EIGHT-MAN ROTATION
Pos	Player	Key Stat	Skinny
PG	Damon Stoudamire	6.2 APG	Says he'll score more, but seems unlikely
SG	Steve Smith	18.7 PPG	Jump shooter and go-to guy in playoffs
SF	Scottie Pippen	5.9 APG	Has chance to win title without Jordan
PF	Brian Grant	9.8 RPG	Tough rebounder makes his free throws
C	Arvydas Sabonis	.485 FG %	Jermaine O'Neal will steal his minutes
PF	Rasheed Wallace	.508 FG %	Great finisher still a sixth man here
SF	Detlef Schrempf	15.0 PPG	Came to wrong place if wants minutes
PG	Greg Anthony	66 steals	Better floor leader than Stoudamire

		Their biggest problem for Portland will come when Arvydas Sabonis has to defend the quicker centers. He is hampered by leg problems, so he can't stay with quick, power guys like Shaquille O'Neal or David Robinson or Tim Duncan. They will blow right by him. Mike Dunleavy will then have to go with an alternative lineup and use his speed off the bench. They may play Rasheed Wallace or Jermaine O'Neal at center. The big games the Blazers have to win in playoffs will be against San Antonio and the Lakers, and I'm not sure if they can do that even though they made some great acquisitions. I really like their starting five -- Scottie Pippen, Brian Grant, Damon Stoudamire, Steve Smith and Sabonis -- and their depth, with Wallace, Detlef Schrempf, an improving Bonzi Wells, O'Neal and Greg Anthony. They should challenge San Antonio for the top spot in the Western Conference.

The results: an improved team and lofty expectations. Anything short of a return to the West finals would be a crushing failure, and anything short of an NBA title would be disappointing.

Who says so? The Blazers themselves.

"We're not going to try and be Cinderella and tell you 15 reasons why you shouldn't throw us in the mix as being one of the good teams," Whitsitt says. "If you don't throw us in the mix as being one of the good teams, I think you've analyzed our team wrong."

Pippen's acquisition was viewed as the final piece of the puzzle. What the Trail Blazers like most of all about him is his collection of six NBA championship rings and the leadership, talent and spark they signify. He's a proven commodity who seems to fit nicely with Portland's win-now philosophy. And that means accepting his mercurial temperament and his recent tendency to say exactly what's on his mind, even if it doesn't play well in the front office or the dressing room. The 34-year-old's statistics slipped last season in Houston, but the Blazers-who sent six players to the Rockets to acquire him-believe he's still one of the league's premier small forwards.

"This is a great fit for me," Pippen says. "It's a great opportunity for me to be with a team that I feel is definitely a top contender in this league and an opportunity to get back to playing championship-caliber basketball."

Meanwhile, the frequently troublesome Isaiah Rider has gone to Atlanta, and that would have made an improvement in the Blazers' chemistry even if they hadn't received anything in return beyond a case of Gatorade. But they got a stellar citizen and former NBA All-Star in Smith from the Hawks in the deal, and later signed Schrempf, another respected veteran, as a free agent.

"We've always said when we get our team built, we want it to be a good team with good character," Whitsitt says. "I don't break it down into this piece or that piece. We feel we've upgraded the team, period, including talent, character, work ethic, leadership -- all the different pieces you want to put in there."

Player to watch

Smith The Blazers really needed Steve Smith in the playoffs last season, but he wasn't there. In getting Smith for troublemaker Isaiah Rider, the Blazers get a guy who wants to take that big shot at crunch time, and has a history of making it. Smith's stats will likely pale in comparison to what we're used to seeing, but on a team in which eight guys might score double figures, that's fine. This team is playoff ready.

Point guard
Damon Stoudamire's role is undergoing a revision. With Pippen and Smith capable of bringing the ball up the court and running plays, Stoudamire will play more away from the ball. "My game is going back to what I was doing two years ago in Toronto: attack and make things happen," he says. "I don't think that this year I'm just going to come down, spot up and watch everybody post up. We don't really have that kind of team anymore."

Because of his quickness, Stoudamire should be able to take advantage of the league's new rules that keep defenders from making too much contact. But Stoudamire still has his own defensive limitations against bigger guards, which is why the Blazers often will turn to backup Greg Anthony, a punishing defender.

Shooting guard
Smith understands that there may be no better opportunity to win an NBA championship than the one he has in Portland. In eight seasons with Miami and Atlanta, he never played for a team that advanced past the second round of the playoffs. At this stage of his career, there may not be many more chances for him to go all the way. Smith, who averaged 18.7 points for the Hawks last season, has had knee troubles off and on throughout his career. If he holds up physically, the Blazers' trade with Atlanta could go down as a steal for Portland.

Behind Smith, the Blazers have young Bonzi Wells, who solidified his position with a strong showing with Portland's summer-league team. Stacey Augmon, one of the six players who went to Houston in the Pippen deal, re-signed with Portland after getting cut by the Rockets.

Small forward
Pippen brings tremendous talent and versatility to a team that already owned one of the league's deepest rosters. The Rockets weren't too thrilled with Pippen when he averaged 14.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.9 assists last season, but the Blazers would take those numbers in a heartbeat.

Schrempf passed up more lucrative offers to sign a two-year, $4.2 million deal with the Blazers. He was penciled in as the starter, then got relegated to the bench after the Pippen trade. If he has a problem with the Pippen scenario, he's doing a great job of hiding it. "I knew it was going to happen sooner or later," says Schrempf, who won the NBA's Sixth Man Award twice in the early 1990s with Indiana. "I can't expect to play 35 or 40 minutes every game until I fall down."

Power forward
Brian Grant established himself as one of the league's budding superstars last season, leading the Blazers in rebounding and free throws made and finishing second in minutes played. His comeback from offseason knee surgery has been an arduous process, raising doubts about whether he'll be ready in time for the regular season. But with so many interchangeable parts, the Blazers can survive without Grant's services for at least a little while.

Rasheed Wallace will move back to his natural position after he played considerable minutes at small forward last season. Wallace often was much bigger than opposing small forwards, but he understandably was at a quickness disadvantage. But as he was last season, Wallace is willing to accept virtually any role with the Blazers. There still might be big match-up circumstances under which the Blazers would use Wallace at small forward, but with both Pippen and Schrempf there, it probably won't happen often.

Center
With Arvydas Sabonis' career winding down, it may be time for young Jermaine O'Neal to make a significant impact. Sabonis still is considered one of the best passing big men around and a solid outside shooter for somebody 7-3, but he's pushing 35 and his knees don't carry him up and down the court as swiftly as they used to. If he averages 12.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 26.9 minutes as he did last season, the Blazers probably won't have many complaints.

O'Neal, bouncing back from offseason ankle surgery, seems poised for a breakthrough campaign after re-signing with the team for four years and about $24 million. The 21-year-old is still inexperienced for a player who's spent three seasons in the league, but his minutes are expected to increase significantly, especially with the Blazers looking to rest Sabonis more. Wallace can step in against some smaller centers, and the addition of journeyman Joe Kleine gives the Blazers another big, strong center to play against some of the league's marquee post men.

Coaching
In '99 the tough part for Mike Dunleavy wasn't winning 35 of 50 games in the strike-shortened regular season. It was constantly defusing potentially combustible situations before they could blow up in his face.

Dunleavy -- the NBA's (and Basketball News') reigning Coach of the Year -- doesn't have Rider to worry about anymore, which should mean fewer headaches. He also has Pippen, Smith, Schrempf and Kleine to help fill the veteran leadership void. His biggest problem may come in deciding how to divide playing time so that everybody stays happy, but he got a lot of experience in that regard in '99.