Let’s have a thought experiment: How good could the current Portland Trail Blazers become if they were simply kept together?
Portland Trail Blazers fans have lots of memories of the phrase "let the cake bake". Its origins date to the winter of 2008. As the seemingly-ascendant Blazers started their rise around Brandon Roy, Greg Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge, General Manager Kevin Pritchard had an ace in the hole: The expiring contract of the injured Raef Lafrentz, mostly paid by an insurance policy, could be used to pry "the missing piece" from another team, such as the oft-rumored Devin Harris.