Since they already have an all-star caliber guard (Harris) and center (Lopez), the possibility that they would add John Wall (who's being compared by everybody to Derrick Rose in Brandon Roy's body), PLUS another franchise free-agent, is just terrifying, especially considering that they'll get a flood of veteran buyout guys who want to play in Brooklyn. Remember when the Spurs got Tim Duncan because the year before he left college their record was terrible, but it wasn't an accurate reflection on how good they were because their best guys (Robinson and Elliot) were hurt most of the year? Yea, this could be a worse version of that.

--New Jersey has zero expectations this year. None. The bar is so low for them right now that anything they get out of this season is a bonus. It's a great time to be a Nets fan in New Jersey (even though the team is moving), because you get to cheer for a a loveable underdog every night, in highly-discounted seats (while I was typing that, Portland probably raised their ticket prices again). Remember when the Blazers were this bad but they were a bunch of jerks so it wasn't fun to cheer for them? This is the opposite. The Nets are bad, but likeable since, you know, Zach Randolph isn't on their team. Portland, meanwhile, has been tapped by everyone to challenge the Lakers for Western dominance this season, so when we're behind by 30 at home to Memphis, it's beyond bad, it's embarrassing.

--The Nets know why they're losing but the Blazers have no idea. For New Jersey, it's obvious—no three point shooters, no real depth, and only two legit NBA players. Portland, meanwhile, can't really figure out what to fix. Oh, there are plenty of theories about what's wrong. Nate can't coach, Roy lost too much weight last Summer and now he can't finish at the rim, Andre Miller screwed up our chemistry, we miss Batum and Travis more than we thought, Oden's not developing fast enough, the team has no heart, blah blah blah. Ultimately, though—no one has any idea what exactly is wrong or how to fix it, and if it's a personnel issue, Portland doesn't have the money or cap space to make a substantial effort to solve it any time soon--like it or not, the team we have now is what we're stuck with for a while. We're just guessing at this point, which is scary. The Blazers could very easily be settling in to the middle of the pack in the Western Conference, losing in the first round every year for the next five years.

At some point, we have to realize that the team as it is currently assembled won't win a title, and as the Confessions quotation above puts it, that's a bad moment.