Blazers Haters, Unite!

So, the past season is just barely over, and I'm already getting frustrated with the direction of our franchise for next season.

As a recap, last year Portland committed major dollars to Zach Randolph (aka the Black Hole, because no ball passed to him ever leaves his hands) Theo "I've fallen and I can't get up" Ratliff, and Darius "I bump my head until there's no sense left in me" Miles, despite the fact that the Blazers were only bidding against themselves and both players only had one decent season a piece to show for themselves. They brought in Nick Van Exel, a proven pot-stirrer. The continued to stick by Derek Anderson, the most useless player in the NBA. They did everything they could to disenfranchise Ruben Patterson, who, despite some prior off-court problems that cannot be ignored, was the most consistent member of the team. And they completely destroyed any hopes of drawing a good coach by how they treated Maurice Cheeks, who may not have been the X's and O's guy we needed, but who was the face of the positive face of the franchise when Whitsitt and Rasheed were trying to bring it down.

On the short list of positives, they got a surprise performance out of Joel Pryzbilijflkasdjf, Travis Outlaw showed himself to be our next Jermaine O'Neal, and Sebastian Telfair showed that our first round pick wasn't entirely wasted.

Today, Steve Patterson, the Blazer's team president, popped up on NBA.com long enough to answer some questions in a chat session. Among the bombs he dropped were his insights that we need better shooting and that our number 3 pick in this year's draft could produce a good player, or could be traded for something as well. (For additional deep, deep thoughts, see John Nash's well-maintained and frequently-updated blog at NBA.com).

Wow, Steve. Thanks for the news.

In looking at next year, there are a few things that, as a fan who just voted in the Blazer Blog poll as believing Blazer Mania is dead, I think the franchise needs to do to re-energize its fan base while also reinvigorating the team. Not being a master with money (my bank account reflects an extremely un-savvy financial mind at work), I throw these out despite them being perhaps-undoable in the real world.

1. Get Rick Adelman back. The Blazers dumped him despite his being one of the most successful coaches in team history, and then he took his success to Sacramento (I refuse to acknowledge the Golden State fiasco, much as he does). Whatever Paul Allen thinks of the guy, fans loved him, players played for him, and he brought consistent success year after year.
2. Get rid of Zach and Darius. Although Zach has shown great potential, he's also had a micro-fracture knee surgery that will probably keep him from being the player that we've paid him to be. Darius just doesn't get it, as was evidenced by his frequent moping and foolish theatrics with coaches. Neither is who we want to build this team around. I say trade them both for whatever you can get for them, re-sign Shareef (the most solid character guy on the team, and a solid player to boot), lean on Patterson as we develop Outlaw, and coach a team-first over me-first (which is Zach and Darius' approach) philosophy to playing. Trading away Nick Van Exel's non-guaranteed contract would also be a smart thing to do, both to get the quitter off our roster, and to get some value in return.
3. Waive Derek Anderson. Just bite the financial bullet. This guy will never be what we (foolishly) hoped he would be, and we need to cut bait now.
4. Paul Allen picked the wrong time to become a miser. Open up the wallet. How come Paul was so willing to throw ludicrous money at teams that wouldn't get us there, but now is shying away from investing money in a solid, disciplined, character-filled team? He's still pulling the trigger on bad deals, and yet won't pull it on good ones. In Patterson's chat today, he talked about the budget issues that preclude the team from making a run at a real money player. That didn't stop them from picking up Shawn Kemp. Get rid of our team's dead (or dying) weight and throw some dough at players who'll get it done.
5. Don't count on fans to wait through a slow re-build. Last season showed what we already knew: fans won't go to games if we're going to be consistent losers. When Allen's only source of income off this team is ticket sales (since he let the Garden go in bankruptcy) and advertising, he needs to put a team on the floor that will win games. Otherwise, noone's going to pay to watch, and noone will advertise to an empty arena. In the past, Blazer Mania survived through tough years because we had likeable players, involved ownership, and we were obviously always trying to make a run every single year. Two years out of the playoffs, with a motley cast of characters (except for the solid Ratliff and Rahim, and the likeable-but-now-gone Damon and Cheeks), a growing feeling in fans of malignant disinterest on the part of the team's management group, and the feeling that noone is willing to do what it takes to field a winner, will tarnish this brand beyond repair if nothing is done.
6. Get Ray Allen, or similar. We need a lights-out two guard. We need to spend what it takes to get a young stud in that spot and tie him up for a few years. Find the next Reggie Miller, and pay him what it takes to keep him here for 5 years.
7. Paul, show us you care. For an example of clearly engaged ownership, see your nemesis, Mark Cuban.

That's my prescription for the Blazers. And thanks, Steve, for not answering my question about why this team continues to throw away money on questionable character, despite promises to the otherwise. I didn't figure you'd get to it, and strangely I was right (even though you did answer to fake Andrew Bogut questions).

Your thoughts?

Catch ya later.