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All things told, this hasn't been a disaster of a season for the Trail Blazers. Losing Greg Oden was tough, of course, and the offense was expected to sputter persistently. (Crow time: I said Portland's offense would be a disaster; it's about league average. Why? Brandon Roy's been healthy, LaMarcus Aldridge has been spectacular, and Travis Outlaw screamed Eureka!) Though streaky, Portland's put together a nice composite start as it rides a conference-leading six-game win streak.

Portland's only 1.5 games out of the playoffs, in fact, with Golden State holding down the #8 spot and underwhelming Houston also in the way. Of course, the playoffs are a helluva long time away; somehow eclipsing two of the GSW, Houston and Utah triumvirate seems unlikely at best. Add in this: With the good streaks come the bad, as Portland's results to date have nearly completely come in homogeneous bunches. They've had three losing streaks of at least three losses and 10 of the team's 11 wins have come in two separate streaks of four and six wins.

Still, it's a far cry from where Portland was supposed to be. Instead of toiling with incredibly bad Minnesota or hovering around the threshold of certain mediocrity with Memphis, Sacramento, Seattle and the Clippers, Portland's pushing Houston and Golden State. A minor victory, I suppose, but valuable nonetheless. Now when the Blazers end the year with 37 or so wins, we can add Oden in our mind's calculator and overrate Portland completely next October!