Blazing a new trail

With Halloween behind us for another year, November 1st kicks off a new NBA season for our beloved Portland Trailblazers. The NBA is my favorite sport, at least the fast paced and high scoring games. The Trailblazers are our only major porfessional sports franchise in town, so Portland enters the national spotlight again when the NBA season rolls around. A new season brings new optimism for all 30 teams as they all start out undefeated at 0-0 and dream of NBA Championship rings. There is excitement in the air and this season shouldn't be as frightening as last.

I believe the years of the Jailblazers are behind us, and I will never use that phrase again. I like the new group of young players management has brought in, even with a couple of local players making the roster in Ime Udoka, a 6-6 215 lb small forward who prepped at Jefferson High School in Portland, and made a name for himself as a member of the Portland State University Vikings basketball team. In his first regular season game as a Blazer tonight he played 25 minutes in Seattle, helping the Blazers upset their 1-5 rival Sonics, 110-106, scoring 10 points. Dan Dickau, a 6-0 190 lb. point guard is the other local favorite, born in Portland, who now lives in Vancouver, Washington. Coach Nate McMillan chose not to play Dickau in the first game this season.

The win ended the Blazers 16-game losing streak, continuing from the end of last season. The last time the Blazers started out 2-0 was the 2004-05 season, lets see how good a start the Blazers can blast out too.

The Blazers entered the game as a nine-point underdog on the road, but will probably surprise a lot of people this season. Opening the season in Seattle was probably the best situation for the Blazers, as their new point guard 6-6 Brandon Roy got to make his NBA regular season debut in front of his family, friends and former coaches, you see Roy was a standout at the University of Washington. He put on quite a show scoring 20 points with hot 10-for-16 shooting. Zach Randolph led the team with 30 points and 10 rebounds. Juan Dixon had a nice game scoring in double-figures with 18 points and 2 steals. I look for Juan to have a breakout season and average close to 20 points a game this year. Jarrett Jack was the other Blazer in double-figures with a well balanced game with 13 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 3 steals. Jamaal Magloire had a disappointing first game for the Blazers with 6 points and 5 rebounds in 19 minutes of play. As a team, the Blazers shot a hot 54.8 percent from the field and held the Sonics to just 45.6 percent shooting. The Blazers still need to work on their outside shot, only making 2 of 10 three-pointers. Portland's offense was impressive putting up 110 points in its first outing, giving Blazer fans something to get excited about. The key will be if they can continue to play with consistency like this every night, and this wasn't just an adrenalin rush against Coach McMillan's former team and in owner Paul Allen's home town.

It was nice to see the Blazers not fade down the stretch as they have been doing in recent years, and actually poured in 34 points in the fourth quarter, their best quarter of the game. The Blazers youth may pay off for them as they can keep putting in fresh young legs. If McMillan can keep the team motivated and this young group continues to play well together this could be an exciting season. The most veteran player on the team is new addition 6-11 forward/center Raef LaFrentz in his eighth season. Raef played just seven minutes in his first game for the Blazers and didn't score.

Last season I said I wouldn't be disappointed if the Blazers won only 20 games. They did one better and won 21, and were still the worst team in the league. This season I like the team chemistry, this team reminds me of the early years of young players named Terry Porter, Clyde Drexler, Jerome Kersey, Kevin Duckworth, Buck Williams, Danny Ainge, etc. I don't want to put any pressure on the young players, but the first season Drexler was on the team in 1985, the Blazers only finished 42-40. I can see the Blazers turning it around and buying into Coach McMillan's system and having a winning season at 42-40. They can double their win total. This season will not be as frustrating for Coach McMillan as he finally has the players he wants and young guys that will listen to him. Most of these guys come from winning college backgrounds and if they can maintain a winning attitude with the Blazers, they shouldn't settle for a losing season. The Blazers can be the most improved team in the league this season.

The Blazers ARE on a new trail this season and it should be fun to watch how far it can go. They can ignite Blazermania back in Portland.

I'm once again proud to say: GO BLAZERS and will make it to the Rose Garden to watch the most entertaining event this winter and spring.