Waiting to grade Kevin Pritchard

For all of the recent talk, Kevin Pritchard is Portland's version of the Basketball Jesus. He walks on water, he does no wrong, and he's the saviour of our franchise.

I don't necessarily disagree with any of this, at least not yet. So far, he's had a very good run. But Portland fans need to reserve judgment on Kevin Pritchard.

Pritchard started things out the way Bob Whitsitt would've. He's traded a lot. Unlike Bob, Pritchard does seem concerned about chemistry and team dynamics, though, so I don't particularly take issue with the trades.

The trades have also come, to this point, in apt situations at apt times. The trades have done great things for us: rid us of Telfair and Randolph, netted us Roy, Aldride, and Oden, and set us up for a nice future run with some nice kids at the helm.

The danger is that, at some point, we'll just continue to trade for trades' sake, or that we'll trade because it's expected. Fans (including myself) have gotten really high on KP's trade tendencies in the off-season, and we need to be careful not to understand something important:

In a franchise such as Portland's, in a small town where the culture, personalities, and community all play heavily into fan interest, at some point you need to allow fans to get attached to some people, and you need to show loyalty to fan favorites, even if it isn't necessarily the best thing for the stat line.

There was some upset at the recent shipping-out of Freddie Jones, for instance. The guy opted out of the last year of his contract to come to Portland and play for his home team. Fans loved him. It was a great story. But, just a few months later, as Freddie was talking like he was settling into this roster, he was (surprisingly) shipped out in the Randolph trade.

As many say, it's a business, but still an under-appreciated part of business is loyalty.

Not to say that KP's a heartless trading bastard. The move probably benefitted the team greatly, because it helped us essentially get a free SF from Phoenix. But it raised my eyebrow.

Portland now has its core for the future -- LaMarcus, Brandon, and Greg. It's clear in my mind that, barring some uncharacteristic and unforeseen brain-fart on the part of one of these guys, this is Portland's new Clyde, Terry, and Jerome. This is a nucleus that will be kept together for at least 5 years. But I can't help but wonder if, in the search for the next shiny toy, one of these guys may find themselves as trade bait in a couple of years.

Even if there's a statistical upgrade available, to identify the core as these three and to sell them to the fans as the heart and soul of the franchise means that the front office, I hope, understands that commitment that they are making to fans, and that we as fans are making to the team. We are buying into the team not because of the franchise's history; we are buying into the team because of the guys on the court.

Do I think KP will eff this up? No. He seems brighter than that, and he hails from San Antonio, home of the long-term commitment to Tim Duncan, David Robinson, Tony Parker, etc. But I'm going to say that, while he's done a great job in the just-over-one-season that he's been prominently calling shots, I'm going to wait at least another year, another draft, to give him an actual grade.