So the resurrection of the blazers franchise is finally complete leaving the dark memories of the jail-blazers in the distant past. We now have an overwhelmingly talented team to support and the hopes for the future couldn't be higher. Our league wide image has done a complete 180 due to the fact that character has been as big a factor in our development as talent. We now have a contending team that is as exceptional off the floor as they are on it. But might there be a pitfall in constructing a team with such a focused attention on character? Is it possible that we lack the edge that is require to get to the top of the mountain? I am not much of a business man, infact I myself am a nice guy, and one thing I have noticed throughout my time on this planet is that you have to step on some heads in order to get to the top. There is a certain amount of ruthlessness that is require to reach that brass ring and I am afraid our squeaky clean blazers may not have the mean streak it takes to win it all. Look at the champions over the last 5 yrs or so. Lakers( kobe would punch his own grandma if she was standing in his path to greatness) Boston ( Garnet would eat a barrel full of kittens if they gave him the strength to win) Detroit ( I know half those guys were packing) Spurs( o.k. but they had Horry whom I know sold his soull for a three point shot) Miami ( Shaq and wade smile a lot, but they are both killers on the court)

In trying so hard to shed our bad boy image we may have left out a key ingredient in our championship formula: NASTY! Who of our core players is going to get their hands dirty? Not Roy or LMA. Maybe Oden, but we know the story there. Batum is a good defender, but can he get Bruce Bowen dirty? I think it might be problematic that our most firey personalities are on the second unit ( Bayless, Mathews, Dante) The rest of our team would sooner bake you a cake than elbow you in the chops( PRIZ excepted, but again when and how long will he play) I look at the other contending team and I see this ingredient. OKC( both durant and Westbrook have a mean streak) Lakers ( kobe nuff said) Even the nuggets, Jazz, and Suns have some swagger and fight in them. None of these teams are better than us( maybe the lakers) but all of them have a chance to beat us because when all things are equal that little bit of NASTY can be the difference. So where do our nice guys finish?