Young Blazers off on new trail

The team of the future. After years of "Jail Blazer" turmoil and disappointing seasons, that's what the Portland Trail Blazers are being called since they now have one of the greatest collections of young talent the NBA has ever seen. With an All-Star guard, a projected All-Star forward, the most heralded rookie since LeBron James, and much more on the roster, the excitement in Portland is reminiscent of the days of Clyde Drexler or Bill Walton.

Coach Nate McMillan, however, isn't quite ready to take a deep gulp of this red Blazers Kool-Aid just yet.

"All this potential," McMillan said. "That's what it is. We don't know. It's just potential. No one has seen it. You're taking guys that [need] two or three years to get a feel for this league."

After coaching the Sonics to a 52-win season in 2004-05, McMillan went to the Blazers on July 7, 2005, taking on a major rebuilding job.

At that time, the Blazers were one of the NBA's worst teams and had a poor reputation off the court. McMillan won only 21 games during his first season in Portland, 16 wins shy of his previous season low in wins during five seasons with Seattle.

With a combination of smarts and good fortune, Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard has made 14 trades over the past three drafts to make over the roster. The ex-Celtic also helped change the team's reputation off the floor by putting a premium on acquiring players with good character.

The Blazers drafted guard Brandon Roy (24 years old) two years ago; he was named an All-Star last year. Forward LaMarcus Aldridge (23) was named to the 2007 All-Rookie first team and averaged 17.8 points and 7.6 rebounds last season. The Blazers also drafted projected superstar center Greg Oden, who led Ohio State to the 2007 NCAA championship game as a freshman, with the top pick last year.

Pritchard acquired several other promising young players, including sharpshooter Martell Webster, guard Sergio Rodriguez (22), 2006 All-Rookie team forward Channing Frye (25), forward Ike Diogu (25), and rookies such as hot-scoring guard Jerryd Bayless (20), high-flying swingman Rudy Fernandez (23), and teenager Nicolas Batum (19), who enters the season as the starting shooting guard. Forward Travis Outlaw, who averaged 13.3 points last season, is also just 24.

"They went through that stretch where they went through that tag, 'The Jail Blazers,' " said Roy, who averaged a team-high 19.1 points last season. "When I first got here, the town was kind of down. The fans didn't want to be associated with the Trail Blazers.

"Now it's changed a lot. Everyone wants to be a part of what we're doing. That's because we have good guys that are responsible on and off the court. They just want us to play hard, be responsible people. We've been that and they've supported us."

While loaded with young talent, the Blazers are extremely light in experience. Only two active players have postseason experience, starting point guard Steve Blake and center Joel Pryzbilla, and Blake has played in only nine playoff games, Pryzbilla five.

"Even as young as we are, we have a lot of mature guys," Blake said. "We all get along well, and when things get rough, that's when you stay together even more.

"If stuff happens where we are having some rough patches, someone's going to have to step up, whether it's myself or someone else, to get everyone to realize what it takes and go from there. I think we will react well when we're in those situations."

Oden is already a favorite to be Rookie of the Year after missing last season because of right knee microfracture surgery. The 7-foot, 285-pounder's presence on offense has gotten notice from foes in the preseason and given room to Roy and Aldridge. Oden is also a force defensively.

While Pryzbilla is a quality center, Oden easily won the starting job. And with primarily Oden in mind, the Blazers already have been scheduled for 13 national television games, including opening night against the Western Conference champion Lakers Tuesday.

"I'm trying to learn things," Oden said. "I'm not trying to go too crazy and do stuff that I can't do. I'm just trying to get better game by game, practice by practice, and do what I feel I can do to help the team on the floor.

"Everybody is expecting so much from me. But I put more pressure on myself than anyone can put on me."

McMillan plans on leaning on Roy and Aldridge to take the pressure off Oden.

"You slowly work him in," McMillan said. "I don't think you bring him huge pieces of the responsibility right off the bat because we have options.

"We have LaMarcus, who has shown what he's capable of doing. We have Brandon Roy, who has shown what he's capable of doing. Our approach with [Oden] is to slowly bring him along, give him some [offensive] sets, and allow him to play with the ball and you go from there.

"He's been pretty good with his decisions with the ball, but not a huge piece of the pie right off the bat."

Said Roy, "There is going to come a time where he's going to be expected to do even more. But at the same time, we have to keep him grounded and understanding that this is your first season in a year. You have to start low and work your way up, and it's our job to help him out there and to relax."

The Blazers did not make the playoffs last season and haven't been there since 2003. The Western Conference is also loaded with experienced and powerful teams capable of keeping the Blazers out again. Even the Northwest Division has perennial playoff teams in Utah and Denver.

Roy believes "the sky's the limit." But it will be interesting to see how long it takes the team of the future to touch the sky.

"We're a young team . . . but at the same time, we've got to improve," said Roy. "We are not setting the bar too high for ourselves. We're just trying to go out here and get better every night.

"We've got a bull's-eye. But that's just what we want. We want people talking about us and we want to prove ourselves [as] one of the best young teams."