Empty the Bench

By Zachariah Blott

I swear I planned on writing a version of this story before Greg Oden broke his kneecap on Saturday night. Since the oft-injured gentle giant went down yet again, the focus obviously has to be slanted more toward him, but there are enough other issues brewing in Portland to worry all those experts who picked the Trail Blazers as their darkhorse Western Conference champion (that would be everyone) and expected them to be in the Championship discussion for a while (same group).

Right before the injury, Portland had lost three games in a row in convincing fashion, all to teams that had much worse records; then they went to New York and stunk up the Garden in an ugly loss to the Knicks. They’ve looked out-of-sync for a while, so it’s finally time to figure out what’s wrong with Nate McMillan’s talented club because this isn’t the point at which people planned on exiting the bandwagon.

1. Greg Oden’s body won’t let him be the next Bill Russell: First it was a torn wrist ligament in high school that caused him to miss a month of college ball. Then it was the wrist not healing, a bulging disk in his back, an “off” hip alignment, a right leg that’s one inch longer than the left, and the rumor of at least one NBA team’s doctor having concerns about the long-term health of his knees. All of these issues existed before he was even drafted in 2007.

Since then? A tonsillectomy took him out of the Vegas summer league, that infamous microfracture surgery delayed his rookie season, a foot strain on opening night of his new rookie season caused him to miss two weeks, and he banged knees with Corey Maggette in February, chipping his knee cap, keeping him out of 15 contests. That brings us up to Saturday. In his 82nd career game, Oden went down with a broken knee cap, which will wipe out the remainder of what should be his third NBA season.

Greg Oden Photo Credit: Icon SMI

How big is this loss to the Blazers? GO was rebounding 21.3 percent of all missed shots while he was on the floor, just a hair behind league-leader Dwight Howard’s 21.5. He was blocking 7.2 percent of opponents’ shots while he was on the floor, well ahead of everyone, even Denver’s Chris Andersen. He was one of only four players in the NBA shooting over 60% from the field, and he was also connecting on 77% of his free throws. Sure, Oden was still figuring out how to stay out of foul trouble, but the same was true of Shaquille O’Neal 82 games into his career. There is no question that Oden had an extremely high ceiling as a dominant defensive force, and the team just had a meeting a week ago that stressed getting him more touches because he’s such an efficient scorer.

At this point, there have been so many ailments limiting his playing time that one can no longer write them off as fluke injuries unconnected to the others. Unfortunately, his talent is immense, but he now appears to be damaged goods. The loss of a defensive stopper in the middle who can fill up the hoop with ease is obviously tremendous.

Two more reasons the wheels have come off and what to do about it, after the jump …

2. Too many guys need the ball: Brandon Roy has become the model of a selfless superstar who does all the necessary little things while sacrificing his own stats for the sake of the team. That being said, he has been the creator for Portland. When he has the ball, opposing guards cheat toward him, leaving other Blazer guards open for catch-and-shoot opportunities. When he has the ball, opposing bigs are looking to help on drives, leaving the Blazer frontcourt open for easy shots near the rim. When he has the ball, opposing defenses are stressed.

Unfortunately, too many other Blazers need the ball in their hands to really be effective. Andre Miller is a phenomenal distributor, but he’s not a shooter who can play off another ball handler, so he needs the ball. Travis Outlaw’s favorite move is the dribble-drive pull-up, plus he sees himself as a starter-level scorer, so he needs the ball in his hands. Rudy Fernandez is a nice spot-up bomber, but it’s obvious he has bigger plans for his future, so he wants more of the ball. LaMarcus Aldridge is a competent scorer and clear #2 option on the team, so he needs the rock. Youngster Jerryd Bayless is instant offense off the bench who gets to the free throw line at an unbelievable rate, so he needs the ball. Nicolas Batum and Martell Webster are talented outside shooters who like to drive, so they need the ball. And then there’s Oden.

Pretty much all these guys could be a team’s second or third scoring option, and the seven not named Miller kind of expect to be (and he’s the one who actually is their third scorer right now). Not only that, all of them except Outlaw are signed for the next two seasons. They all can’t get the ball, but they all want it. You think this doesn’t create some discontented murmurs in the locker room? At the end of the bench? To their friends outside the arena? Not only that, the Portland fans are starting to think just about all of them need more touches. This is not a puzzle time can solve.

3. Uncertainty as to individuals’ roles: They all can’t score, so what is everyone supposed to be doing out on the court when they’re not shooting? I don’t know how clearly this has been relayed to the players by McMillan, but there are some clues that it hasn’t been enough.

First of all, with all the talent the Blazers have, they look out-of-sync way too often. It all started with one lackluster preseason game after another, but no one wanted to worry about it because it was the preseason. Everyone really forgot about this problem after they reeled off six straight victories in early-November, but all of those opponents were underwhelming and in many cases hurt. Before and after that streak, it’s been .500 ball. Watch just one quarter of any Blazers game and you’re likely to see five guys on many different pages. They’ll be a talented bunch that might be winning, but they won’t all know what the other players are up to.

Second, McMillan has called far more conferences with the team and the “Big Three” (Roy, Aldridge, Oden) than at this point in previous seasons. Although we don’t always know what he’s saying in there, just the fact that he has to continually refocus the troops and let them know what they’re supposed to be doing can’t be a good sign. Roy has also called a few players-only meetings to get everyone in order from the captain’s perspective. And they’ve already had multiple back-to-the-basics practices. That’s never good.

The third clue there’s still uncertainty as to players’ roles ties into the first two clues: players are hesitant on the court. Anyone who’s seen a few Portland games can tell that guys are thinking way too much. Should I shoot? Does that make me selfish on a team rooted in unselfishness? Should I just get it back to Roy? What’s my place in the pecking order again? Yes, they’re a young team, but at some point they have to play the game and stop thinking so much.

Moving forward: With defensive maestro Oden back on the IR and the team’s top perimeter defender—Batum—still out until later in the season, the Blazers could sure use some defensive-minded role players. This would also alleviate the problem of too many players thinking about where their next points will come from. It would be nice if they could package several of these scorers (especially Outlaw who is likely gone at the end of the year anyway) and possibly Miller, who is paid too much to come off the bench and have a style that clashes with Roy, for a few role players who actually know their roles.

In a perfect world, the Blazers could unload Outlaw, Miller, Bayless, and possibly Webster in order to get back a few great defenders who can also knock it down when it’s kicked to them. Those four earn $17 million this season, so Portland should be able to find some of these guys they need. In addition, other teams have got to be salivating over the quickness and pure scoring instincts of Bayless who is only getting $2 million a season, so Portland could also try shipping him with what’s left of Darius Miles’ contract and maybe even Oden (sacrilegious, I know) for some players who can lighten Roy’s defensive load and do all the things Jordan’s “lesser” teammates always did.

I know most of them are long shots, but some example players who would fit in nicely include Houston’s Shane Battier and Chuck Hayes, Utah’s Andrei Kirilenko, Oklahoma City’s Thabo Sefolosha, Milwaukee’s Charlie Bell and Dan Gadzuric, Chicago’s Kirk Hinrich, Golden State’s Anthony Morrow, and Memphis’s Sam Yong (still a work in progress).

Zachariah Blott cannot recommend Rick Telander’s “Heaven Is A Playground” enough.