Decisions, Decisions

I’ve been thinking a lot about decisions lately. Mostly about how just one decision good or bad can change the entire course of a life.  For instance, in my life, I can point to a hand-full of decisions in my life that have drastically changed the way I see the world.  I know I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this article if it weren’t for my decision to join the football team the summer before my freshman year of high school. I don’t remember why I chose to play, even though my parents had season tickets to the Seahawks, I was less than interested in sports. I went to the games to watch the cheerleaders and eat garlic fries; my interests changed pretty quickly once I started playing the game. I fell in love with football very quickly. Once I was in love, it didn’t take long for me to become borderline obsessed with football. Now I watch the draft, combine and preseason, in addition to regular season games. I play fantasy football and stay constantly informed about the league. In addition to football, I’ve started to follow basketball, to a lesser extent. My interest in basketball rarely extends past the Trail Blazers but I’m interested in what they do. The Blazers just made, at the time of this writing, a few important decisions of their own.

The NBA draft was held on Thursday and the Blazers selected four players during it. They traded one of those players for cash considerations. All of these decisions have the potential to help the Blazers out of the pit they’ve dug for themselves with some past decisions or continue the current losing trend.  The Blazers had two early first round picks which they used to select point guard Damian Lillard from Weber State and center Meyers Leonard from Illinois. Point guard and center were identified as the Blazers’ two biggest needs prior to the draft. Lillard is described as a tenacious, playmaking guard and the Blazers are hoping that Leonard will be able to be an anchor in the front court for years to come. If one or both of these picks pan out, then the Blazers will be in a better position to win games in the years to come.

In the second round of the draft, the Blazers selected Will Barton, a shooting guard from Memphis; he was described as an undersized player who is capable of scoring. The Blazers also selected Tyshawn Taylor, a point guard who played his college ball at Kansas and actually lasted through to his senior year, a rarity for basketball players these days. They traded him away in exchange for cash. The Blazer have placed themselves in a position to strengthen areas of weakness in their roster, not just through the players they’ve selected but for the opportunities those players present.  For instance, the Blazers’ second round pick, Will Barton, could make it more realistic for the Blazers to trade away Jamal Crawford, allowing them to pick up even more value. It may take some time but we will eventually see whether the decisions the Blazers made during the draft will help or hurt them but the decisions have great potential to change the fate of the team.