Blazing in 2008-09

NBA fans and experts — I’ve got a guarantee for the 2008-09 season. I must apologize to my Lakers and fellow purple-and-gold fans before I make it — but as much as I love the Lake Show, this is just science:

The Portland Trail Blazers will finish with the BEST record in the Western Conference.

I issue this promise not simply because of the awe-inspiring collection of young talent they have assembled. From Roy (who, mark my words, will be this year’s CP3, vaulting into the upper echelons of NBA super-stardom in ‘08-09) to Oden to Aldridge to Bayless, everyone knows this team is stacked. If top young basketball talent were supple human flesh, Kevin Pritchard would be the Buffalo Bill of the NBA. That’s no revelation.

I’m betting big on the Blazers because of several intangible factors, which will more than compensate for the team’s relative lack of experience. In every sport there are those teams, perched at the right intersection of opportunity and readiness, whose preparation gets a nice assist from external circumstances beyond their control to propel them past reasonable expectations.

The Blazers are in that magical spot this year, thanks to these factors:

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