Don't Panic!

Look at misfortune the same way you look at success - Don't Panic! Do your best and forget the consequences.

Better advice cannot be given to Blazer fans this summer. There is no reason to Panic. The Blazer’s front office haven’t made many friends, the past few seasons. Every NBA executive had to be jealous of the way Kevin Pritchard, his staff and Nate McMillan revived the franchise from its own destruction.

Perhaps the fact that KP has been unable to make any significant trades has something to do with how he managed the Darius Miles situation. You know, how the, "Blazers threatened to sue any of the other 29 NBA teams that picked up Miles and played him specifically to adversely impact their salary cap and tax positions". It was in my opinion, it was Pritchard’s first and only notable mistake thus far in his tenure. It is clear that teams will no longer allow themselves to get manhandled by Blazer Executives. However, the longer other teams play hard to get, the more they will end up losing in the end. Patience is key, especially since we aren’t banking everything on next year like the Cavs.

The Jail Blazers made me panic. The contracts given to Zach Randolph and Darius Miles made me panic. Heck, Shawn Kemp’s drug abuse made me panic… But if we stop for a second, we will realize, that there is no need to panic as long as the team is led by Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge. It is most likely that extensions for both young stars will be announced as soon as the Blazers do something with the cap room they have for next season.

It would be useless not to make use of whatever room is left under the cap, prior to the series of extensions that will start this off-season. Even if it means overpaying for Millsap or another role player. The Blazers want the best. We can always trade the player and his cap hit for an equivalent position player of need in the future. Millsap will most likely be a Jazz next season, lets just hope Boozer leaves the conference.

I wouldn’t mind the Blazers going after Lamar Odom next. The Lakers truly undervalued Ariza, and Odom. They both basically made the most critical plays against the Rockets and Nuggets on both ends. Artest will allow Kobe to stay fresher, but if a team can steal Odom away it will greatly handicap their depth.

We wasted too much time going after Hedo and by the time we picked up the pieces of our broken heart, all the worthy free agents were already gone. To be honest, I never truly understood why we needed Turkoglu. We basically have a younger, and more athletic version of him in Rudy Fernandez. All the best to him and the Raptors, where he truly is a better fit. I guess all that talk in Toronto about getting tougher, means more Europeans. Yes, Jose, Andrea and Hidayet, very intimidating…

What causes some anxiety isn’t the loss of Hedo, but instead the failed delivery of Kirk Hinrich or Prince. It’s true that we could use a defensive F-G combo type player. However, I fail to see what happens to Blake if we would have gotten Kirk, or which of our young Sfs, we would have felt "good" about letting go. I am not against progress, but without Blake we wouldn’t have the most efficient offence in the league. No matter how you look at it, we are a very young team. Being a young team, means patience on the defensive side. The safer bet is to watch the development of prospects, such as Batum. Rather than jumping the gun, and acquiring a defensive specialist who may or may not fit in with the team.

It’s tough to expect spectacular trades, when there isn’t a lot your willing to let go of. Frye, Sergio, and maybe Webster are the only players, I would trade away. The 3 of them together don’t even make a seductive package. Webster’s struggles of late leaves him unproven and injury prone. Sergio’s departure should finally allow Bayless the opportunity to get quality minutes. Many are forgetting, that he out performed all other rookies in last year’s Summer League.

There is no reason to Panic... Spurs, Lakers, and Cavaliers have made the biggest moves this off-season. We don’t need to match their moves, because we have what they don’t- Time! We have years on their stars and any irrational moves now can ruin what can be for many years to come. Rival executives, sports writers with a grudge (*cough* Wojnarowski*cough*), and those in sports entertainment can be very misleading. We really have to stop speculating stuff and believing radio based rumours, its exactly how the Bayless-Oden dilemma started.  I am as confident in this team as I was when they were going into the playoffs last year.

Lets all calm down and remember that Rome wasn’t built in Rudy Fernandez’s sophomore season.

~Desi Nasha~

"LIKE OMG", My first Fanpost / Blog "like" ever, so please "totally like" excuse the spelling and "like" grammar mistakes. :-)