This is not something we'll see on the Blazers' sidelines ever again. Photo courtesy of OregonLive.

With the 24-hour news cycle being what it is, and with the NBA getting close to winnowing itself down to the best of the best, we might have one or two more days with the firing of Rich Cho dominating the headlines.

Writers both national and local have weighed in on the situation, mostly agreeing that dismissing Cho is not only a bad idea, but is also an indication that this franchise is closer than some might think to having the wheels fall off completely. In fact, it seems that the only voices not bemoaning the most recent premature exit of Portland’s general manager are those whose checks are signed by the very same guy that told Cho to kick rocks.

Which leads to maybe the central figure in this whole ordeal: Paul Allen. Blazer fans like me, those born in the 80’s and developed into die-hard fans in the middle 90’s, only know this team as being owned by Paul Allen, and because of that we are left with something of an identity crisis on our hands. Many people have chimed in with their opinions on Mr. Allen, and his relative mental well being, and the consensus seems to be that Paul Allen, for what it’s worth, is losing it.

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I feel like this is over. I feel like in a day or two we are going to wake up and the Portland Trail Blazers we love to watch every day will be distant memory. It was bad when we lost to New Jersey, it was critical after Philly, the Boston game DOES NOT COUNT, and now we’ve hit the bottom.

The Blazer muster only 10 points in the third period. TEN POINTS. At what point do we flip the switch and call it a night, when Portland comes out and does not tally a single point on the board for 12 minutes? The Blazers had their chances, this is the Wizards for god sake, but instead of Rudy Fernandez or Brandon Roy or Wesley Matthews or Nicolas Batum, or anybody with the word Portland across their chest, stepping up and hitting a big time shot, it was Cartier Martin. Instead of Marcus Camby or LaMarcus Aldridge making a game saving defensive stop, it was JaVale McGee.

The Blazers tried, they put up some valiant attempts as the final seconds ran out on their last chance to salvage a humiliating road trip, but turning on the effort with 25 seconds to play in the fourth quarter is too little too late. Plus, it’s pretty damn hard to win a basketball game when the point differential is larger than the total number of possessions left on the shot clock. Chucking up airballs from three doesn’t make one bit off difference when you’re down five with under 10 ticks on the clock.

Maybe some of us saw this coming, maybe some others of us, like me, hid or heads in the sand and purposefully did not see this coming. Either way, it’s totally irrelevant. It came, and ladies and gentleman, I fear it may be too late. The NBA season is long, yes, and were not even twenty games in. But the NBA season is only so long. 82 games. 20 games is basically one quarter of the season. Six games is almost 10 percent. We can recover from this. But we can only wait so long to let that happen.

The questions is can we wait. And it’s not a question for you and me to answer. It’s a question that will be answered by Rich Cho, and smart money says we know Rich’s answer sooner than later.

I only had a few thoughts as I watched this slip away:

• What is happening?
• Where did we go wrong?
• Is it possible at this point to even think about managing expectations?
• What part of this mess is the first to go? Nate? Andre Miller or Marcus Camby, old guys that probably don’t want to spend their last few seasons on a losing team. Brandon Roy or LaMarcus Aldridge? Who knows.

I know this is all a little extreme, and I apologize for that, but only slightly. I have been a Blazer fan all my life. This hurts. And this is embarassing.

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Twitter: @mikeacker | @ripcityproject

Here’s a curious bit of information to consider among the Rudy Fernandez rumors that have been on-going all summer: new Trail Blazers general manager Rich Cho has yet to make a call to Donnie Walsh to pick up trade discussions where they left off with former GM Kevin Pritchard.

There has been talk about a three-way deal that Walsh reportedly turned down recently that would have sent Anthony Randolph to the Pacers for a first-round pick that would have then gone to Portland for Fernandez, but multiple sources said the talks only involved the Pacers seeking Randolph for a first. Of course the Knicks could have used that first round pick — which had been Portland’s initial asking price for Fernandez — to then get Rudy and fill a need at the 2G spot, but, from what I’m told, that was never in the conversation.

Pritchard and Walsh spoke in June, before the NBA Draft, about a swap of two second round picks for Fernandez, but Pritchard declined. There were rumors that Walsh offered Wilson Chander for Fernandez, but now we’re hearing that Chandler wasn’t offered. What’s more accurate is that Chandler was mentioned as a player the Knicks believed they could move to get a first round pick if they wanted to.

Here’s the catch: word is, via backchannels, that the Blazers want a high first round pick, meaning they don’t want one that is lottery protected.

Well, to quote the great Roddy Piper, when it comes to this Rudy Fernandez thing…just when you think you know the answers, they change the questions. If these reports keep coming out I’m going to have to start watching my sodium due to grains of salt. As I said earlier, take this for what you will, I’m just passing it along. I’m sure there’s a Blazer fan who will be in uproar about this, and say Cho is in the wrong… but there’s no need. If the Knicks had truly only offered two second round picks for Rudy, there would be no need to call them back. As I stated on Friday, New York simply does not have enough for Portland to consider making a deal with. Hahn correctly points out that the market for Rudy has shrunk, as all teams attached to him have made deals to fix their perimeter weaknesses.