Taming the "Blazer Myopia" in Portland

Roy may be a feel-good story of his own, but his All-Star selection was inexplicable. It can even be argued that Roy's inclusion in the All-Star Game was more about the novelty of having him and the Blazers represented instead of having the better player selected. Golden State's Baron Davis had Roy cleaned up and down the stats board at the All-Star break and after the final horn sounded on the season. To boot, Davis' Warriors were seven games better at 48-34 and two games out of the West's final playoff spot while Roy's Blazers floundered to a .500 finish.

"Inexplicable" is the only word to describe what the coaches were thinking in February.

On top of all that, Roy is a guy who may be a lot closer to his ceiling than most players who just completed their second year in the league after having spent four years at Washington. His surgically-repaired knee was the reason he fell as far as he did in the '06 draft. A heel injury forced him to miss 24 games during his rookie year, and the 57 games he played in during the 2006-07 were the second-fewest to be played by a Rookie of the Year winner. Portland may want to think about these things before putting so much stock into Roy.

LaMarcus Aldridge has also been a solid contributor to the franchise since being drafted alongside Roy in 2006, but for a seven-footer, Aldridge has been remarkably soft and subpar on the boards. His 17.8 points per game may draw eyeballs, but what about his 48.4 percent shooting despite being 6'11"? What about his 7.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game?

Small forwards and players under 6'11" were able to hit the glass more efficiently in 2007-08, a season that saw Aldridge rank 29th in the league in boards despite playing nearly 35 minutes a game. Guards and perimeter-oriented players like Chris Paul, Andre Miller, Rajon Rondo, Monta Ellis, Jose Calderon, Deron Williams, and Steve Nash had better field goal percentages despite being over half a foot shorter than Aldridge.

Yet, this is the team that should be feared by all for the next decade?

Sentiments like these are good to have when you've seen the team play together for an entire season (see: Hornets fan). They're not good to have when your franchise cornerstones are all injury threats (see: Rockets fan). But regardless of what happens in 2008-09, Portland fans would be doing themselves a huge favor by following Greg Oden's rehab process: Take it one step and one day at a time.

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