Well, here I am moving forward, building my team with a very large elephant in the room constantly trumpeting its reminder in my ear that my two best players (one of whom I've yet to officially draft, but by the very rules I myself helped craft, now must be drafted by me. P.S. this is what's known as being hoisted by one's own petard) play the same position. Clearly, this is untenible.
In the meantime, just gotta collect talent that fits my philosophy in an area that, with CWebb, Boogie and Vlade off the board, has been a glaring weak point of this franchise: talented big men.
Fortunately, we do have a guy in the annuals of our history I'd say is just a notch or two below the three elites just mentioned.
Before his hard-nosed intensity would make him a fan-favorite of the Blazers and Portland's adopted hometown hero. Before he would become famous around the league for staring down Karl Malone in a pivotal playoff series. Before his dedication to the philosphy of Rasta earned him some impressive dreadlocks and a Bob Marley tattoo.
Before all that, he was just a young, promising blue-collar power forward nicknamed "The General"
Brian Grant (95-96 season): 78gms 30.7min 14.4pts (.513 .235 .732) 7.0rebs 1.6ast 0.5stl 1.3blk 2.4TO
I'm going with Grant's sophomore campagin because, although it wasn't filled with the accolades of his rookie year and his turnover rate is worringly up, it does represent the one time between our franchise's first season in Sacramento and the dawn of the golden era that we actually, finally, triumphantly, sneaked into the playoffs and Grant was a major part of that - playing the Robin role to The Rock's Batman. Or perhaps more appropriate to scale: the Speedy to The Rock's Green Arrow.
During his days in Sacramento, Grant was still learning his role in the league, that would eventually lead him to be a versital, defensive specialist good for a double-double a night, able to play three positions as either a starter or reserve and a low-level intimidating enforcer. But he was certainly effective nontheless and his absence was felt when he opted out and bolted for Portland.
As things stand now, I'm crafting a team of ultimate role-players with a bit of a scrappy edge. Let's hope for my sake I can team them with the right guy they're ment to complement.
By the way, while researching Grant a bit, came across this rather detailed expose by his alma mater Xavier covering everything from his time in the league and his family life to his discovery of Rasta and fight against Parkinson's. Worth a look if you have a moment.
http://xtra.xavier.edu/xavier-magazine/brian-grant-a-new-life/