OPINION

Oh NBA, how we missed you

By Jason Derby · The Mainstream
Published November 3, 2009

The NBA season is here. This has to be my third favorite day of the year behind only college football opening day and Christmas day. This season I have many questions regarding my beloved Portland Trail Blazers. Will the way Greg Oden played in the pre-season be the same in the regular season? Will point guard Andre Miller accept his backup role behind the steady Steve Blake? Will Rudy Fernandez finally get his shot at being the star talent that he was in Spain? Will the formerly injury prone Martel Webster show why he was drafted instead of Chris Paul?

In my opinion yes, maybe, probably not, and no.

I believe the Blazers will at least make it through their first round playoff game this year. Brandon Roy is back and will show why he is one of the best players in the NBA, following a year where he averaged 22.6 points per game, 5.1 assists per game, and 4.7 rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge is still going to be the same productive power forward, maybe even better than that. Joel Pryzbilla is the best backup center in the league, period. No one rebounds and blocks shots as consistently as this man does. In the 2008-09 season, he averaged 8.7 rebounds per game and 1.18 blocks over 82 games.

So, do we take the Blazers at face value? I believe so. My prediction for the season is that their record will be 56-26, not including playoffs.