By Bill Oram

It wasn’t that long ago when the Portland Trail Blazers were the laughing-stock of the NBA. Now, they are laughing right in the faces of the rest of the league.

Portland, who started the season off with a dismal 13-18 record, seemed destined for a free fall into an abyss of obscurity. Amazingly, things don’t seem to be headed that way, the Blazers (41-26) are 16-3 since the all-star break. In fact, the very all-star break which had the Blazers rumored to send different players out for players, varying from Jalen Rose, to Nick van Exel, to Latrell Sprewell. None of those deals were completed. Apparently, the insecurity of all of the players jobs inspired them into the team that now appears to be a legitimate NBA Western Conference contender.

At one point in a recent hot streak the Blazers ran of twelve straight wins, only to have it snapped to a team that has become their Achilles heel: the Denver Nuggets. And even that game was in overtime.

So many things could have been the difference maker in the team’s astonishing turnaround. Possibilities are, the aforementioned jeopardy of their respective jobs; the lack of fan support; another one could even be the losing . . . maybe the players were just flat out tired of losing.

Actually, the most intriguing possibility, and most likely, seems to be first-year coach Maurice Cheeks’ brilliant job of making himself a commanding figure in the locker room, while at the same time being friends with the players. Something certain players of the team have stated that they felt former Blazers coach, Mike Dunleavy, was only portraying an authority figure, and not putting himself in a supportive role to the players.

Alas, the Dunleavy era has ended, and the Cheeks era has commenced.

So what makes a team go from the cellar to Cloud Nine? No matter what events have factored into it, the undisputable answer is: chemistry.

chemq·isq·try a science that deals with the composition, structure, and properties of substances and with the transformations that they undergo

This definition of the term “chermistry” can be found in Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary.

You may be wondering, how does this definition relate to the Blazers? Well, the answer is simple. Let’s break it down.

Portland general manager Bob Whitsitt brought several veterans on to a once young squad, hoping that these more experienced players would bring a championship to Portland. Unfortunately, Shawn Kemp, Dale Davis, Scottie Pippen, and Steve Smith did not accomplish that mission, although they did come close on a couple of separate occasions.

If you look at Kemp and Davis they are both power forwards expected to play a bulk of their minutes at center. These undersized centers are able to match up with most of the East and even some of the West. Consequently, when paired against the “Best of the West,” such as Shaquille O’Neal, David Robinson, Tim Duncan, Vlade Divac, and even Michael Olowakandi, these players appear to be mere pre-schoolers at play.

Also, a problem for Kemp and Davis is that they have been fighting all season for minutes, with each other, and other competent big men, rookies Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje and Zach Randolph. This may not seem such a difficult task, but then, they are also competing for minutes with superstar (more of less) Rasheed Wallace. Luckily, for Kemp and Davis, last season’s oft-injured, 7-3 Lithuanian center Arvydas Sabonis opted not to return to the team, seemingly leaving the team in a rather uncomfortable position, but also leaving the door open for Dale Davis to step into Sabonis’s starting role.

Point of Interest: Sabonis was the most active member of last season’s Blazer squad to bash Mo Cheeks’ predecessor. Sabonis went so far as to say the June firing of Dunleavy didn’t come soon enough, that he would have like to have seen it mid-season.

Not only has Davis relished the role of starting center, he has left his mark on this franchise. Bob Whitsitt displayed his appreciation for Davis during the heat of February as numerous teams were burning up the Blazers’ Front Office phone lines asking about Davis. Whitsitt received many intriguing offers but decided to stick with good ole’ #34 for the scarlet, white, and black. Geoffrey C. Arnold of The Oregonian recently stated, “Maybe we should change his name from Double D, to Double-Double.” Not a bad idea. Davis has been a beast on the boards. He has seemed like a made while cleaning up on the glass, and a garbage man with all the dirty work he is doing. Unfortunately, Double-Double has also shown signs of a short temper. In the recent blow out of Western Conference powerhouse Dallas Mavericks, Davis threw a punch and ended up wrapping his arm around Dallas center Shawn Bradley. This action earned Davis a two game suspension and a rather hefty fine.

The structure of any team has more to do with team balance, not necessarily talent. If certain players don’t like each other in the locker room, or don’t like them on the court, you are not going to get the same production from those players if they did get along with each other.

For an example of this let’s look at Damon Stoudamire.

Last season, Stoudamire was always looking over his shoulder, not knowing what exactly his role on the team was. Was he a shooter? A distributor? Was he just there so Greg Anthony and/or Rod Strickland had somebody to back up?

This season started off with all kinds of optimism coming from and for Stoudamire. New coach Cheeks was supposed to be a retired version of what Stoudamire was to be molded into. Unfortunately, Stoudamire didn’t immediately buy into Cheek’s system, causing much anxiety in the locker room, which undeniably ran over on to the court. This in theory hurt the team and made them distrust each other. So without a point guard the team was in a disarray. And by “without a point guard” I don’t mean that he physically wasn’t there. He just wasn’t there mentally. Granted, Scottie Pippen came in and performed admirably at the point guard position, but again, this affected Stoudamire’s psyche, most likely causing mental unrest and uncertainty. This is a good explanation of why Stoudamire did not come around into what all of his critics expected until around late January.

When Pippen did come into the role of point guard, he did what a point guard is supposed to do. He passed the ball, he ran the floor, took timely shots, looked for the open man, and most importantly, he made the team better, just by being on the floor. These are all things that Damon Stoudamire could only wish that he could.

Many people expected that Stoudamire might end up becoming a back-up for the first time in his career. A back-up Scottie Pippen. But, instead of allowing himself just to fade away into the sunset, Stoudamire learned from what he saw Pippen doing to help the team. And when Stoudamire came back from his 5-game stint on the injured list – a stint which Stoudamire suggested on his own, because he wasn’t happy with the way the team was playing – he did all of those things that always seemed impossible for the 5-10 shoot-first point guard from the University of Arizona.

Now, Stoudamire is playing premier basketball, arguably the best of his career, and certainly the best of his time spent in Portland. This year Stoudamire hasn’t been burdened with looking over his shoulder, his only back-up is Rick Brunson, a solid reserve, but he can’t be expected to play huge minutes. Pippen has returned to his usual small forward position, leaving Stoudamire the point guard job all to himself.

With their recent surge that has shown brilliant energy, competitiveness, loyalty, heart faith, and the two keys to success: defense and rebounding. All of this has been due in large part to the aforementioned Dale Davis.

So now, the Blazers have turned on a laugh track of their own, and as a fan of this roller coaster of a franchise, I say, no matter what, I am proud to know that when this team wins an NBA title, whether it be 2002, or 2124, I will be sitting on my couch cheering them on, and hoping, just hoping, that there is a small, maybe even large chance, that I will get to go through the whole thing the next year. For, being an NBA fan isn’t just watching your team succeed. It is watching the triumphs, and the falls, and then watching it all come together to be the best they can be. Hopefully, the best of 2002.