NBA Season Preview: What to Watch for and Expect from the Portland Trail Blazers

In the first round of last season's Western Conference playoffs, the Portland Trail Blazers arguably gave the Dallas Mavericks their toughest series, falling in six hard fought games.

The Blazers had an eventful offseason, highlighted by the early retirement of superstar guard Brandon Roy due to knee problems.

Along with Roy, Portland also lost starting point guard Andre Miller to the Denver Nuggets and Spanish swingman Rudy Fernandez to Dallas in a three-team trade on draft day.

Despite the tough loses that the Trail Blazers have endured in the past few months, this year's team looks to perform even better than the last.

In the draft, Portland picked up Duke's Nolan Smith and Ohio State's Jon Diebler, both sharpshooters. The team also picked up guards Raymond Felton and Jamal Crawford to bolster their backcourt.

Felton gives the Blazers a huge upgrade over the aging Andre Miller. Felton saw a significant drop in scoring and rebounding last season, given he only played in 21 games and he had to split time with Denver's rising star in Ty Lawson. 

Felton gives Portland coach Nate McMillan the ability to run a much faster pace offensively than in the past few seasons, which should allow the multitude of slashing scorers to thrive. He is also an excellent shooter from behind the arc, which few would say about Miller.

Shooting guard Jamal Crawford was the 2010 NBA Sixth Man of the Year. Crawford is an outstanding force offensively, able to score both inside and out. He will likely come off of the bench again in Portland, as he seems to enjoy the sixth man role. Nevertheless, one could argue that he is actually the better player when compared to starter Wesley Matthews.

The 25-year-old Matthews was terrific in his first season with the Blazers, averaging almost 16 points-per-game and shooting around 41 percent from downtown. When Roy began to miss time with knee issues, Matthews embraced the opportunity to start and looks to improve this year in his first full season as the starter.

At the trade deadline last season, Portland traded forward Dante Cunningham and centers Joel Przybilla and Sean Marks to the Charlotte Bobcats for former All-Star Gerald Wallace.

Wallace, still just 29 years old, is a tremendous all-around talent, who plays hard on both offense and defense. In 2010 he made the NBA's All-Defensive first team. Last season Wallace averaged 16 points and 7.5 rebound per game, and stole a few balls along the way. Now in his 12th NBA season—and first full one in Portland—Wallace hopes to improve on last season's success.   

Greg Oden, the Blazers's oft-injured center, will likely miss even more time this season.

Earlier this month, it was announced that Oden had encountered a "setback" from his 2010 microfracture surgery on his left knee. The Blazers are now much less confident that he'll be ready to return this season. 

Oden only has one year left with Portland on his contract, and it is entirely possible that the team will be ready to part ways with him at season's end.

Thankfully for Nate McMillan's team, they still have big man LaMarcus Aldridge, the team's captain.

Aldridge has yet to reach an All-Star game, but last March was named NBA Player of the Month and was voted to the All-NBA Third Team by season's end. Portland fans can expect his first All-Star appearance very soon.

Averaging 22 points and nine rebounds per game last year, Aldridge is one of the most dominant bigs in the West. He can play both the center and the power forward positions, so he can take some of the pressure off of the Trail Blazers' two aging centers; Marcus Camby and Kurt Thomas.

Camby and Thomas are 37 and 39 respectively, but both are still hungry, capable players. Hopefully for Portland durability doesn't become an issue for the two veterans this season because after them the depth in the Portland frontcourt is mediocre at best.

Brandon Roy was once the face of the franchise, but now that role belongs to LaMarcus Aldridge. If he, Wallace, Matthews and the rest of their new teammates can play together unselfishly, expect some significant improvement over last year's team. 

There's no reason this team should be a "one-and-done" playoff team this season. Keep an eye out for these Trail Blazers. They should be fun to watch.