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video: National Media Showing Portland Trail Blazers Some Love

Friday, June 03, 2016

Bryant Knox, Oregon Sports News

 

The Portland Trail Blazers have suffered for years when it comes to mainstream attention. They’re regularly overlooked by the media in terms of national television games, and the elephant in the room this summer will be whether or not the Rip City market can attract anything above a third-tier free agent.

But while Portland remains tucked away from the rest of the Association, often metaphorically and always geographically, the team earned a small victory when Bleacher Report cleverly inserted three of its core pieces into its hit Game of Zones series.

The series, which takes real-life NBA storylines and intertwines them with narratives from the HBO series Game of Thrones (GOT), has given the Blazers their 15 seconds of fame. The sixth episode opens with Damian Lillard, CJ McCollum and Mason Plumlee confronting Timberwolves (who hail from, let’s say, Minnesota) in the woods. For fans of GOT, you’ll recognize the name Brotherhood Without Banners. In Game of Zones, Portland’s chosen triumvirate represents the Brotherhood With One Banner—a perfect example of crossing storylines when considering the one banner reads: “1977 Realm Champs.”

The Trail Blazers’ time to shine only lasts until about the 1:07 mark of the animated video, but it’s long enough to have fans in Rip City giddy considering this kind of attention rarely falls to them (unless it’s in the form of a Lillard commercial or Dame Dolla track).

Fans can also feel good about having a new song to sing, courtesy of the B/R series:

“We blaze a trail, a trail we blaze,

A duck’s worth of caffeine,

And Clyde ‘The Glyde’, he lives inside,

Of Terry Porter’s head”

What exactly do these lyrics mean? No, really...this isn’t a journalistic tactic to set up a point. If any GOT fans out there know this reference, please contact me directly. I feel like I’m missing something crucial, but I must admit, I’m not a fan of the show.

What I am a fan of, however, is Portland returning, even in animated fashion, to the forefront of the NBA and its fans.

This is a small victory for the Blazers, but one that shows they’ve come a long way. 

 

On top of that, Portland has earned a prominent spot in ESPN.com’s Future Power Rankings. Placing No. 8 (of 30 teams in a ranking of “who will rise in the next three years?”), Chad Ford and Kevin Pelton state:

“While we were relatively optimistic about the Trail Blazers in September, they've still tied for the largest jump since then. Portland moved back into the top 10 after not only defying expectations by making the playoffs but winning a series (albeit aided by the Clippers' injuries) and competing with the Warriors in the second round.”

They continue:

“Now, the Blazers have the opportunity to clear max space while retaining their young core, led by the dynamic backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. That's possible because GM Neil Olshey locked up young free agents Al-Farouq Aminu and Ed Davis to contracts that look like enormous bargains.

To threaten the West's upper crust, Portland still must hold off younger teams rising out of the lottery. But a strong management team of Olshey and newly extended coach of the year runner-up Terry Stotts gives reason to believe in the Blazers.”

According to ESPN, the Blazers are No. 5 in terms of future management. The team is No. 9 when it comes to players, and, as you can see below, between 15 and 19 in all other categories:

The future is bright for Portland, but fans in Rip City already knew that. It’s time the national media catches on, and as it turns out, that time is now with the Blazers in the spotlight in the midst of the NBA Finals.

 

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