Uncle Bucky Asks: Wither the Trailblazers?

So,  he who coined the "term" Peckerpole, now asks, "what's up with the Blazers?"

Uncle Buck is the guy who keeps me abreast of all things Portland- from micro brews, to bike paths, to the Blazers. So, his obsession with the Blazers, essentially what puts the city on the Map around the nation, is not out of line. But now, he ventures into the dangerous land of speculation, and consideration of the "front offices" thinking/ philosphy re: the future.

I love it- to wax philosophical about hoops. Expect some Nietzche, and possibly some Darwin as well.

Here we go. Let's start with the brain, for where the brain goes, the ass follows. And there are a few asses which need kicking in Portland.

Essentially, the Blazers have had a lobotomy. The odd termination of Kevin Pritchard, leaves a lot to be desired in Portland.

Pritchard, a guy whom many, including myself, consider one of the top three personnel guys in the league (Presti, Kupchak, and the guy in San Antonio (Buford?) also come to mind), leaving the Blazers is kind of mind boggling. If Oden had just had ONE fucking full season under  his belt, it says here that Pritchard would never have left, and there would be more talk about Portland than Oklahoma City as the Second Best in the West.

Evidence of this distentigration is already taking place: highly questionable moves, like overpaying Wesley Matthews, and sending out Martell Webster for, essentially, a tall white rookie, named Luke Babbit (the guy can shoot though), stand out.

Back to Uncle Bucky's Question though: what does the Summer League tell us about the direction the Blazers want to go in?

Bucky's smelling strange things in the winds, and says he's feeling a massive trade rolling in.

It's possible. Because in disarray, almost anything can take place. But Uncle Buck seems to be trying, as is his wont, to make sense out of disorder. He's a highly rational guy- uses the scientific method to compost his toilet paper, so, this isn't out of character.

And I like Bucky, because he assumes that if he's got a master plan, that the Blazers have a metanarrative in place too, because, maybe, they're guiding this team.

I am writing this, more than anything else, to dispute that, and offer some ideas about what may be actually guiding the Blazers in lieu of a real master plan.

So, let's accrue the details.

1) "When the cat's away, the mice will play."- Bob Marley

All those muffled subordinates, who chafed under Pritchard's domination of the Blazers? Suddenly, they are  opinionated mother fuckers- and most of them probably have zero experience or real basketball knowledge. They're suits, basketball parasites, the equivelant of a rhemora fish suctioning to the belly of a shark. They're along for a ride. Without Pritchard, suddenly the overstocked basketball pantry in Portland, looks like food that's sat on the buffet table for too long, and all the suits want to jump as high as they can on this suddenly  zero gravity planet, and rock the potlatch. Look for will and emotional baggage to become guiding principles for this transition, while Allen, a hands off owner, leans over the rail of his yacht somewhere and regurgiates his dom perignon.

2) "The Will to Whiteness" in the Pacific Northwest.

Never ever leave out context.

The Jailblazers are not too far gone. Rasheed, Randolph, "those guys" lurk in the Portland memory like dense, hazy smoke in a backalley. The race of those individuals can't be overlooked, particularly in a city that has had more than its fair share of neo-Nazis. I remember walking through down town Portland, as a non-white kid, and feeling like a pack of drunken asswipes would try to kick my ass.

Now, the Blazers have got a great set of players, leaving aside the Greg Oden porno shots for a second, but the lingering sentiment is that there are too many wild hairs on the Brazilian Wax. Guys who just don't fit in. Guys like Bayless, Outlaw, Batum, Webster, Mills, Armon Johnson, Wesley Matthews...

The flumoxed Blazer brass doesn't see how this all fits together. So they go and get spare parts from Utah (Matthews) a guy who isn't better than Webster, or Batum, or Outlaw, but who is easy to understand. A guy with a role, who you can slot in somewhere. a guy you can control. Not a Jailblazer, or a wild hair, just a role player.

So now, Outlaw is gone. Webster is gone. Batum is likley displaced.

Fernandez?

Black holes. Wild Hairs.

The only known quantities are Roy, and Aldridge. And Pryzbilla, coming off the bench in the event Oden shows up to play.

I'm telling you now, that if you gave this roster to Boston Celtics coach, Doc Rivers, he'd have them in an intelligible rotation, based on strengths, creating chemistry. Not a flumox of talent that makes bball brass' opinions suddenly matter.

Opening up the id, can often reveal long standing impulses, and frustrations. Though these suits  may have zero bball acumen, they also have a chip on their shoulder about it by now, and want to "finally" do what they've been held back from accomplishing.

More context-

One thing that I learned living in Seattle for a decade, was that in the predomiately white parts of the nation, there's a real desire to see a great white ball player- a Larry Bird. That, it seems, is a basic emotional/ racial urge which acts as a default setting for, say, uninformed basketball suits, without a lot of real knowledge of the game, who suddenly find themselves in a power vaccuum.

Without Pritchard, it's clear that that will to whiteness, to bastardize Neitzche, and probably sound slightly Neo- Nazi, has come to the fore.

Evidence?

Travis Outlaw and Martell Webster,  two of the most athletic, yet underitulized players in the NBA, are already gone. Perhaps Portland's inability to find them steady roles is contributing to what looks like what might happen to half the team over the next few years- Dante Cunningham, Nicholas Batum, Jerrod Bayless, add Patty Mills and the new PG from Nevada, Armon Johnson. Even Pendegraph.

Pritchard has put together as much talent as anyone could wish for, and yet, I'm thinking that the move for Babbit- a better version of Kyle Korver- (and probably not a better shooter than Webster, and certainly not nearly the defensive presence that Webster was/ could be,) has its history in searching for the next Bird, or, more aptly, Tom Chambers.

The Blazers dont realy have a white guy anyone can pin any hopes on. Their rotation is confusing for everyone. The talent is an unruly mess. The suits are in revolt. Perect conditions for the will to whiteness to prevail.

So let's move from context, and get back to the original question:

Can we read anything from Summer League?

In short, yeah.

Pritchard has again done his job of assembling talent. More good players are on the roster. It will be crowded, and playing time will be sparse for a lot of young talent.

Mc Millan will be the same. Not quite enough leadership. Enough excuses and reputation to hold him though a good, yet mediocre season.

Brass will no longer make sterling decisions based on basketball knowledge, and a waning influx of talent will result.

Will there be a massive trade? Probably.

Most lilely, for Oden. then Fernandez. Then Bayless. Then Batum. Maybe even Roy. (Disorder.)

If I am an opposing GM, I being to target the weakened Blazers, and play to the factions inside the eco-friendly, starbucks' drinking organizational  facade.

So yes, trades are coming. Maybe even a blockbuster. But it won't be a good one.

Unless McMillan has got a miracle up his sleeves, be prepared for a long run of 6th to 8th seedings in the West, while the will to whitenenss roils below.

What would I do?

If I'm Allen, I get those disgruntled salary men out of the building, and build around Pritchard, or someone like Pritchard. Though, to be honest, there aren't many guys with his eye for talent.