I have seen questions lately from fans asking if the Portland Trail Blazers should trade all-star forward LaMarcus Aldridge. Well, I’m here to tell you that they shouldn’t.

Aldridge is a current all-star that has spent his whole career here. This is a guy who wants to be here. He has built a name for himself … here!

The Blazers have also found him a perfect sidekick. Not one that hinders his game, but one that boosts his game. Damian Lillard and LA complement each other’s game so well. With pick-and-rolls and working an inside-outside game, these two make for a great combination. Why throw that away? If anything, you trade the pieces around them and build around these two guys.

For eight teams in the NBA, this time of May is a celebration of excellence. Teams, even those on the cusp of elimination like the Warriors and Knicks, are receiving high praise for competing for spots in their respective Conference Finals. For an excellent team like the San Antonio Spurs, the month of May is nothing special. Spurs fans expect to make it to the second round, and the team always delivers.

For the Portland Trail Blazers, the month of May is officially vacation season. It's been thirteen years since the Blazers have emerged victorious from the first round of the playoffs. These long years have been bittersweet for the team's fans. The month of May sure has been tough for me.

The Portland Trail Blazers tripped, crawled, and skidded their way to a 33-46 record to close out the 2012-13 campaign, losing twice as many games as they won since the all-star break. While wholesale changes may or may not be necessary, the Blazers' efforts and lack of success this season absolutely raised some eyebrows around the league, and assuredly in the Rose City, where fans are still tormented and teased by the memory of the 1977 team, a team anyone under the age of 36 was not around to see.

For a franchise that holds the league record (since the merger) for most consecutive playoff appearances (21), we asked our staff at OregonSportsNews to look at the Blazers and assess what changes, if any, need to be made if the team is going to return to its days of glory and make a big splash next season.

1. The Blazers went just 8-18 after the all-star break. Injuries and all other things considered, how confident are you in their current roster? Do changes need to be made? 

The Portland Trail Blazers sit wedged between two warring NBA cities.

Make that one NBA city warring with Seattle for courting their team. Sound familiar?

You've got to feel for them both.

No city wants an identity as a stepping-stone, or ignorant rube, but that's what happened when Portland's superior sister flushed a major sport out of town.

How much does the Emerald City need the NBA?

Not bad enough to go after the Blazers, but bad enough for the vulture position over the Sacramento Kings.

They're waiting for safe pickings.

There is no reason to mince words. Tony Allen would be a great fit with the Portland Trail Blazers, and fans should hope that Neil Olshey aggressively pursues him in free agency. The Blazers have a desperate need for an elite defender like Allen. In fact, the Blazers’ defensive rating was among the league's worst this season. By allowing 106 point per 100 possessions, the only teams below Portland were the New Orleans Hornets, Sacramento Kings, and Charlotte Bobcats. The Orlando Magic were better than the Blazers at defense this year and finished with only 20 wins. These are not the teams that the Blazers want to be associated with on either side of the ball.

Allen would be able to bolster Portland's defense drastically. He is a perennial DPOY candidate, and was voted by NBA GMs in the 2011-2012 season as the league's best perimeter defender. Alongside the length of Nicolas Batum, Allen would make the Rose Garden a nightmare for opposing guards and forwards.

The sports landscape has been completely transformed by the prominence of fantasy sports. I have written about it before and I fully believe that it is a great thing for sports. The National Football League has greatly benefited from the popularity of gambling and fantasy sports. All factors considered, the NFL is the most popular sports league in the country, by far.

However, there are some downfalls to fantasy sports, specifically the expectation level of fans. Anybody can sit behind a computer and draft a fantasy roster for whatever sport it might be. That team may win their league and make them a little bit of money. Good for them. But then a transformation happens; they suddenly think they are a genius and the next GM of their favorite team.

We are in that time of year that fans instantly become armchair GMs. The Portland Trail Blazers have finished their season and are once again in the lottery. That is disappointing for fans but the trajectory of this young team behind Damian Lillard is positive. Fans everywhere are now giving their theories, solutions and trades that will instantly turn this team into a title contender. Let me put it in lame man’s terms for all the readers: you are not smarter, more qualified or more charismatic than Neil Olshey. Your speculations, raised expectations and rumors will only negatively affect your enjoyment as a fan.

Gary Payton is a legend in the Northwest. He is the last glowing image of Oregon State basketball success on the big stage. He’s half of the tandem – along with Shawn Kemp – that lives on as the torchbearers of a forlorn franchise.

Now, he has a chance to extend his influence to Portland Trail Blazer faithful.

According to The Oregonian’s Jason Quick, Payton wants to help Damian Lillard become a better defender. Nearly everyone – Lillard included – would agree the unanimous Rookie of the Year can improve on that end of the court. Undoubtedly learning tricks of the trade from the only point guard to win Defensive Player of the Year will pay dividends for the Blazers’ franchise point guard.

But just how much can offseason defensive sessions with Payton improve Lillard’s D?

One closet door flew off its hinges when an active player said, "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay."

The last sentence defines the sort of fan you are.

You either react in horror and break out a bible verse, or wish Jason Collins the best for next season.

How would Portland fans react if he made his announcement to the Oregonian as a Blazer? They'd name a street named after him? Maybe a parade?

It's the Portland way, man.

It stands to reason that the sixteen teams that make the playoffs every season are usually the sixteen best.  Sometimes an 8-seed slips in over a slightly better team, but 82 games are a good barometer for which teams deserve to play for the title.

If that is the case, the Portland Trail Blazers could learn a thing or two from some of the sixteen teams that made it that far.

Oklahoma City Thunder: A star carries you.  A team of good role players may work well together, but it is that rare superstar that will take your team to new heights.  The Thunder have that in Kevin Durant, and even without Russell Westbrook for the rest of the playoffs, they are never in a bad situation because Durant is there at the end of the day.  The question for Portland is whether LaMarcus Aldridge or Damian Lillard can be THAT player.

Two words: Damian Lillard.

If you see Damian and the resurgent Portland Trail Blazers ever scrap their way into a championship run, remember this playoff season as the beginning.

By watching and noting the differences between the great western point guards as the play each other over a series, Lillard logs where they break down, or more importantly where he will break them.

This man is witness to the best guards in the NBA, just like you.

He learned their moves, what they like to do on the court, and paid tuition with the nicks and knocks he took from them all season.