Blake knows his place on the Blazers is not to be the star, but rather the player who does the little things while Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Oden share the spotlight .
With that understanding, however, also comes the realization that he is merely a pawn in general manager Kevin Pritchard's scheme to construct a championship contender.
Roy, Aldridge and Oden? Franchise cornerstones.
Blake, Martell Webster and Outlaw? It's wait and see.
As a result, there is a decided edge to Blake this summer. Always a tireless worker in the offseason, Blake is pushing himself like never before, perhaps too much, he admits. He says it has little to do with his contract status -- after this season, the Blazers can either release him or pick up an option for one more season -- and nothing to do with the team drafting Jerryd Bayless, a hotshot guard who is coming off a Most Valuable Player performance in the Las Vegas Summer League.
Instead, Blake is motivated by something he rarely lets get to him: People doubting his game, and questioning his long-term value to the team. He has set out to prove them wrong.
"I want to prove I can be a starter for a long time, not just for one year," Blake says. "And I want to prove that I can be the starting point guard on a championship team."
Coming off the best season of his five-year NBA career, when he averaged career highs in points (8.5) and assists (5.1), Blake has been endorsed this summer as the starting point guard by coach Nate McMillan and Roy, the team's star.
Still, Blake's mind races.
He is constantly planning his next workout, whether it be at a high-tech sports complex to work on his vertical leap, or in a blue-collar Southeast Portland gym where he practices Jujitsu with Nate Quarry, an Ultimate Fighting Championship brawler.
Blake says the Jujitsu workouts and the UFC-style training -- which sometimes includes strapping on boxing gloves -- are a way to make himself "tougher," and it complements his edgy, yet hidden personality.
To those who have played with Blake, he is known as a scrapper, once going as far as to engage in fisticuffs with Nene, a 6-foot-11, 260-pound teammate, during a practice when both played for Denver. And in Portland, Blake has kicked so many benches, thrown so many chairs, and tipped over so many baskets of balls, that assistant coach Monty Williams forecasts the storm of Blake by announcing "Lieutenant Dan" is arriving, playing off the pugnacious character in the movie "Forrest Gump".
Now, Blake has dug his heels in for another fight. He is a winner, he says proudly, and he plans to prove it here in Portland.
He won championships in two states in high school. And he won an NCAA Championship at Maryland. All as the starting point guard.
If he performs well enough this season to persuade the Blazers to keep him, he feels this collection of youth and talent is well on its way to vying for an NBA title.
"If I get a championship at every level," Blake says, smiling at the notion. "Nobody can say anything to me any more."
In a league that has become increasingly about "me," Blake has remained a team-first player, who views the success of Blazers stars like Roy and Aldridge as a reflection of how well he is doing his job.
So even though this is a contract year for him, Blake says he won't force the issue by shooting more or trying to pad his statistics. His success, he says, is determined by whether his team wins.
"It's a team game," Blake says. "If you have five guys on the court who are all about themselves, it's not going to be very successful, as we have seen in the past. And that's the job of the point guard, at least the way I was taught growing up: Get the scorers the ball at the right spots and the right time, stop the other guy on defense and spot up and hit some shots. It has worked for me, so I don't know why I would ever change it."
In fact, outside of winning an NBA championship and having more long-term security with the Blazers, there's not much Blake would change in his life.
So even after all his shooting sessions at the gym, the UFC workouts with Quarry, and the foot-burning, Jujitsu exercises, Blake often retreats downstairs in his home. Here, the carpet runs into a small room with a hardwood floor -- perfect for bouncing a basketball. It is here that Blake works on his ball handling, including one drill that impressed Pritchard -- also an NCAA title winner as a starting point guard.
After Blake warms up with a series of dribbles between the legs, behind the back, left to right, right to left, he does the same staccato bounces with his eyes closed, much like an accomplished pianist plays by feel rather than by sight. Pritchard said he has heard of point guards practicing their stationary dribbling, but never with their eyes closed.
"If I can dribble with my eyes closed, then I can see my teammates better," Blake says. "I can see the instant they become open."
Pritchard said he can practically make next year's decision on Blake with his eyes closed.
"I think it won't be much of a decision; I think with him at that number ($4.0 million), and with us having a successful season, it won't be that difficult of a decision."
Pritchard said Blake will be judged on three criteria: Did he improve? Did he play team basketball? And did the team succeed?
"He has to be a starting point guard on a team that can get to 46, 48, 50 wins, and be consistent night in and night out," Pritchard said. "That's what starting point guards do. That doesn't mean being consistent with his shot or anything else; it means playing winning basketball, and identifying that Brandon is hot, or LaMarcus is hot and being that quarterback of the team."
If one thing is certain this summer, it's that Blake is intent on making that improvement to help the team win. And if that is good enough to extend his stay in Portland by at least one year, then Blake feels he will be one step closer to an NBA title.
"And that's important to me, because I have done it on every level so far," Blake says. "And I have never been the best player on my team when I won those championships. So what I would like to prove is that the point guard doesn't have to be the best player on the team to win a championship. And I feel the way I play can help us achieve a championship."
