#30 PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS

Last Year's Ranking: 92
Title Track: 44
Ownership: 27
Coaching: 13
Players: 3
Fan Relations: 9
Affordability: 39
Stadium Experience: 30
Bang for the Buck: 63

Landing the No. 1 Ping-Pong ball (and Greg Oden) last year may have required Lady Luck's smile, but rising 62 spots in our standings is anything but
pure happenstance. No team transforms from "Jail Blazers" to one with through-the-roof player likability without ownership's making drastic changes. New Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard started by shipping talented cancer Zach Randolph to New York, with the addition by subtraction allowing fans to focus on rising nice guys like LaMarcus Aldridge and reigning ROY Brandon Roy. Even the rehabbing Oden, the next nice-guy-in-waiting, is humble enough to post a video on his blog thanking fans for "still supporting" him after microfracture surgery. To boot, Portland has performed well beyond expectations without him, proving the old adage "Good things happen to good people." Especially long-suffering Blazer fans. -Andy Kamenetzky

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