Blazers' Fire

Let's face it: The TrailBlazers aren't making the Playoffs this season. Between young kids, the club's financial worries, sporadic effort and inner-team friction, this season is as done as it could be.

Now we start looking at the future--specifically, the lottery. (It hurts to even think "Blazers" and "lottery" in the same sentence.) Though it'd be nice to trade for a solid veteran or two, I still believe the core of this young team is a future Portland can build into a contender.

Still, hoping for a good lottery pick is iffy. Think: Darko. Think: Kwame. For every champ right out of the gate--LeBron, DWade--there's a bust. More often than either is a player who takes a couple years to get himself together on the pro level. Think: Kobe.

But Portland's desperate. The Blazers need a rookie who'll come in and make an immediate impact. The powers that be seem to have determined that rookie to be Adam Morrison from Gonzaga. The kid is all that and a bag of chips on the collegiate level--the Zags have been top-notch since John Stockton came out of the Jesuit school in '82.

Only one team (the Charlotte Bobcats) would choose before Portland if the lottery were held today. Whether they'd take Morrison is questionable; there are a couple other kids--Oden comes to mind immediately--who would suit their needs better. If the season continues as it is, Morrison may well be available with that second pick.

Seems odd to be pinning Portland's hopes on a college kid, but we've got to find hope somewhere, right?

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