Follow me here...

I was thinking about our early 2000's teams and what made them so (moderately) successful. Sure we had a deeper squad then than we'll ever have now, but bear with me for a second. I really think the reason those teams succeeded was due to the fact that we had not one, but TWO legitimate post threats on the offensive end in Sheed and Sabonis. The way our current roster is constructed, teams are going to continue to double down on LMA, forcing him to either attack the double team or kick out to the 'open' shooters. By adding another low post threat to the mix, teams would have to respect both players and not sag off like they currently are able to do with the Camby/Joel center combo.

Obviously there is no Center in the world quite like Sabonis, but why not try and deal for another low post threat? My thought: Chris Kamen in a deal like this:

http://games.espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=752tps2

New Orleans was rumored to be shopping him...why not at least attempt it? You can always let him walk if it doesn't work out...

Maybe I'm just weird, but to cope with the retirement of Brandon Roy I just spent the last hour playing NBA 2k11 and creating last second 'situations' with our Blazers - 5 seconds remaining, down 2, our ball...you know who is getting the rock. Roy came through in the clutch each and every time I gave him the last shot.

Sigh..

This may be Aldridge's team now. We may have a really amazing core group of guys to build around with L.A., Matthews, and Batum. Greg Oden may come back some day and be the big man we always hoped for. But without Roy on this team taking the last shot in a close game, I'm curious to see who'll get the ball.

Cheers to one of the most unbelievably clutch players I've witnessed since being a fan of NBA basketball for 20+ years - and EASILY the most clutch Blazer to ever play. I miss you already Brandon. Thanks for all the memories!

Is it just me, or does this guy constantly get the short end of the stick?

I realize that Martell Webster isn't the most consistent Blazer we've ever seen, but I think he's proven himself worthy of more minutes than he is currently getting.  Part of me wants to believe we are currently showcasing Rudy so we can build his trade value back up, but I dont know if this is the case.  While Brandon Roy was injured, Martell stepped his game up big time.  He showed he can produce when given the appropriate playing time.  He has also proven to be a very solid defender, much better (IMHO) than Fernandez will ever be. 

I'm in no way a Batum hater, in fact I truly believe he will become our 2nd option behind Brandon in the not-so-distant future, so I understand the need to incorporate Nic more and more into the offense and give him the bulk of the SF minutes.  But that leaves a fair amount of backup SF/SG minutes that are currently being swallowed almost whole by Rudy.

Martell seems like a really great kid, he's been in our system the longest out of all of our players and has never once complained about his playing time.  He has a very reasonable contract and has grown leaps and bounds from the 18 year old kid he once was.  People seem to forget he missed all of last year (sans 4 minutes against Toronto..) with a foot injury so he is still probably working off some rust after missing an entire season.  I would hate to see us part ways with him at this point because I feel like he still has a tremendous upside. 

Am I the only one here that thinks we should deal Rudy - someone who has been very vocal about his desire to be in a starting rotation - and keep Martell?  Enlighten me...

He was chosen to represent McDonald's (and their tasty Big Mac) on the All-American team in 1990 and was one of the top recruits coming out of High School. After blowing off offers from Notre Dame, Villanova, UCONN, Duke and THE North Carolina Tar Heels, our guy decided to soar like an Eagle and let the winds take him where he belonged. Though his size allowed him to look like a power forward on the outside, his lack of strength and his keen, sharp-shooting eye told him to play more like a 2/3. After four solid years of college where he amassed career averages of nearly 17 ppg and 8 rpg to go along with 4 team MVPs, he decided to test the waters and enter the NBA draft.

"With the 22nd selection in the 1994 NBA draft, the San Antonio Spurs select..." The commish's voice was like music to our guys ears. Though not in attendance on this momentous occasion, history had been made. Little did he know his impact on our franchise would soon also be heralded as history being made.

When the trade of Clyde Drexler and Tracy Murray for Otis Thorpe, the rights to some guy named Marcelo Nicola and a throw away first round pick (19th, later traded, but we'll get to that) occurred during the middle of the 1994 season, Blazer fans knew a talent like Thorpe could never be contained on our roster. Thorpe was traded less than 8 months later in a package deal along with that 19th pick (A guy named Theo Ratliff) to acquire 2 young, overachieving talents, one of which being Randolph Childress (who?) and the other being OUR GUY!

After never playing an official game for the Red and Black, our guy was then sent packing with James "Hollywood!" (I like to say his name like that of the Oscar worthy performance of Meshach Taylor character in Mannequin) Robinson and a conditional first round pick to Minnesota for J.R. ‘Isaiah' Rider.

Basically, in a Kevin Bacon-esque manner...our guy is linked to both the greatest player to ever dawn a Blazer uni and the most hated villain from the Jail Blazer era and easily the worst character guy our fine franchise has ever seen.

WHO IS THIS MASKED MAN?

None other than THE Bill Curley.

Throughout his poignant NBA career which spanned over 7 arduous season, Mr. Curley spent time playing with 5 different franchises including 2 stints with the Golden State Warriors. While his career averages of 2.7 ppg and 2.0 rpg don't scream ‘impact player' or ‘unheralded Blazer that should get more recognition' (to appease Dave...), you can now share with your friends the story of the man who nearly ruined Basketball in Portland.

For hate mail, questions, concerns, or just general entertainment purposes, it seems that Mr. Curley now runs a basketball camp in Duxbury, MA while coaching in his free time at prestigious Thayer Academy in god-knows-where, MA. He can be reached at info@billcurleybasketball.com.