In the JQ interview on Slam, he says...

"I still argue that the worst era of the Blazers was when Patterson ran the team. Yes, there were some poor characters in the past, but they were great on the court and it resulted in the Blazers being at or near the top of the West for several years. Under Patterson, the team not only had bad characters, they were awful on the court, and Patterson worked under a cloud of deceit, paranoia and threats."

I agree.  LIke it or not, Whitsitt had a plan based on solid precedence. 

I like our current team better, but its clear that we would have been back in the playoffs much sooner had we not made so many classic bonehead decisions under Patterson.