Trade deadline rumors are all over the place in Portland right now, with it appearing that at least either Jamal Crawford or Raymond Felton, and possibly both of them, could be moved. This is a far cry from early January, when the Blazers were 7-2 with wins over the Lakers, Thunder and Clippers already notched on their belt. The ever-unconscious Crawford was assuming the role of their late-game shot-creater and Felton was pushing the pace for a typically plodding squad under coach Nate McMillan. The Blazers were deep, young, athletic, and they were using it all to their advantage: The ideal formula to combat this season’s constant whack-a-mole schedule. As such, they were thought to be serious contenders in the Western Conference; it was early, to be sure, but the Blazers, playing in what is always talked about as one of the best basketball cities in the league in Portland, would have the staying power, with the support of a devout fan-base, to keep their level of play among the conference’s best.
What has followed since has been a team in a slow, consistent flutter back down to .500, where they currently stand at 19-19 after a win over the New Orleans Hornets last night. The tipping point, it seems, began late last week after the Blazers were simply run out of the gym on national television Thursday night at the hands of the Miami Heat and culminated following the 122-110 home loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, the team directly above them as far as conference standings go, on Saturday.
Now, if we’re to believe the reports, the locker room is fractured and the stove is hot, to steal a baseball term, with a great deal of Blazers on the market as the whole situation feels as if it’s spiraling out of control. For a team that looked so dangerous earlier, that, after recent years as the popular pick to challenge the West’s old guard, seemed to be finally legitimizing itself, this idea of blowing the whole thing up seems, well, hurried. Portland stands at .500 and two games out of the playoffs — far from dead in the water considering the ebbs and flows of the West this year. To think the major parts of this team that has been constructed over the last few seasons — Gerald Wallace, Wesley Matthews, Felton (who, yes, has been pretty bad this year for long stretches), and Crawford (who is now out of place, apparently) — would be flipped not to necessarily improve the Blazers but to start over is disappointing. Disappointing in that it shows how wrong things must be going in Portland right now, and disappointing that, even as they remain in the thick of the postseason picture, the decision could be made to rebuild completely rather than recover.
A switch of the guards, if that’s what it is, is one thing. If the Blazers only intend to move the underperforming Felton and/or volume scoring (if maybe not enough of anything else) of Crawford for someone more compatible, maybe they still believe they can right the ship in time. The situation sounds more dire than this at the moment, but for the sake of keeping one of the league’s promising teams-in-progess intact, let’s hope it doesn’t all erupt.
Griffin Gotta contributes to The Hoop Doctors and is a co-managing editor of Straight Outta Vancouver. The story arcs and infinite weirdness of the NBA are addictions he deals with every day. Email him at griffingotta at gmail dot com.
