It appears to me that the Blazers have dug themselves in a hole that they cannot crawl out of. Trades that seemed like a sure thing to bring a championship to Portland have backfired. This started when the Blazers traded for Pippen, I remember that day and I remember hearing on the news that Pip will likely win more championships in Portland, it almost happened in 2000 but now those days are over, he has 1 year left on his contract and is gonna make 19.7 million this year.
Before the 2001 season the Blazers got rid of Jermaine O'neal (now on the US team) and fan favorite and hard worker Brian Grant for Dale Davis and Shawn Kemp. Dale Davis is a good player but he really is out of place on Portland, in 2000 he made the all star team as a power forward, now he is playing center and is too small to be dominant. Shawn Kemp hasn't belonged here since he came to Portland, he came to Portland Overweight and has had drug problems. Davis has 1 year left on his contract and is set to make 8 million while Kemp has 2 years left on his deal and is supposed to make 21.5 million per season. There is no way to trade players on the downsides of their career making that much money so we are stuck with them.
Now Damon Stoudamire has been the subject of debate for the Blazers. He has had legal problems recently. He once looked like he could put up Gary Payton type numbers throughout his career but ever since he came to Portland he has been a slightly above average starting point guard. Last year was his best year in a Blazer uniform but many fans want him out. His contract is also a very tough one to trade, the only way would be possibly to make a package deal because he is signed through the 2005 season and is guaranteed to make 13.5 million a year for the next 3 seasons.
I have mixed feelings on Rasheed, I think he is one of the best power forwards in the NBA but it might be time for a change in scenery for him. Blazer fans have seemed to turn their back on him. He gets alot of technical fouls. Personally I like the guy, he is one of few players in the whole NBA that would walk through a mall all by himself and just act like a normal person, hes a cool guy. His contract is up after the 2004 season and he is gonna make 16.2 million a year until then. With the new salary cap rules, trading rasheed would be difficult.
After this season steve kerr's contract is up and that will clear up another 2.6 million for the blazers.
In order to rebuild the Blazers will have to at least wait 2 or 3 years just to wait for contracts to expire and they probably wont get any lottery picks until then because Bob Whittset hasnt realized that his team is not championship contenders so we can all expect at least another 3 years of 1st round exits. The team management did this to themselves, they exploited Paul Allens check book and used it to buy whatever they want, which ended up being players who were all stars about 5 years ago and paid em like they still are. All of the moves they made to get Pippen and Steve Smith were good short term moves because it gave Portland a chance to have a championship but fell short. It's going to take some time for the blazers to be able to recover and have a realistic shot at winning a title.
Before the 2001 season the Blazers got rid of Jermaine O'neal (now on the US team) and fan favorite and hard worker Brian Grant for Dale Davis and Shawn Kemp. Dale Davis is a good player but he really is out of place on Portland, in 2000 he made the all star team as a power forward, now he is playing center and is too small to be dominant. Shawn Kemp hasn't belonged here since he came to Portland, he came to Portland Overweight and has had drug problems. Davis has 1 year left on his contract and is set to make 8 million while Kemp has 2 years left on his deal and is supposed to make 21.5 million per season. There is no way to trade players on the downsides of their career making that much money so we are stuck with them.
Now Damon Stoudamire has been the subject of debate for the Blazers. He has had legal problems recently. He once looked like he could put up Gary Payton type numbers throughout his career but ever since he came to Portland he has been a slightly above average starting point guard. Last year was his best year in a Blazer uniform but many fans want him out. His contract is also a very tough one to trade, the only way would be possibly to make a package deal because he is signed through the 2005 season and is guaranteed to make 13.5 million a year for the next 3 seasons.
I have mixed feelings on Rasheed, I think he is one of the best power forwards in the NBA but it might be time for a change in scenery for him. Blazer fans have seemed to turn their back on him. He gets alot of technical fouls. Personally I like the guy, he is one of few players in the whole NBA that would walk through a mall all by himself and just act like a normal person, hes a cool guy. His contract is up after the 2004 season and he is gonna make 16.2 million a year until then. With the new salary cap rules, trading rasheed would be difficult.
After this season steve kerr's contract is up and that will clear up another 2.6 million for the blazers.
In order to rebuild the Blazers will have to at least wait 2 or 3 years just to wait for contracts to expire and they probably wont get any lottery picks until then because Bob Whittset hasnt realized that his team is not championship contenders so we can all expect at least another 3 years of 1st round exits. The team management did this to themselves, they exploited Paul Allens check book and used it to buy whatever they want, which ended up being players who were all stars about 5 years ago and paid em like they still are. All of the moves they made to get Pippen and Steve Smith were good short term moves because it gave Portland a chance to have a championship but fell short. It's going to take some time for the blazers to be able to recover and have a realistic shot at winning a title.
