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The Portland Trail Blazers have one NBA championship, a handful of NBA Finals appearances, and an entire playoff run to their name. They rarely stand among the league’s elite in their history. It’s not a case of the good guys finishing last, but rather a good, approachable group that falls into the designated middle ground, neither terrible nor great.



In today’s Blazer’s Edge Mailbag, one Blazers fan wonders if enough is enough, and why in the world the Blazers haven’t been able to make the leap forward that many other franchises seem to have.

Dave,

For 53 years, the Blazers have been, for the most part, a mediocre team. They are one of the more successful teams in making the playoffs (37 times), but have certainly struggled to win it all (once in 77). We seem to have a hard time getting beyond the metaphorical way of “the mound.” What does it give? They blame the players a lot. Some blame the coaches. Others blame the leadership. I blamed the owner for a while but now even that has changed hands, and we’re still stuck in mediocrity. The rest are only fans, but they are not responsible for the team’s problems, right?? Perhaps the blame should not be placed on the wrong person as much as the blame should be placed on the wrong culture. If so, how can the Blazers’ culture change from win-some to win-all?

best regard

My .02 cents

While almost all of the things you mentioned play a role in franchise activity, that’s only one factor in the journey, and not even the main one. To understand Portland’s mediocre performance, you have to understand not only the future they have against them, but the journey they’ve set for themselves.

Not all journeys are equal in professional sports. Sometimes the distance between point A and point B is a straight line, other times it’s a winding, steep mountain road. Teams make the path easier or harder by the decisions they make along the way.

In the NBA, the biggest, all-encompassing inflection point comes during the draft, especially among the picks. Teams that draft better than others tend to be more successful on average, but if we’re talking individual champions, those come from generational superstars who can’t be replicated by any trick or culture.

Prior to their 1977 title, the Blazers selected Bill Walton first overall in the 1974 NBA Draft. This was the right choice. Despite the injury, Walton had a breakout year, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Julius Erving and other superstars of the era. Had Walton stayed healthy, Portland could have established a dynasty to rival those built by the LA Lakers in the 1970s and the Boston Celtics in the 1980s.

As soon as Walton went down, so did Portland’s championship aspirations. This was true even if they presented the same lineup with the same scheme from the same coach in the same culture. The Blazers could do well in all of those areas, but if they want the title, they need to have a “crossover superstar” to turn the momentum into tangible success.

After Walton, Portland selected Michael Thompson first overall in 1978. Thompson was talented enough to last 13 seasons in the league, averaging 21 points per game in 1981-82. But the Boston Celtics took the flier that year to draft Indiana forward Larry Bird, even though he wouldn’t suit them for another year. Portland and Thompson did well; Boston has begun a legendary run.

In the year In 1984, the Blazers and Houston Rockets had to flip a coin to determine which would get the first overall pick in that year’s draft. The award center was Hakeem Olajuwon. It’s called Portland Tail. The coin landed on heads. The Rockets got Hakeem and a pair of championships. The Blazers selected quarterback Sam Bowie, leaving Michael Jordan to the Chicago Bulls. Anyone who has followed the NBA knows what happened next.

In 2007, the Blazers took the first overall pick again. Center Greg Oden over Texas forward Kevin Durant. Durant didn’t win championships with the Seattle SuperSonics/Oklahoma City Thunder, but they did make the NBA Finals after drafting him. In the year In 2009 In 2009, underrated guard Stephen Curry would go on to win against the Golden State Warriors, who were the seventh pick.

Portland in 2010 They took Weber State guard Damian Lillard with their sixth overall pick in 2012. They might not go that high in the lottery a decade later, but technically speaking, they had a chance to draft Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2013 and probably could have bought a second-round pick to take Nikola Jokic in 2014. . Those picks would have changed the course of the explosion as much as Lillard did.

Note that I’m not saying the Blazers are in poor shape either in these situations or as a franchise in general. All in all they did well. But “just good” doesn’t win titles. Nor will skilled edges that place more than 5% of your average competitor.

These are all possible draft picks Shorten the distance between their respective teams and the NBA Finals. These players – as well as the likes of Tim Duncan, LeBron James and perhaps soon Victor Wembanyama – have turned good-performing engines into checkered flags. The Blazers engine works well too, but the Spurs and Warriors only travel 200 miles to the championship and 300…uphill…both ways…to get there. Before you every time. No amount of extra tinkering with the engine and suspension will change it.

Some groups have other ways of creating shortcuts for themselves. The Lakers could sign LeBron James with deep coffers and the promise of advertising dollars. The Blazers can’t make an offer like that and never get that superstar signature. Although such methods are not automatic. The New York Knicks should theoretically be able to do the same. They have been ripening in less than mild conditions over the years.

Nor is winning the lottery the only way to get short shrift. As we mentioned, Jokic and Antetokounmpo were both picked at relatively modest spots, and Curry wasn’t that high in the draft order.

Shortening the Path Players can be found in a variety of ways, sometimes as a surprise. We don’t know when the next one will be up. Without one of these players on your team, we know it’s tough to compete against franchises with more talent. It’s true no matter what you do. Set the table as neat as you like. Without a frying pan in the middle, it’s a good way to go hungry.

So many times over the past 49 years have the Blazers experienced those franchise-changing moments, zigzagging when they should have zagged. Those fundamental decisions set the duration and difficulty of their approach, making them work harder to achieve an elusive reward. Every mistake they made after that set them back even further. Each achievement became a way for them to feel better about themselves as they moved up the order, but fell short of the ultimate goal.

As much as we’d like to cite a variety of factors — because they seem more controllable and our ability to transition — the fact is that once Jordan passed to Bowie and Durant passed to Oden, Portland’s road was so long that their recovery was spectacular.

That the Blazers represented the Western Conference in the 1990 and 1992 NBA Finals was a big deal, all things considered, a testament to the players, coaches and executives of that era. Still, it’s hard to get away with the top-ranked Portland bellcurve losing twice in the finals, while the Chicago middle has won six championships. Change one moment at that critical point of awareness and the results will be reversed.

Here’s why we’re all waiting with bated breath as Portland’s progress becomes clearer in the 2023 NBA lottery drawing. The difference between San Antonio’s first-overall pick and Portland’s third can’t be measured in numbers alone. One ping-pong ball at the right time could change the next decade for every franchise.

That’s why many fans are watching Shaydon Sharpe with both hope and trepidation as the upcoming trade season unfolds. Damian Lillard is a better player than Sharp…maybe even better than Sharp. Anfernie Simmons and Jeremy Grant rank above him. But we’re pretty sure we know the ceiling on the three veterans. Sharpe could affect the team’s future more than Lillard, Simmons and Grant with his impressive performance. If he’s the next version of Steph, Giannis or Kobe, no one wants to move him. A small chance at such a development carries almost as much weight as incremental progress.

Culture, training and infrastructure are all important in the NBA. They turn average teams into good teams, great teams into champions. But that distance between good and the greatest of its generation can only be reached when you have superstar talent. For the most part, the Blazers don’t. By definition, there will be at least one or two rival franchises in any given generation. There’s your explanation for Portland’s “good, not great” performance over the years. Not much can be done about it. They just need to tune the engine, run the race and make sure they are ready for the next opportunity when it comes.

Thanks for the question! You can always email blazersub@gmail.com and we’ll try to get back to you as soon as we can!

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