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While Kevin Pritchard, the Blazers’ General Manager, remains coy as to whom they will select with the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft, Portland assistant and big man’s coach Maurice Lucas can hardly contain his excitement over the prospect of coaching the next great big man in Oden.

“He reminds me of a Nate Thurmond where he had those long arms, jumped real well and was quick around the basket, more so than a fluent guy like a Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] or [Hakeem] Olajuwon with all the head fakes and moves,” said Lucas.

Lucas should know, having played against Thurmond for one season in the NBA before the future Hall of Famer retired following the 1976-77 campaign. Prior to that season, the Blazers acquired Lucas in the American Basketball Association (ABA) dispersal draft and basketball in the Pacific Northwest was never the same since.

While All-Star center Bill Walton was the headliner and centerpiece of the ’77 Blazers improbable championship run, Lucas was the team’s missing piece, the heart and soul, the power forward who intimidated and often devastated his opponents with his bruising style of play. Nicknamed The Enforcer, Lucas personified the Blazers’ never-say-die attitude while leading the Blazers in scoring that season, averaging 20.2 points a game.

CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE MADE IN THE PAINT
In analyzing Durant’s game, Lucas also sees a special, versatile player, someone who has the potential to become one of the league’s premier scorers.

“Kevin Durant is going to be a better Carmelo Anthony, a taller scorer like that, a guy who can do a lot of things, a bigger Dr. J,” said Lucas.

Yet as great as Durant’s NBA potential may be, he’s still not a big man and it isn’t lost on Lucas where championships are won – in the paint.

“History will tell you that once the playoffs start and the games slow down, it’s going to be controlled from the inside out,” said Lucas. “You get some lucky teams that are shooting the J pretty good, but even if you look at San Antonio now, Tony Parker and all those guys are going to the paint. If Utah had a shot-blocking center, that series could have been different.”

In the 60 years of the NBA Finals, big men bearing the names Mikan, Russell, Chamberlain, Reed, Abdul-Jabbar, Walton, Unseld, Malone, Parish, Olajuwon, O’Neal, Robinson, Duncan have accounted for 41 titles. And it could be 42 if Duncan and the favored Spurs defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers en route to their fourth title in nine years.

TWIN TOWERS: ALDRIGE & ODEN
The potential arrival of Oden bolsters an already promising young nucleus of talent leading off with reigning Rookie of the Year Brandon Roy along with LaMarcus Aldridge and Jarrett Jack. And it’s the frontcourt teaming of 7-0 Oden and 6-11 Aldridge that has Lucas drawing more historical comparisons.

“In my opinion, you’re looking at a Tim Duncan-David Robinson, a Ralph Sampson-Olajuwon type of twin towers, quicker than most guys, taller than the other guys and I think they can both be defensive specialists.

Throw in 6-9 Zach Randolph and the Blazers have plenty of flexibility in the frontcourt.

“We can probably throw LaMarcus out there at the three and put Zach down in the hole,” said the former four-time NBA All-Star. “We’ve got some options here.”

No sooner did the Blazers win the lottery that speculation ran rampant nationally that Randolph was already odd man out. Think again says Lucas.

“Zach is still a big part of this team. Plus, one of the things you have to consider is where do I get that 25 points and that 10 rebounds from? He can still do that and do it well.”

ODEN & WALTON COMPARISONS
While Jack Ramsay was recently quoted comparing Oden to Walton as complete players who block shots and rebound, the man who had No. 32’s back for two seasons is taking the longer view

“They have two different styles,” said Lucas of Walton and Oden. “I think Greg will grow into a style where he can control that center the way Bill used to. Bill is probably the best passing center I have ever seen. Plus he named his son after me, so we’re good.”

RIP CITY REVIVAL
Tuesday –June 5 –officially marks the 30-year anniversary of the Blazers lone NBA title and the lottery win of two weeks ago has revived the euphoria of Blazermania.

“The whole Northwest is buzzing right now,” said Lucas. “It’s the same feeling that we had after that championship where everybody was glad to see you in a restaurant, you had some preferential treatment.”

Not only did the team’s web site crash at least twice the night of the lottery but the phones at the Blazers ticket office are still ringing non stop as fans have scooped up thousands of season tickets.

The Blazers good fortune is quite a reversal from 12 months ago when the team and arena were on the block but have since been reclaimed by owner Paul Allen.

For a proud franchise that once made 21 consecutive playoff appearances and had the longest sell out streak in sports history, expectations will be high this upcoming season as fans are hungry for a trip to the postseason, something that hasn’t happened since 2003.

“This is a one horse town and when that horse goes bad, it makes everybody around here go bad and feel bad,” said Lucas. “But when this thing was rolling and I was here and had the opportunity, and I told these young guys, 'You just have no idea how much support you’ll get if, in fact, you get on the right track.' They’ll feel that. It’s going to come and it’s going to come in abundance this year.

It already has.