What could have been (and what never will be)

Not pictured: hope-crushing inevitability

I've always lived life by the maxim "you never know what you have before it's gone". To me, this motto is a constant reminder to appreciate what I have and apply a certain degree of reflexivity to my own consciousness. If we do not take honest assessments of ourselves, how can we possibly know what to appreciate, and what to improve upon?

The 2010-2011 NBA season is unfolding like a flash of lightning before our eyes.

The Miami Heat have close to 30 wins and only 9 losses, despite starting players I would never play with even in the most drunken, peer-pressure induced game of NBA 2k ever. The Boston Celtics appear to have found half their roster on a retirement cruise, and yet lead the Eastern Conference with it's best record. The Lakers are playing like the defending champs ought to, displaying tremendous depth. In sum, the NBA aristocracy is flourishing.

Here in the metaphorical slums of Portland Trailblazers fandom, things aren't as rosy.

Greg Oden, the pentulimate definition of disappointing, is out for the season yet again, proving once and for all that instead of getting Hakeem, we got Bowie all over again.

Greg.. Saaaaaaad.......

Brandon Roy, the teams rookie of the year, 3-time all-star and franchise savior, is experience a dramatic deterioration in the health of his knee(s) (honestly nobody really knows what's going on, the team is being more tight-lipped on this subject than an FCC Censor on George Carlin's comedy career).

We all know what he's thinking

So two members of our dreamed-of "big three" (Roy, Aldridge, Oden) are out of the picture.

In the Summer of 2007, when we used the first overall pick in the draft to tab Greg Oden, our management (in particular the late, great Kevin Pritchard) envisioned our team as San Antonio-West. This isn't a stretch-of-the-imagination comparison made popular on sports talk radio, KP would literally refer to the Spurs behind closed doors as the model for our franchise. A defensively-dominant big man (Duncan, Oden), an incredibly versatile and reliable wing (Ginobili, Roy), and super-talented third player who brings an added dimension (Parker-penetration, Aldridge- a mobile, face-up big man). Litter in a smattering of above-average to good role players (Dre, Batum, Fernandez, The Pryzbilla Thrilla) and we could, nay, we would end up being consistent championship contenders. We didn't need Oden to be a stud on offense, we already had an offensively-proficient big man and a stud at the shooting guard position, we just needed Greg to do what he did in college, play some of the best interior defense seen since David Robinson, Hakeem Olijuwan, and Tim Duncan. Nicolas Batum, one of the aforementioned role players, happens to be (quietly) one of the best perimeter defenders in the country. Put him on the other teams best player, with a hyper-athletic Oden patrolling the paint, and we had the makings of a dominant defensive team with a highly efficient offense. Efficient in the sense that while we had a low pace, almost every year we ranked in the top of the league in terms of points per possession, a key measure of offensive efficiency. Defense and offensive efficiency, surely the two most important ingredients to playoff success?

Instead, Oden kept getting hurt, and LaMarcus Aldridge kept neglecting to rebound, then all of our backup bigs kept getting hurt, and Roy kept getting banged up in-season carrying the slack, and consecutive first-round playoff exits at the hands of the Rockets and Suns have brought us here.

To the place where dreams die. And where what could have been becomes what never will be.

Life, as it often does when going about making bad news happen, manages a silver lining.

This season, LA has emerged as one of the premier talents in the league, playing like an absolute all-star (something that had been a goal of his for years, but something he never lived up to until now). He's attacking the basket more, taking less shots from outside 10-12 feet, rebounding and playing good interior defense. All told, he's blossoming into the player we thought we got with the second overall pick in the 2005 draft.

Wes Matthews, the second-year player we gave a big free agency contract to, is also playing like an all-star, putting up averages remarkably similar to what Mr. Roy used to do for us on a game-to-game basis. He also plays superb perimeter defense, making him and Batum and lethal combination.

Marcus Camby, the big man we traded for from the Clippers, is rebounding like a beast (when healthy, he is approximately 370 years old after all) and playing solid interior D.

There is a legacy in this realization, a leftover memory as it were.

The guy we assume will no longer be able to be our fearless leader, and the guy who should have done so much more for us, aren't really a part of this current feel-good story.

I like rooting for this team, we are underdogs again and coming from a small-market, I think that's how it will be more often than not. The little guy rarely gets to play spoiler.

And yet its odd watching the ebb and flow of this current team without thinking back to what could have been, and what never will be. Every team and, really, every person has a story to tell along these lines. Every vocabulary can express regret. A part of me wishes that for one season, even for one playoffs, I could have seen the team I thought we had back then. Just once, it would have been nice to go on a run. Just once during my lifetime, it'd be nice if things worked out like they did in '77. I've always dreamed of attending a title parade.

Instead, this is my reality.

We won't be winning any championships, and unless we make a move our ceiling is consistent playoff team, consistent first-round exit.

And you know what? Compared to the "what never will be" of others, I'm perfectly fine with this outcome. I can roll with this. Life rarely works out the way you want it to.

And if life gives you lemons, distill lemon vodka and invite some girls over.

Do I even need to point out which one's Ben Roethlisberger?