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If you were to look around the Portland Trail Blazers locker room, there would be a fair few faces you’d recognise from other uniforms.
Journeyman centres Kurt Thomas and Marcus Camby both have travelled the NBA landscape extensively through their long career, while Raymond Felton and Gerald Wallace are both reunited after starting their careers as Bobcats.
Jamal Crawford is starting this season on his fifth team, and guard Wesley Matthews is only just beginning to look like a Blazer after starting his career with the Utah Jazz.
In fact, the only two regular faces on the Portland roster that have been career-long Blazers are LaMarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum.
It isn’t unusual for a successful team to have so many players from different teams – just look at the Miami Heat, but it is interesting to see a team playing so cohesively since losing two core players that had been Blazers since the draft in Greg Oden and Brandon Roy.
Portland hold a 7-2 record at time of writing (perhaps 7-3 if they lose this game they’re currently playing against the Magic) and have posted some solid wins against the likes of the Lakers and Thunder.
What impresses even further is the way these wins have been accomplished.
Instead of solely relying on long-time Blazer and star player LaMarcus Aldridge, Portland have shared the load, with six players averaging scoring in double-digits, four players averaging over four rebounds per contest and 21.4 assists per game as a team.
It would be a massive surprise to see an NBA Finals game contested in Rip City this season, but after seasons plagued by a freakish amount of injuries, stranger things have happened before.
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