Perhaps I gave the wrong impression.

I don't want anyone to think that I expect this year's Blazer team to win a championship, I don't. What I do expect to see is a team that plays with effort, plays to win. This is not what we had after Mo Cheeks was fired. I am not forgetting that management tossed in the towel and effectively gave up on the integrity of playing to win. They set a very poor example. I don't want this team to adopt those ideals. I want this team to follow Nate and play to win, in spite of the labels management is putting on them. What label? The label that young teams can't win. I am growing tired of hearing this.

The average age of our team is a non-factor to me. We have Ruben Patterson, Theo Ratliff, Joel Przybilla, Juan Dixon and Charles Smith. These guys have been around the block. Add in Zach Randolph and Darius Miles and you have two guys that are younger in age but they too have been in the league long enough to play with the big boys. We have Jarret Jack who may be just out of college but at least he played in college. That puts him ahead of Sebastian and others in the league experience-wise. The rest of the guys are capable players. Then, of course, we have our green bean, Martel Webster. This is not an all-rookie team. This is a team that can play.

There is always work to do on any team. This one will be just fine as long as management realizes that they must let Nate McMillan drive the Blazer bus. If they grab the wheel, like they have in years past, we are headed for failure once again. If they do not, we could be in for some great basketball.