PORTLAND RE-BIRTH

So Portland looks like they're back in a big way, and I for one am happy about it. I mean, I'm not happy the Lakers have yet another Western Conference beast looming, but if any city (other than New York) deserves a good team, it's Portland. They've endured terrible teams, they've endured fugly teams, teams full of thugs and rapists, and they've stayed through it all. They're not the most knowledgeable crowd in the league (that's New York again), and they have the worst signage (seriously, check out their games, people will be holding up signs like "The Blazers are good!"), but they're probably the most loyal group of fans out there.

And now they have something to cheer about. With prince-in-waiting Greg Oden sidelined for the year, the youngest team in the league has started to emerge one season ahead of schedule behind a strong core of young players including LaMarcus Aldridge, Travis Outlaw, Martell Webster, and the rapidly-arriving Brandon Roy. Since losing at San Antonio on December 2nd, the rest of the month has seen the Blazers win 10 in a row, including home & away over Utah, home and away over Denver, and home vs. Golden State, New Orleans and Toronto--in fact, those games constitute Portland's last 7; they're on a major roll right now. It's even more impressive when you consider that up-and-coming big man LaMarcus Aldridge missed 5 of those games with injury.

The key is Brandon Roy, he's come on strong over the last month and has announced his presence as the NBA's next superstar. In 11 December games, he's averaging 22/5/7 and shooting .479 from the floor. More than that, he's become the team's clear leader and is turning into one of the league's great finishers in the fourth quarter.

His fellow 2006 draft classmate LaMarcus Aldridge is having a great second season as well, averaging 18.5 & 8, shooting .528 from the floor, and giving the team one of the most promising young post scorers in the league. He's got moves, he's got a sweet jumper, and his one weakness--he's on the soft-ish side--will be mitigated by having superbeast Greg Oden as his running mate. If Chicago had stuck with Aldridge instead of trading his draft rights for those of Tyrus Thomas, they'd be a 50+ win team right now instead of floundering near the league's basement--his post scoring is exactly what they need. In fact, if you re-ran that 2006 draft, Roy would be the hands-down #1 pick and Aldridge would probaby go #2 just over Rudy Gay. In short, Portland absolutely cleaned up in that draft.

And now we have good news about Greg Oden, from the Blazers' GM Kevin Pritchard: "He's so far ahead of what we expected, it's not even funny." He then stressed that Oden will not be coming back this year (which is smart, no need to rush anything when the future is so unbelievably bright for this franchise), but it's sounding more and more like Oden will be ready to go when the 2008-2009 season begins. And when he shows up, an already good team suddenly will have one of the best rebounders and shot-blockers in the league (which I believe Oden will be right off the bat), and a Dwight Howard-like dunking machine around the basket. Oden's offensive game is raw, but his athleticism is off the charts and I think he'll be able to more or less dunk his way to double figures next year.

So next year they line up with Roy-Webster-Aldridge-Oden, with whoever wins the PG battle between Steve Blake, Jarrett Jack & Sergio Rodriguez. What's so great about Roy is that you don't need to pair him with a classic PG, because he's going to have the ball in his hands all the time and will be directing the offense. Think Dwyane Wade or Kobe. All you need is another good ballhandler, a good shooter who can knock down open 3s, and someone who can defend other PGs.

Aldridge and Oden are the perfect complements to each other, Aldridge being a great high post scorer, Oden controlling the boards and the paint defensively. Webster gives them a money shooter, a tough cover on a team with several guys who can command double teams. The team also has the highly promising Travis Outlaw, a 23-year-old super athlete combo forward who's averaging 16/6/2 for December, and Channing Frye and Joel Przybilla to give them some quality big man depth.

And the best part of all of it, IMO, is that the team has a ton of cap space available. They might not need it, other than to shore up a weakness here and there, but they're also one of the few teams in the league who could handle a major deal--or just a straight free agent signing. Imagine adding Kobe after next year, or Dwyane Wade the year after that. Portland could probably do it if they played their cards right. That's the beauty of having players the caliber of Roy, Aldridge and Oden on their low-paying rookie contracts.

But honestly, they're so promising right now, I'll bet they're thinking they can win with what they have--and I think they might be right. Obviously we'll know a lot more once Oden starts playing, but this is already a quality team and it's only getting better from here.

"The Blazers are good!"...indeed.

QUICK HITTERS

The Pistons have reeled off 5 wins in a row--includin an epic win at Boston--to get to 20-7, the second best record in the league to Boston's 22-3. And now they have rookie Rodney Stuckey back from injury, Jason Maxiell looking like a beast in the making, Primo Brezec giving them some good size off the bench--I really like what I'm seeing here. Joe Dumars is in the process of doing the impossible: sowing the seeds of a rebuilding movement while still competing at the highest levels. The team is still as good as anyone in the league, and IMO a very tough matchup for Boston in a 7 game series, but now they've added several promising young players as cornerstones of a future youth movement in Stuckey, Maxiell, Arron Afflalo, Amir Johnson, and Cheick Samb. They just don't come any better than Joe D.

The Lakers have gone 8-2 in their last 10 to get up to 17-10. Andrew Bynum is coming on in leaps and bounds, averaging just under 14 & 10 in December with over 3 blocks per game and a .652 FG%. He's really a force on both ends at this point, with consistency the only issue. Lamar Odom is finally looking healthy, the Lakers' bench has been fantastic, and Kobe is playing (mostly) smart and under control, but I'm not ordering Western Conference Finals tickets just yet--the schedule has been favorable so far and the team has a brutal stretch coming up in January. We'll see what happens when the second youngest team in the league plays a bunch of tough road games.

Dallas is looking like they have their shit together, they're up to 19-9 and back to their rightful place as a top 3 team in the conference.

Orlando's a funny team. They're struggling right now, 3-7 in their last 10 to drop to 18-11. But what's weird is they're an excellent 13-5 on the road, and a dreadful 5-6 at home. Any team that relies on outside shooting so much is going to be streaky and inconsistent, but I still think they're a scary draw in the playoffs for either Detroit or Boston.