FanPost

Seven Truths About Where the Blazers are Right Now

As stressful as it's been, I'm loving following all the twists and turns of the past couple of months and reading all of the great debate lately about the team's progress during this period (especially upper left corner's "Discussing Failure"). Apologies if this should just be a comment in that post, but it seemed to touch on too many others to put in the comments of one. If that doesn't cut it, hopefully the fact that this is my first post will get me a little slack . . .

What I have appreciated most in BE in the last few days has been the push to reject the worst-case-scenario hyperventilating about every minor daily shred of information. This scrutiny seems reasonable for the big picture, but not for every single brushstroke as it's being made. It's like standing over Picasso's shoulder telling him he's painting the nose on the wrong side of the face, rather than waiting to consider the finished product. I'm not saying "Pritchard's a genius who should never be questioned", just that I think we all benefit from keeping a little patience and perspective about where this is going to end up. Especially when the information that we (fans and media alike) are operating with is almost always cloudy, incomplete, and sometimes flat-out misleading or manipulative.

Regardless of your opinion on the success of each of this summer's brushstrokes so far, I think there are some things about that big picture that nearly all of us would agree on:

  1. Given our position, we came away with a nice, restrained (if unspectacular) haul of players in the draft that demonstrates a both a clear long-term strategy and the team's graduation from the rebuilding ranks.
  2. There remains a 100% chance we re-sign Roy, regardless of how the first days of a long-term process have gone. As Dave pointed out yesterday, the tougher approach the team has taken with Roy actually increases the odds of the team being able to also retain our other core players as the parade of contract extensions keep on coming the next couple of years. On this issue, the phrase "it's business" is quite literally true. The guys the team want to be here long-term and that want to be here themselves will be, regardless of the jockeying involved in the business negotiations it takes to make it happen.
  3. There has not been a single big-picture misfire yet (bad FA signing, bad trade, etc.) thanks, IMO, to Hedo bailing us out with his change of heart. The mark of good management is to adapt as the landscape evolves around you and keep moving forward without panicking, and this group appears to be doing that quite well.
  4. We can debate whether it was earned, but I think we'd all agree that the expectation we've gotten comfortable with for Pritchard have gotten a bit out of control. We simply were never going to turn Sergio into Steve Nash, get David Lee to be our 3rd string PF, etc. The days of catching other teams by surprise both on the court and in trade negotiations are behind us.
  5. After all that, the team has still shrewdly positioned itself very well to add a significant piece this week (Millsap or Hinrich).
  6. While it kills me to wait for it, if nothing does comes together this summer this team has put itself in EXCELLENT position with it's moves so far (Claver, Sergio, no FA signings) and the league economic outlook to steal a player at the deadline. As painful as it is to wait until then, the best opportunity we have to make the greatest improvement for the lowest cost is still to just continue to wait for that killer trade, and we're more set up for than ever.
  7. And finally, the character and trajectory of this team have been remarkably, almost comically altered in just a few short years. We are all extremely blessed that issues like "lottery" and "JailBlazers" have faded in the rearview mirror to the degree that we have the luxury of debating what LaMarcus had for breakfast. Should the team do nothing at all, this still remains the most promising, enjoyable, and respectable young squad in the league. Reasonable expectations going forward with exactly the team we have now are for us being 1-2 years a way from having a perennial 60-win team and title contender. I wouldn't have believed it a couple of years ago. And now? If the result of our "disappointing" offseason is that I get to have these 10 gentlemen represent my City and leave it all on the floor for the next several years and see where it gets us, I expect I'll be one happy Blazer fan.