Blazers future looks bright!

The Portland Trailblazers went into the 2006 NBA draft on June 28 without a General Manager, but proved they didn't need one. The Blazers top 3 in the front office: team President Steve Patterson, coach Nate McMillian and director of player personnel Kevin Pritchard set an NBA record by pulling off six trades during the draft to get the players they coveted. I watched the draft on ESPN and their "so-called" experts were criticizing the Blazers for the moves with their East coast bias, but I was proud of their moves and their ability to acquire two of the top four players in the draft.

The Blazers pulled off a trade with the Chicago Bulls moments before the draft aquiring the #2 pick in the first round for Portland's #4, forward Viktor Khryapa and future considerations. With the #2 pick most Blazer fans expected Portland to "draft the stache" and select local favorite Adam Morrison out of Gonzaga, but instead they took 6'11" forward/center LaMarcus Aldridge out of the University of Texas. I whole heartedly agree with the Blazers move. I believe Aldridge will be a stronger player in the NBA and the Blazers needed a good young center. Aldridge is a better defensive player than Morrison and a more well-rounded player. Aldridge has been compared to Rasheed Wallace, without attitude, which is a perfect fit for the Blazers. He was named Big-12 Defensive Player of the Year this past season, and a member of the First Team All Big-12.

The Blazers also were able to acquire the guard they coveted in Brandon Roy another local talent out of the University of Washington and Pac-10 Player of the Year. Roy will get NBA experience at point guard on the Blazers summer league teams.

Portland made a surprising move trading point guard Sebastian Telfair and veteran center Theo Ratliff, and a second round pick in 2008 to the Boston Celtics for center Raef LaFrentz, guard Dick Dickau the #7 first round pick and cash considerations. With the #7 pick the Blazers drafted Villanova point guard Randy Foye with the intention of trading him to the Minnesota Timberwolves for Roy. Roy was considered the fourth best player in the draft, so the Blazers were able to get the top two players they wanted.

Trading Ratliff for LaFrentz was a good move as they get a younger and more talented center in LaFrentz, also bringing back fan favorite Dickau was a good move, back to his home team as his family lives in Vancouver, Washington, that should put more fannies in the seats.

This most likely will be Paul Allen's last NBA draft as owner of the Blazers and he was willing to spend extra money to help improve the team and get the draft picks the Blazers needed, essentially they bought the #6 and #27 draft picks in the first round. With the #27 pick from the Phoenix Suns they were able to get one of the best point-guards out of Spain Sergio "Spanish Chocolate" Rodriguez, a flamboyant 6'3" 20 year old. Then with the last pick in the first round the Blazers drafted 6'10" forward Joel Freeland from England, who may struggle to make the team.

The Blazers have already signed Aldridge and Roy, and made another good decision by re-signing free agent center Joel Przybilla to a five year $30 million contract. For the most part the Blazers have all good character players now, except Darius Miles, who I was surprised wasn't traded during the draft. He probably will not be traded before the season starts. Now that he has a good team around him, and if he decides to play well and listen to Coach McMillian, Miles still could contribute to the Blazers, but he may whine if he isn't the starting small forward. Travis Outlaw should get more playing time at small forward, entering his fourth season. He provided a lot of energy for the team when he got on the court.

Juan Dixon was a happy surprise at shooting guard last season, putting up some big scoring games. Martell Webster should get some more playing time and will push Dixon for the starting job at shooting guard. I think Raef LaFrentz will be a good addition to the team and provide some veteran leadership the team desperate needs.

It should be fun to watch the Blazers mature this season and we have a good bunch that should play well together as a team. The Blazer chemistry is back, we may even be able to make a run at at playoff spot and a winning record this season and turn Portland into Blazermania again. It also would help the franchise to have local ownership. I'm glad the city was able to work out an agreement with Portland Arena Management and Paul Allen to be able to sell the team and the Rose Garden Arena as a packaged deal. The only way a new owner can make a profit with the team is if they also own the arena.

Never a dull moment with the Blazers, even in the off season, we'll see what happens next, hopefully it will be good riddens to Paul Allen. Thanks for trying to buy us a championship, but like most owners have found, it isn't possible without character and team chemistry.