Portland's Upcoming Season of Anxiety and Woe

Portland Portland Portland.

I’m shaking my head just thinking about you. Bill Walton. Sam Bowie. Brandon Roy. Greg Oden.

Your roster looks scrappy and beset by chips on shoulders. Gerald Wallace on the tail end of his prime. Marcus Camby reuniting with Kurt Thomas again in a lockout-shortened season. Wes Mathews. Nic Batum. Raymond Felton, now a journeyman. LaMarcus Aldridge as star and untapped potential. Greg Oden (or some sort of heart condition) as the dark cloud blocking sight of Aldridge.

Maybe the Blazers get Jamal Crawford.

So this becomes a 39 or 40 win season at best? For what? Another early exit? Another busted knee? With a healthy Oden and a reliable outside threat, the Blazers are a ferocious underdog, but sadly nothing more. These gritty Trail Blazers would have been more at home in another era.