The Portland Trail Blazers came into this season with expectations of an up-tempo style of offense that would fit new point guard Raymond Felton's style of play. For those unaware, Felton was acquired from the Denver Nuggets in exchange for point guard Andre Miller.
Felton had a great 2010-2011 season, as he averaged 14.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 7.9 assists with the Knicks and Nuggets, and was expected to provide the team with an upgrade in both perimeter defense and outside shooting.
With the NBA lockout lasting 161 days, you'd have been kidding yourselves to expect the quality of play to be on par with past seasons. There were sure to be players that came in out of shape, but I had a hard time believing that Felton would be one of them, if simply for the fact he was entering a contract year.
I was wrong.
While Felton has always been a somewhat soft-built player, his doughy physique entering this season was a huge disappointment. To make matters worse, Felton had a very abbreviated period to learn a new offense, as well as getting comfortable with new teammates. That combination proved toxic for both Felton and the Blazers, as Felton's play was so bad that Nate McMillan removed him from the starting lineup in favor of shooting guard Jamal Crawford.
The experiment ended after just four games, and since Kaleb Canales replaced Nate McMillan as head coach five games ago, Felton has averaged 14.4 points, 2.0 rebounds and 7.2 assists on 46.4% shooting. Canales has allowed Felton a bit more of a leash to make plays, and Felton's level of play has increased, as well as his comfort level with his teammates.
Portland has been looking for it's "Point Guard of the Future" for quite some time, and has been since Damon Stoudamire left during the height of the "Jail Blazers" era. The 2012 draft doesn't have top-level point guard talent, as my top two point guards, North Carolina's Kendall Marshall and Weber State's Damian Lillard, both have question marks in their games (Marshall's ability to score, Lillard's level of competition).
Free agency will likely have Deron Williams as the marquee player on the market, but Williams may look to sign with the Mavericks or another contending team, and would likely not be too enticed to join a team that's in the process of a roster overhaul, let alone one in as small of an NBA market as Portland is.
After Williams, the top free agents at point guard are Steve Nash (Suns), Ramon Sessions (Lakers), Goran Dragic (Rockets) and Aaron Brooks (Phoenix, restricted). Nash (who will turn 39 next season) simply doesn't fit Portland's rebuilding effort. Should he decide to leave Phoenix, Nash could look to sign with a contending team for a chance to win a championship before he retires (I'm thinking Dallas is a possibility). Sessions will likely re-sign with the Lakers, as he's been super productive since joining the team at the trading deadline, and will have the chance to play in a huge market and contend for a championship. Dragic has played well since Kyle Lowry went down to injury, but this stretch of good basketball could inflate his price on the market. Brooks is an intriguing option, as he has roots in the Pacific Northwest (he played his college ball at the University of Oregon), but with Steve Nash also a free agent, the team will likely try and retain Brooks, who is playing in China this season due to the NBA lockout.
While Felton's sample size of success is relatively small (just five games), there may not be much of a market for a player who has struggled as much as Felton has this year. Should Felton continue his steady play, the Blazers may well be enticed to sign Felton to a short-term deal to better gauge his ability to run the point for Portland, and at worst could be a stop-gap solution until the team is able to acquire it's mythical P.G.O.T.F., or until Nolan Smith (or potentially Jonny Flynn) are ready to take the reigns of the offense.
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