With the NBA season in full swing I couldn’t happier. I wait with the patience of a shaolin monk for basketball season to roll around. Being an orphan of sorts when it comes to the NBA (North Dakota has no professional team) I found a surrogate parent in the Portland Trailblazers. My timing in moving to Portland was uncanny, a team with a vast amount of talent and youth that appears to have the potential of being a championship contender in the near future grabbed my attention. How could you not get excited seeing firsthand the Blazers developing into a dominant force in the NBA. Dominant? Yes, in the coming years, if Portland can keep their core group together, will be a dominant force in the NBA.

Core group is a relatively pliable term when you consider the kind of depth that Portland has (in my opinion they have a bench that is second only to the Lakers in talent) begging the question who is really expendable on this young team? It appears that the Blazers consider their core unit to be Aldridge, Roy, and Oden. As an aside, I am a Greg Oden fan, and I yearn for him to put the nay-sayers in their place. He is a monster, and his mere presence in the paint changes how teams approach the Blazers, but he needs time to develop his offensive game. It’s hard to be patient, and I think a little unfair to Oden to have placed so much expectation on his shoulders. It’s even more unfair since the Blazers can win games without him in the lineup.

Back to the issue of expendability, as far as I can see the weakest spot on the Blazers roster is at point guard, unless of course you move Brandon Roy to the point and start Travis Outlaw at the small forward, then bring in Rudy Fernandez at the shooting guard. Or put Sergio Fernandez at the point (his play in the past few weeks has impressed, and you have to play him on the same unit with Fernandez, the Spanish connection) Rudy at shooting guard and Roy at small forward. Or you could put Rudy Fernandez at the point guard position Roy at shooting guard and Batum at small forward, or Travis Outlaw at small forward , a lot of possibilities. I guess I’m trying to say without saying STEVE BLAKE! I likeSteve blake, I think he’s a great player and has made some clutch shots and great plays for the Blazers. I just…Nate McMillan has so many tools at his disposal, and Steve Blake, a great player and maybe someone I’d have come off the bench, is not really a starting point guard. But that’s probably why I’m not coaching an NBA team…