Piece by: Joshua Julian
When NBA teams are built on promise, everything seems so simple. The kids will grow up, they’ll develop into the best version of themselves, and multiple 60-win seasons will ensue, complete with deep playoff runs and championship appearances.
This is what fanbases must place their hopes in, in that the coaching staff will handle every prospect perfectly, that the prospects will put the work in to become the player envisioned, and the pieces will fit together like a glove, allowing for that elusive championship, something that 12 of the 30 NBA franchises have failed to capture in the merged National Basketball Association. And while the Portland Trail Blazers did capture an NBA championship in the 1976-77 season, with Bill Walton and Maurice Lucas on the prowl, there was one instance, one group of players, who should have taken home a title.
The whole process started after the 2005-06 season. The Trail Blazers, owners of a 21-61 record and the recipients of the #4 pick in the draft, were led by Zach Randolph and Darius Miles. To save some words, yeah, they were not the best franchise out there. On draft night, the Trail Blazers used the 4th pick on Tyrus Thomas. He never played a game with the franchise, as he was flipped that night with Viktor Khryapa for LaMarcus Aldridge, that night’s #2 overall pick.
The Blazers were far from done wheeling and dealing. Later in the night, they flipped Theo Ratliff, Sebastian Telfair, and a 2nd to the Celtics for the 7th overall pick Randy Foye, Raef LaFrentz, and Dan Dickau. Foye was then rerouted to the Timberwolves in exchange for the night’s 6th pick, Brandon Roy. All those moves, all those trades, to build a future for the team.
The young guns did little to change the bottom line the next season, as the team went 32-50 and again missed the playoffs. Aldridge was stuck behind Randolph, who upped his production and was subsequently traded to the Knicks for Cuttion Mobley and Tim Thomas. Brandon Roy missed about 30 games, but he showed flashes in the games he did play, averaging 16.8 points on .456/.377/.838 splits.
LaFrentz was the only player who logged a minute on the team that was over the age of 30, so the Blazers had plenty of youth and chances to develop some future stars. Combine that with the 2007 #1 overall pick, and this team was looking dangerous. Greg Oden was the single most dominant college player in the NCAA. He was, quite literally, a man amongst boys. He was 7’1, 260 pounds, with polished footwork and a developed post game. Sure, some skinny kid named Kevin Durant was dropping 20 a night over in Texas. He was too thin to last in the NBA. But Oden? He could be a contributor on both ends of the floor at minimum. If he hit his ceiling? Dominance, for at least a decade.
Sure, he had microfracture surgery on his right knee before he ever took the floor for Portland, but he’d be able to bounce back from that. Even if he lost a slight bit of mobility, he was still so big and so skilled he could average a double-double easily. Plus, based off the 2007-08 season results, it looked like he could end up the final piece to an in-development Death Star.
Brandon Roy stayed healthy for the whole year and upped his averages in points, rebounds, and assists, leading to an All-Star berth. LaMarcus Aldridge stepped into the starting lineup and put up a cool 17-7 on 48% shooting. Travis Outlaw played the spark plug role off the bench, averaging 13 points. Martell Webster splashed 3’s on the outside, while Jarrett Jack and Steve Blake capably ran the offense implemented by Nate McMillan. The Blazers went 41-41 and would have been in contention for a top 4-5 seed in the weak East if they weren’t as far west as possible. Instead, they fell victim to eight 50-win teams in the West and went back to the lottery.
With the 13th overall pick, they selected Brandon Rush. He lasted longer than the over Blazers picks, meaning he stayed on the roster for a month before he was packaged with Jarrett Jack and Josh McRoberts and exchanged for Jerryd Bayless and Ike Diogu. During the 2008-09 season, the Blazers understandably kept the training wheels on their star prospect Oden, keeping him to 21.5 minutes per game. In that limited time, he put up roughly 9 points and 7 rebounds, giving some glimpses of the kind of player he could be. Meanwhile, Brandon Roy was already the kind of player people hoped he could be. 22.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.1 steals on .480/.377/.824 splits. Aldridge kept his production the same, with 18.1 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.1 blocks on incredibly similar efficiency.
