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Major mid-season trades don’t always work out as intended. Just ask the New York Knicks. When they acquired Carmelo Anthony just over a month ago, NBA fans in New York were ready to throw a championship parade. Instead, they’re scratching their heads and wondering why the their team appeared to be better before they acquired the single most talked-about name at the trade deadline.

That hasn’t been the case in Portland, however, where the Trail Blazers acquired Charlotte Bobcats All-Star forward Gerald Wallace just before the trade deadline. It took Wallace a handful of games to get on the same page with his new teammates, but now he looks like he’s been there since training camp. The Blazers’ chemistry has never been better, they’re starting to communicate better during games, and Blazers head coach Nate McMillan is thrilled to see his team coaching themselves at times, especially in rowdy environments like Oklahoma City and San Antonio. 

"That’s important. You have to," says McMillan. "It’s important that they communicate out there. Over the course of the last few years during breaks like that we’re standing on our own. It’s about what’s going on and what you need to do to make sure everybody gets on the same page. It is important. You’re going to need to do that in a hostile place with the emotions of the game. When you have those breaks where there’s a free throw or dead ball or officials are reviewing, I can’t call a timeout every time, so someone pulling the team together is needed."

Another important factor in Portland’s run for the playoffs, of course, has been the emergence of LaMarcus Aldridge as the Blazers’ true leader.

"It’s been a big key," says McMillan. "It’s a lot really on one guy but we’ve been a team that when he plays well we play well. When he has a rough night, we seem to have a rough night. He’s become a very important player for us. He’s a guy who has really led us all season long and continues to grow and get better."

Aldridge has risen above plenty of challenges this season, especially after Brandon Roy was lost again mid-season, but none bigger than when he had to start playing center in place of Marcus Camby (injured) and Joel Przybilla (injured, then traded). Aldridge is not a true center, by any means, but in today’s NBA he can use his strengths to his team’s advantage when he slides over to the five.

"It’s the league; it’s not just LaMarcus," McMillan explains. "Players who are versatile give you more options. (Pau) Gasol is a 4/5. He plays 4 when he’s  with (Andrew) Bynum, but play 5 when he’s with Lamar (Odom). Big guys like that you can take advantage of that in certain situations. With LaMarcus’ speed, a center trying to guard him, you can spread the floor because he can play both inside and out. His game and his size allows him to play both spots and gives me the opportunity to create some matchups to try to take advantage of it."

Of course, the single biggest challenge facing McMillan and the Blazers is the situation with Brandon Roy. He can’t do all that he once could, but he’s back with the team and contributing. The trick is figuring out just how far he can be pushed without risking further injury to his knees.

"We knew once he returned based on what he has gone through all season long that this was going to be a process where we had to be patient and work him back in, get as much as possible from him with what he can give," says McMillan. "Once he returned, talking with the doctors and Brandon we’re going to bring him off of the bench and take advantage of using him in a different role. He is working at it and we’re trying to find a way to put him out there and put him in a position where he can be productive."

So far, so good. The Blazers are clearly Aldridge’s team now, but Roy is contributing nightly, Wallace has been a godsend, and the team’s communication is getting better with each passing game. They’re hanging tough in the West’s sixth seed, and if they continue to grow together, the sky’s the limit once the playoffs begin. They may not be contenders, but no team relishes the thought of matching up with Portland in the first round.

Up Close: Gerald Wallace

One of the most successful mid-season trades this season was the one that landed Gerald Wallace in Portland. He talks with HOOPSWORLD about how the business of basketball destroyed a special team in Charlotte, what he thinks of the Portland Trail Blazers organization and fans, how well he fits with the team and more in this exclusive interview:

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Nowitzki Calling Out The Defense

Dirk Nowitzki is one of the quietest superstars in the NBA. He doesn’t like to grab headlines (unless it’s for his team winning), he doesn’t care about being MVP, and he doesn’t spend all of his time shooting commercials for every company under the sun that would like to pay him to say he uses their product. In fact, unless you’re an avid follower of the Dallas Mavericks or a fan of the German national team, it’s easy to forget about Nowitzki.

