Goal:  Championship

What is the goal of the Portland Trailblazers?

Wining the NBA championship.

How do the trailblazers win the NBA championship?

With intelligence.

Ah, wait, you say.  We need players, we need hall of fame caliber players.  This may be true.  It certainly makes it easier from a skills standpoint.

But in reality, championships are won and lost with what’s between the ears.

Conventional wisdom said the Sixers should have beaten the Blazers in 76-77.  The same wisdom said Seattle should have beaten Denver in the 90’s, last year Cleveland was supposed to dominate.  It was the ability to adapt, to make the right decision and not the wrong decision that makes a champion, skill only gets you to the dance.

The trailblazers this season are showing some growing pains.  They want more than a good record, a playoff qualifying record.  The blazers want to vie for a championship and this is going to take an investment.  An investment in failure.  To fail is to see where one needs to improve, change or redirect.  This is never easy.  It’s counter intuitive.  Success is supposed to be the result of incrementally successful steps.

But the best improvement comes with failure, because failure will teach you to be flexible, adaptable and cooperative.  Without failure you can’t see your faults and either eliminate them or accommodate them.

That’s why I think this season we may not see an “improvement” but rather a mental gut check that will show the players that attitude as well as skill is important in the pursuit of success.