Portland TrailMixers

There is only so long you can be the team with the "potential" to be great. At some point, you have to get over that hurdle. You are no longer the 'young up and comers'.

Brandon Roy moves like a snail up the floor, making the offense the slowest since Andrew Jackson was in office. You used to be the 'young up and comers' but now you are just an average team in a tough Western Conference. Roy, once a superstar, has come out and said he must limit his minutes, then he said he doesn't get enough minutes, then he turns on Guard Andre Miller. What once seemed like one of the most underrated and most humble superstars of sports, has turned into a (rightly so) frustrated player. But what isn't right is how he handles it. That he lets it out into the public eye. It's a bit sad to watch him crumble this way.

A full season + Playoffs has proved too much for a particular Rudy on the team, again showing half-assed energy in the playoffs. Maybe he'll beg to leave again after this season. He's never been the same since Sergio left the team. I always thought that was a bad move for Rudy and Sergio.

You were once handcuffed, cursed to be the team to take Oden. Cursed, by another big man. And while the fans watch Durant quickly gain Elite status in the league, we are reminded of Oden, his almost full season in 3 years. His popularity by text contest with Brett Favre. His 'too nice for the post' attitude. And the blame shouldn't all lie on him. He was brought in as a savior, with about as much chance to succeed as a similarly-situationed JaCarcus Bustell less than a decade ago. Only Oden's biggest enemy is his body, while JaCarcus, his mind.

Did Oden's mother hide him until he was 35, then enter him into Kindergarten? Allowing a man of 51 to enter the draft after just one year at college? Isn't Oden the one that The Donald should be demanding we see his birth certificate?

LaMarcus Aldridge, the REAL star of the Portland team.... The REAL player they should have been building around, is stuck on an offense that often moves too slow to utilize him. Of course, they found a great rhythm in playing a fast-paced game when without Roy, utilizing Lam-dridge, Miller, and their supporting cast of fast feet on the court.

That's the Blazers I want to see. That's the Blazers that will excite. Roy cannot play that fast. Is it worth it to keep a player that may only be worth a darn in the last 12 minutes of the game? Can a superstar player be humbled enough to be happy with that role? Should Dan Marino have played 3 more years with the Dolphins, but only in the 4th Quarter? Is Dan Marino really David Hasslehoff? Note, they both started to run in slow motion towards the end of their career. Can a superstar clutch-style player extend their career by playing the finish of games only?