<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> When it?s slim pickings on the NBA schedule you don?t have much to choose from. No need to hit up NBATV here. TNT will suffice. They opened their NBA coverage with the Chicago Bulls rallying to nearly beat the Cleveland Cavaliers (92-91), quickly followed by the Dallas Mavericks versus the San Antonio Spurs for battle of the best in the west. Your second thought is to sit and pout about ?your? team?s night off. As a writer, this is followed closely by the thought of dissecting this weeks Portland Trail Blazers ?Team Report?. Which brings us to the lecture at hand. As Portland?s season steadily comes to a close, it?s easy to get stuck in the zone of looking back on the season. Some of us do this often. At times, reminiscing helps remove the pain of having to deal with the present. Think about it? Which is more difficult? Is it harder to know that you have struggled or that you will continue to struggle? In Portland?s case it is a little of both. There was no hidden secret?s when the season started. Blazers? management and Coach Nate McMillan realized the journey would be a long road to haul. This is only the second season of a rebuilding project estimated to be a 4 to 5 year plan. Question. Does that diagram mean it will take that long to compete or contend? There is a difference. After a month into the Blazers? year, the writing was on the wall: buckle up- long ride ahead. This was bookend by two long seven game road trips that saw the Blazers go 3-11 between the trips. Since then, strides have been made to ensure the fan base progress is being made. GM John Nash pulled out the culinary and trimmed the fat (Ruben Patterson) at the trade deadline. And it?s safe to assume that Nash knows these kinds of moves are necessary to achieve set goals towards rebuilding. To applaud management, Brian Skinner has worked out nicely. The blue-collar baller has a nice future in Portland and it would be wise for Nash to look at keeping him on the books. That addition of Skinner seems to be the one bright spot the Blazers can presently hang their hat on. The dark spot then is Portland?s 6-22 road record. The Blazers will spend their next three games in Texas facing the San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks, and the Houston Rockets where the Blazers look to better their woeful road worries. Here are some other numbers to ponder: *2-11 Blazers record in February. Only the New York Knicks had a worse month (1-11). *1-0 Record in March. *2-1 Record against the Los Angeles Lakers this season. The two teams meet again in Los Angeles in April to see if Portland can run the tilt to 3-1. *89.1 Average points per game (last in the league- Phoenix leads the league with 107.83). *6.14 Average steals per game (only the Orlando Magic rank worse-6.12). *.341 Team?s 3-point shooting % average (ranks last in the league). *19-38 Blazers current record. *1973-74 Portland finished season 27- 55. *1970-71 Portland finished season 29- 53. *25 Games left in the season for Portland. (Likely to finish this season somewhere around the marks mentioned above). *4 Longest win streak this season. *6 Longest losing steak this season. *106 Total blocks so far for Joel Pryzbilla (ranks 7th in the NBA- 2.41 blocks per game). *163 Pryzbilla?s total blocks last season (finished 7th in the NBA-2.14 blocks per game). *$5 million Amount the Blazers could offer Pryzbilla this coming summer as a free agent (earning $1.56 million in his second season with Portland). *11.7 Brian Skinners points per game average in three games with Portland (8.3 rebounds). *19 Total double-doubles for Zach Randolph this season (tied for 20th in the NBA with Jason Kidd, Chauncey Billups, and Lamar Odem). *$167 million Total amount in long-term contracts owed to Zach Randolph, Darius Miles, and Theo Ratliff. </div> link: http://www.hoopsworld.com/article_16382.shtml