Travis Outlaw held the same role he did the year before, Steve Blake took over as the main starting point guard, and Rudy Fernandez turned in a solid rookie season off the bench. Portland’s offense was middle of the pack, ranking 14th in points per game, while their defense was elite, ranking 4th in the league. The Blazers obtained the #4 seed and got matched up with the #5 seed Rockets. In the end, the Rockets’ well-rounded attack won the day in six games, as Yao Ming, Luis Scola, Metta World Peace, and Aaron Brooks averaging 15 points a game each. Meanwhile, Roy put up 27, Aldridge put up 19.5, and nobody else broke double digits. But hey, just wait till next year right?
Here we go. 2009-10 season. Oden is healthy. Roy is healthy. Andre Miller just came to town to run the point. 21-year-old Nicolas Batum seems primed to break out as the Swiss Army knife at the 3. The team was ready to make a run. And the beginning of the season looked promising. Brandon Roy was, as usual, putting up buckets, looking like the All-Star he had been the last two years.
The ever-consistent Aldridge continued to do his thing. And Oden was starting to work his way into game shape. He posted five straight double digit scoring nights in November. He was finally starting to put the pieces together. Then, disaster struck. On December 5th, Oden fractured his left patella, which would put him out of action for the rest of the season. Roy would end up struggling a bit with injuries himself, missing about three weeks in January and February. The team still managed to win 50 games, but were once again bounced in the 1st round, this time by the Phoenix Suns. Roy missed the first three games of the series, and the offensive firepower of Steve Nash, Amar’e Stoudamire, and Jason Richardson was just too much for Portland to handle.
The next season was the beginning of the end for this core. Oden wouldn’t suit up for one minute that season, as he underwent another microfracture surgery in November of 2010. Brandon Roy would start to succumb to his balky knees, missing 35 games while averaging 12.2 points on an atrocious 40% shooting from the field. Sure, Aldridge stepped up and increased his scoring average to 21.8 points per game, Andre Miller continued to do his thing, and the newly acquired Gerald Wallace was a solid all-around player, the team just wasn’t the same. Once again, they got bounced in the first round, this time by the Dallas Mavericks.
This is where the heartbreak starts, and our story ends. Sure, I could continue on about how the Blazers ended up taking some point guard out of Weber State in 2012 named Damian Lillard, and how the duo of Lillard and Aldridge would go on to become another duo who seemed capable of so much. But that would take a bunch more time, and it isn’t what we set out to study today. Instead, let’s wrap up the story we’ve already invested in.
Brandon Roy would end up retiring after the 2010-11 season, and while he attempted a comeback the following year, he lasted five games before he officially hung them up for good. Greg Oden would never suit up for the Blazers either. He would go on to have arthroscopic surgery on each knee in 2012, which would end his 2012-13 season and eventually lead to his release. He wouldn’t even play in the NBA until 2013-14 season, which he played for the Heat and encompassed 23 games.
Finally, as I mentioned, LaMarcus Aldridge would go on to find another star sidekick, continue to lose in the first or second round every year, before eventually leaving for San Antonio in free agency. But this team, this core, could have been so much more. At his peak, Brandon Roy was a certified bucket, complete with cold blooded game winners and acrobatic layups. If given another year or two, who knows what kind of scorer he could have been? Greg Oden, for all his physical gifts, lacked the one thing that can tank anyone’s career in sports: good health. Oden’s promising career was derailed because of stuff that was pretty much out of his control, similar to Roy.
The difference is, we never even got to see a fully healthy Oden on an NBA court. Even when he was playing, he was working his way back into shape after an injury the previous year. What if these two had stayed healthy? Aldridge was a perfect #2 option on this squad. His mid-range game was so low maintenance he could have easily blended in. Steve Blake, Nicolas Batum, Martell Webster, Rudy Fernandez, Andre Miller, and Gerald Wallace all served as solid support pieces and would have created a fantastic cockpit for whichever star was feeling it that night. But knees got in the way.
And now, 10 years after the dissolution of the core, we are left to look back and wonder what could have been. And while this doesn’t happen to every young core assembled in the NBA, just be wary. Next time your team builds up a squad of young potential laden stars, keep a measure of caution in your mind. Because nothing is promised in the NBA.