The Blazers Standing Pat Has Some Portland Fans Standing Scratching Their Heads

This is the first time I have ever felt this way.

It's the pain equal to finding out that your partner has been unfaithful.

It's the way you feel when you realize that your Dad isn't Superman or that Santa and the Easter Bunny aren't coming around anymore because you're too old.

Wednesday, I went to the Rose Garden with three purchased tickets in hand. I bought four $8 domestics, while witnessing an uninspired, embarrassing basketball contest against a significantly less than sub-par basketball team.

I sat through Sergio Rodriguez getting minutes that should have been used to reward the fans with Jerryd Bayless dunks.

I watched as Nate McMillan stubbornly ran a futile pick and roll with Brandon Roy and Joel Pryzbilla (anyone who knows anything about basketball knows why that was unsuccessful).

I was, however, able to catch glimpses of former overall number one draft pick, Greg Oden, in a suede blazer and jeans. In the end, the Blazers were victorious simply because they are more talented.

But my pain, my real pain, comes from a missed opportunity away from the court.

Kevin Pritchard let me down. I never thought that day would come, and I'm still in disbelief. That's the first stage of accepting a trauma right? Denial?

Another trade deadline has passed. Rumors can be put to rest, and the hopes and dreams of Portland fans have plummeted down a notch.

Portland had a tremendous opportunity to become great now. They could have made themselves a contender—not a team that will get manhandled in the first round of the playoffs, but an honest to goodness contender.

The experts said that Portland had a can't miss asset that would bring back an All-Star caliber small forward. And that asset doesn't even play.

It is simply an acronym. RLEC (Raef Lafrentz Expiring Contract). A $12.7 million acronym. We were told that the current economy has made RLEC more valuable than Amare Stoudemire, a man who was a starter in the All-Star game.

The rumors we heard had Portland landing Vince Carter, Richard Jefferson, David Lee, Caron Butler or my personal favorite, Gerald Wallace.

I understand that in a perfect world, RLEC would be enough to get those guys, but this is basketball, and teams will require more than an acronym to part ways with wins, and let's face it, those guys mean wins.

So names like Nicolas Batum and Sergio, Travis Outlaw and even Rudy Fernandez, were being thrown into deals. OK, I agree, Travis and Rudy are off limits for the above named players, but are Batum and Sergio? Really?

Those guys aren't exactly Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge or Joel Pryzbilla—three guys that I'm willing to bet would welcome a reliable scorer and wing defender. Brandon Roy is asked to do more than enough right now, and it will age him sooner than fans want.

Nicolas Batum plays the same position as the guy you were going to get in return for him. If you had Wallace on your team, why would you need Batum, Travis, and Webster at the same position? When would Batum play? How was he “untouchable”?

And don't even get me started on Sergio. I think the only person who is less of a fan of his play than me is Nate McMillan.

So what was it? Why didn't Portland get a small forward that fans could believe in to be a viable third option? Where is the happy ending?

This is your fault, KP. Where was the “Pritch Slap” we were all waiting for? I'm starting to wonder why we even coined the phrase “In KP we trust."

Some analysts have said that KP has placed too much stock in his own players. I say those analysts have read my mind, stolen my thoughts and made a profit off of it.

Nicolas Batum is not a starter, he is merely a player who starts. Sergio Rodriguez is not a better point guard than most teams' second option, and he's not even better than our second option.

Rudy Fernandez is horrendous from two to 20 feet, slight in stature and a liability in half court defense. Travis Outlaw makes terrible decisions at times and on defense, he gets overpowered at the four and runs ragged at the three.

Again Travis and Rudy are special talents who deserve to be significant producers on a bench that gets a ton of minutes. None of them should have been untouchable, none of them.

So again, Portland will see no return from a terrible contract they picked up.

Steve Francis getting waived was supposed to free up cap space once his contract came off the books, but Darius Miles robbed KP of that gold mine.

I know Darius is not KP's fault, and we shouldn't blame him for what happened, but he did have a chance to salvage the situation by trading RLEC for a small forward or maybe even Shaquille O' Neil, as late rumors would have had you believe.

I'm not sure how long after the season KP has to move RLEC before it becomes extinct, but for that reason and window of time alone, I'm holding out hope that.....

Perhaps KP had a conversation with Joe Dumars in an attempt to get Tayshaun Prince.

At which time Dumars said “Kevin, we both know you're not going to give me the players I would need from you in order to finish this season and still sell tickets without Tayshaun. However, I really covet RLEC and will be more than willing to make a deal with you for RLEC and Tayshaun when the season is over. If you can wait and give me and my city enough time to come to grasps with not having any star power next year in order to land LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosch in the summer of '10, then you, my friend will have yourself an eager opponent awaiting you for the 2010-11 NBA Finals.”

If that is the case, KP, well then "In KP I Trust!"

If not, then you should have drafted Durant.