Portland Trail Blazers' Offseason: What's To Be Done?

It's over. Done. Finito. The Portland Trail Blazer's season is now officially over after the Houston Rockets wrapped up the two teams' first-round series with a 92-76 victory, and have advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs for the first time since 1997.

But one question remains: Did the Houston Rockets attain this feat all by themselves?

If one thing remains clear, it is that the officiating in this series went from sketchy, to laughable, and finally to god-awful.

I will give Houston credit for winning Game One in Portland. They came out much more focused and much more prepared than the young Portland Trail Blazers.

But Houston's wins in Games Three and Four? No sports fan in their right mind should give the Rockets credit for these wins.

Throughout the entire series, we all saw a Houston Rockets team that always had one foot over the line, seeing if the officials would take heed.

Ron Artest and Shane Battier threw elbows at Nicolas Batum, Brandon Roy, Travis Outlaw, and Rudy Fernandez, and the Blazers were called for the fouls.

Luis Scola led every layup or jump-hook with his off-arm and pushed LaMarcus Aldridge, Channing Frye, and Travis Outlaw back while in the air to give himself more room to shoot. The Blazers again were called for fouls in these situations.

Yao Ming hacked the arms of Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, and Rudy Fernandez in the paint while shooting, and no foul calls were made.

When driving to the basket, Ron Artest and Luis Scola used their off-arms to hook around their defenders, a clear violation, and they were rarely called on it.

What did it take for the Blazers to finally get the refs to call a fair game? It took Nate McMillan publicly calling out the officiating and getting slammed with a $25,000 fine.

Even then, the games were still not fairly called.

Had the officials called each game fairly, Portland would have won Games Three and Four in Houston and sealed a series victory with their Game Five win in Portland.

I guess I never got the memo that breathing on a player resulted in a foul too.

So to answer my aforementioned question, the Houston Rockets did not win this series by themselves. They had to rely on biased officiating to pull out their first two home "victories".

Make no mistake, the Portland Trail Blazers were and still are the better of the two teams in the series. Houston was just given a "Get Out of Jail Free" pass.

But it's over. Nothing I write, nor anyone, for the matter, says or writes, can overturn the robbery that was committed.

The only thing that can be done is for the NBA to review every play of each game and see just how one-sided the officials were.

Now, the Blazers must start planning for next season. Where do their priorities lie?

One thing that was clearly evident during the first round of the playoffs was Portland's lack of depth at the small forward position.

Starter Nicolas Batum is a monster on defensive, but his offensive skills have not reached their full potential.

Backup Travis Outlaw struggled mightily during the first round, averaging a meager 9.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG, and 0.5 APG. Despite being Portland's first option off the bench, his numbers clearly do not reflect what he accomplished during the regular season.

Martell Webster, who came into the NBA season as Portland's projected starting small forward, missed all but five minutes this season due to a nagging, slow-healing stress fracture in his left foot's fifth metatarsal.

Even though Webster is a monster on the offensive side of the ball, he is a liability on defense. If he wants to keep his job with the Blazers, his first priority, after regaining his health, should be to improve his defense.

Around the trade deadline, there were many trade rumors circling around the Portland Trail Blazers. Names such as Gerald Wallace, Richard Jefferson, Caron Butler, Tayshaun Prince, and John Salmons were mentioned as possible new Blazers.

None of these trades went through, however, and despite the officiating of the series, it would not have mattered had Portland been able to nab one of these big-time small forwards.

Detroit is looking to rebuild their team after being swept by the Cavaliers in four games. The dynasty of old (Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton, and Chauncy Billups) has been separated. Prince, Hamilton, and Wallace are still Pistons, but they are all getting older.

Because Detroit made the playoffs, they will not be in the 2009 NBA Draft Lottery. If they wish to make their rebuilding stage much shorter than it will most likely be, they will need a package of young talent.

Before the trading deadline, it was rumored that Detroit would send Tayshaun Prince and their first-round draft pick to the Blazers for Martell Webster, Travis Outlaw, and Sergio Rodriguez. Talks between Pistons GM Joe Dumars and Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard ended, however, as Dumars wanted to see if Detroit could still make the playoffs.

Look for this trade to be revisited this offseason, as both teams would benefit from it. Detroit would receive a nucleus of young talent, and Portland would receive a high-quality veteran small forward to help anchor their starting lineup.

Nicolas Batum would also be able to move to the second team, strengthening it's defense, and Jerryd Bayless would be able to take over as the second team's point guard.

Portland also needs a backup power forward. Channing Frye has quality character, but his tendencies to shoot mid-range jumpers instead of play hard-nosed post-up basketball do not fit into the Blazers' style of play.

There are many power forwards in this years' draft, but few of them are taller than 6'9''. For Portland, having both their starting and backup power forwards around the same height, allows them to not change their game-plan based on who is on the court.

The most talented power forward in this years' draft by far is Oklahoma's Blake Griffin, who will more than likely be drafted first. Other notables are Gonzaga's Josh Heytvelt and Arizona State's Jeff Pendergraph.

Heytvelt and Pendergraph are projected to be drafted in the late first round or early second. Depending on how high Detroit and Portland's picks are, assuming the Prince trade goes through, Portland should not have to give much, or anything, up to nab either one of these talented young athletes.

Heytvelt is a tremendous athlete and a solid rebounder. He also has a nice range on his jump shot. He does need to add some strength, however. He also needs to improve his post game, shot blocking, and ball handling.

Pendergraph is almost a carbon copy of LaMarcus Aldridge. He is a great post scorer who runs the floor extremely well. His perimeter game is up-and-coming, and he has a high basketball IQ.

He is still raw offensively though, and needs to add strength to really become a low-post threat.

Looking at the facts, the right draft pick for Portland would be Jeff Pendergraph. He would compliment the second unit extremely well. Portland is developing into a legitimate threat to the Lakers, and more young talent will only strengthen their team.

If Kevin Pritchard pulls the trigger and trades for Tayshuan Prince and drafts Jeff Pendergraph, Portland will be in a great position to challenge the Lakers for the West's No. 1 seed next season.

Prediction for next season:

Portland wins 60+ games next season, becomes the outright Northwest Division champion, and earns at least the West's No. 2 seed.