There’s a good side and a bad side to this aspect of Nowitzki’s character. On the good side, you don’t want your star player involved in a things that get them on the front page, because as often as not the front page is reserved for those who makes asses out of themselves. On the bad side, Dirk is almost too quiet when it comes to leading the team that is unquestionably his. He’s not like Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard, who has been calling out his teammates privately and publicly this season over mental lapses and losses that should have been wins. He’s not like Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant, who quickly gets in the face of any teammate who isn’t giving 100%.

Dirk is, and always has been, a quiet leader. He lets his game do the talking, and very often that’s enough. It’s been enough for the Mavericks to win 50+ games in 11 straight seasons, it’s been enough for Nowitzki to earn an MVP trophy in 2007 and for his team to get to the NBA Finals in 2006. It just hasn’t been enough to get his team a championship . . .and lately it hasn’t been enough to get them out of the first round of the playoffs.

So far, this season has gone according to play. The Mavericks have their 50 wins and their playoff berth, Nowitzki is again among the top players in the league, and despite a bunch of roster tweaks and lineup changes the Mavericks are one of the league’s elite team. The problem is, as so often seems to happen in Dallas, the Mavericks seem to have peaked too early. They were dominant mid-season, putting together long winning streaks and seeming invincible, yet the closer the playoffs get the worse the team plays, and that’s something that has to concern the man who has staked the rest of his career and his championship dreams to the fate of the Mavericks.

Dallas can score in bunches, no question about it. The offensive weapons just keep coming, with Nowitzki as lethal as ever, Jason Terry ever-ready with a fourth quarter scoring binge, Peja Stojakovic ready to drill threes, and a plethora of other options always at the ready. Even Jason Kidd has been hitting threes with consistency, proving you can teach an old point guard new tricks. The question, though, is not about offense. The Mavs can hang with any team in the league on the offensive end. The question is whether or not they can play enough defense to win a playoff series, and it’s something that has Nowitzki talking.

"We’ve got to get back to everybody being on the same page defensively and getting some stops," Nowitzki said after the Mavs held the high-scoring Phoenix Suns to 83 points on Sunday. "I still have confidence that this team ultimately can be a good defensive team in the playoffs because we are long, we’ve got veteran guys, experienced, smart guys. Roddy (Beaubois) should be a good defender for us on the perimeter with his length and quickness from the guard spot. Trix (Shawn "Matrix" Marion) is one of the best defenders at the small forward that there is in this league, so it’s just about helping each other and scrambling."

The truth is, as good as the Mavs have been offensively, they’ve been miserably bad on the defensive end. They’ve allowed more than 102 points per game over the last two months, including, as ESPN Dallas’ Jeff Kaplan notes, allowing opponents to shoot 46 percent or better in half of 26 games.

{AUTHOR_BOX}"Sometimes you get broken down," Nowitzki said. "Individual players are too good and their schemes are too good. Sometimes you’re just going to get broken down. That’s when you have to scramble and play for each other, get on the same page, help the helper, recover, fly out to the 3-point shooter. And what’s been an issue the last couple of months has been finishing the possession off with a defensive rebound. Big, physical teams, sometimes that’s where they got us."

If the Mavericks enter the playoffs playing the kind of defense we’ve seen over the last two months, they’re sure to be first round fodder yet again.

There is hope, however. During their current four-game winning streak they’ve faced two teams that are always among the league leaders in points scored – the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns – and held them to 73 and 83 points, respectively. The Warriors connected on just 35% of their shots and made only 5-of-20 threes. Phoenix managed just 42% and missed 15 of their 16 three-point attempts. Granted, neither the Suns nor the Warriors are playoff teams, but these are the kind of offensive-minded teams that have troubled the Mavericks in the past. If they can contain the Warriors and Suns, perhaps they can contain the Portland Trail Blazers or the New Orleans Hornets in the first round of the playoffs.

More importantly, Nowitzki is talking, telling his teammates it’s time to step up. He’s calling out the defense, recognizing that another first round exit and miserably long summer awaits him if the Mavs don’t kick it up another notch. He’ll never be a vocal leader in the mold of Kobe Bryant, but when Nowitzki talks, his teammates listen.

Now is definitely Dirk’s time to talk.

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