<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Now comes the hard part for the people of Portland: patience. You can't blame them for hoisting a microbrew or two in between bites of their Dungeness crab after the Trail Blazers came out of nowhere last Tuesday night to win the NBA lottery. General manager Kevin Pritchard is playing it coy right now, but if he passes on Greg Oden, he should be forced to watch a tape of LaRue Martin and Sam Bowie in a windowless room. The arrival of Oden gives Portland some cachet, some hope, but, recent history tells us, not a lot of dramatic improvement right out of the box. In time, however, watch out. Recent history also tells us that. Assuming Oden is what he is billed to be, he will be the fifth "can't-miss, difference-making, worth-losing-for" player to come out in the last 20 years and be drafted No. 1 overall.</div> Source
