Who's ready for a wild ride? The Portland Trail Blazers came extremely close to beating the Kobe-Shaq Lakers in game 7 of the 2000 Western Conference Finals. And that near finals berth could have been the first stone in the path to a dominant future. They got close, they'll get 'em next time!

But of course the loss and failure to make it to the finals could be the first stone in a totally different path-- one paved with drug arrests, intra-team violence, and a middling record and that belies the promise the team once held.