A lot of NBA watchers look at the Trail Blazers and see the potential for a Spurs-like run, one capable of producing multiple championships over the next eight to 10 years.
The reasons are evident, from a front office run by a former member of the Spurs Basketball operations department, to a coaching staff that includes a couple of former Spurs assistants and a roster with some talented foreign-born players. Like the Spurs, the Blazers have a solid low-post scorer, LaMarcus Aldridge, and a quick-footed guard adept at scoring on acrobatic drives to the basket and with shots from the perimeter, Brandon Roy.
Spurs coach Greg Popovich sees the potential, too, but there's one thing he hasn't yet seen, so he's not yet ready to declare the Blazers a dynasty in the making.
"I don't think we've played against Oden yet," Popovich said.
He's right. Greg Oden, the 7-foot center the Blazers made the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 draft, has yet to suit up for a game against the Spurs. He missed last season after requiring microfracture surgery on his right knee.
This season, he has been on the inactive list for all three games the Spurs and Blazers have played, the last two with a bone chip in his left knee, suffered right before the All-Star break. The recovery from that injury has taken longer than many believe it should have.
Some of those with raised eyebrows are part of the team's inner sanctum, but insiders have to tiptoe around their perception.
Popovich has injuries on his team that furrow his brow, so he will let Nate McMillan fret about Oden's health. What he understands, though, is that the Blazers' plans to become in the next 10 years what the Spurs have been in the past 10 won't bloom until Oden can be on the floor consistently.
"When they get that big fellow in on a consistent basis and have that low-post presence, then you will see exactly what the team is," Popovich said.
The most troubling aspect of Oden's protracted absences is the fear he may be the second coming of Sam Bowie, the Kentucky center whose path to NBA greatness was blocked by injury after injury.
Bowie was the No. 2 overall pick in the 1984 draft, selected by the Blazers right after the Rockets chose Hakeem Olajuwon and just before the Bulls made Michael Jordan the greatest No. 3 overall pick in the history of sports.
Now, every 40-point game that Kevin Durant produces for the Thunder combines with each game Oden misses to make Blazers fans wonder if Oden, too, was a draft-day blunder.
Portland could have had the UT star, who now ranks fourth in the league in scoring at 26.0 points per game. Instead, Oklahoma City figures to use him to crowd the Western playoff picture for the next number of years.
Nobody on the Blazers is saying anything on the record to suggest that Oden is reluctant to play with discomfort, but when an Oregonian columnist asked him Sunday if he wanted to play, his response was troublesome.
"I'm not comfortable," he said. "I still have pain."
Tim Duncan still had some pain in his right knee Friday night when he argued with Popovich about the coach's decision to have him sit out one more game because of tendonosis. He acknowledged a few weeks ago that both knees have been sore all season.
Duncan has suited up for 94 percent of the regular season games for which he has been eligible.
After Sunday, Oden's percentage slid to 34.6.
Exactly who the Trail Blazers will be in the future depends entirely on Oden's health and availability.
mikemonroe@express-news.net
