Nice little narrative today by John Canzano of the Oregonian on the welcoming of Jamaal Magloire to the Blazers and the pressure this now puts on Zach Randolph to perform. This move, one which overstacks the PF/C position with depth could be the greatest masterstroke of all by Blazers management this off-season.
If the sudden depth of the Blazers forces Z-Bo and newly re-upped Joel Przybilla to perform at the top of their abilities every night, for fear of looking over their collective shoulder at Magloire and top rookie LaMarcus Aldridge -- and to a lesser extent Raef LaFrentz -- then it could prove the Blazers to be big movers this season.
I don't think for a second that the Blazers become a force to be reckoned with in the West, but at least an effort big enough to force their way into the playoffs would be a season considered a success -- and a great building block for the future.
Now, the question is, if the Blazers do out-perform expectations and it can be put down to the tremendous off-season of draft picks and trades, who do you name GM of the year? Given that the Blazers do not even have a named GM at the moment, it could be an award without a winner. If a new GM is named during the season and his name is not Pritchard, it would be a bit erroneous to give him the award. But, I'm getting ahead of myself...
Bring on November 1.
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