As a lost Trail Blazers season turns into summer, there are pressing issues on the horizon. General manager. Coach. Starting point guard. Starting center.

Ranking somewhere behind those priorities is something harder to find: The Blazers need a leader in the locker room.

This season was sunk for many reasons. The guard play was horrendous. Players came in out of shape. And there was little commitment to defense. But one of the torpedoes was the absence of strong leadership in the locker room.

If there were a leader, the players’ discontent with coach Nate McMillan never would have spread to the point where the team flat out quit on him. The whining whispers of Raymond Felton, in particular to Gerald Wallace, would have been stopped. The sulking of Jamal Crawford would have been stifled. And the indifference of Marcus Camby would have been challenged.

via Jason Quick of The Oregonian