Greg Oden? Good. Brandon Roy? Even better. Turning Portland’s NBA franchise around in just a few years? Nearly amazing. The team once known by many as the “Jail Blazers” for its frequent and embarassing brushes with the law, has become one of the hottest young teams in the league. The reason? At least in part, it’s General Manager Kevin Pritchard. Pritchard, as you know, was the starting point guard on Kansas University’s 1988 national championship team. Back then we knew that No. 14 could handle the rock, perform under pressure and provide leadership even as an underclassman. But did anyone have an inkling that with every assist or bucket he recorded, Pritchard was prepping his mind for the business side of the game? Doubtful. Much of Pritchard’s time as the Trail Blazers’ GM has been surrounded by high praise and heavy attention. Two years ago, the Blazers hit the jackpot in the NBA lottery and won the rights to the No. 1 pick. The debate — Greg Oden or Kevin Durant — touched all four corners of the country. Every move Pritchard made leading up to that pick found its way onto some sports talk show. In the end, Pritchard elected to draft Oden, a guy many believed could become the NBA’s next great big man. Even after the pick, debate ran wild about whether Oden was the right choice. An injury that kept him on the bench for his entire rookie season seemed to say no, but that was not Pritchard’s fault. How could he have known?Pritchard’s latest attention-getter, a gaffe with the ultra-talented Darius Miles, might be a sign that not everything he touches turns to gold. After releasing Miles, for reasons ranging from performance to attitude to salary cap freedom, Portland was informed that if any other team signed Miles for the rest of the season, it would make the Blazers responsible for part of his salary. As a reaction, Pritchard and the Blazers’ brass publicly threatened legal action against any team interested in signing Miles, stating that doing so would be a violation of the NBA’s joint venture agreement. The response? Laughter and little else. The Memphis Grizzlies certainly paid no mind to the threats, as they gave Miles two separate 10-day contracts before signing him for the remainder of the season a couple of weeks ago. As a result, the Blazers are responsible for paying Miles’ contract for the next two years and the team now owes $18 million in luxury taxes and can only spend half as much on free agents this summer. Ouch. It wasn’t as much the financial fallout here that put egg on the faces of the Portland front office. Instead, it was the bullying tactic they tried that did not work that caused other executives to think less of the Portland regime. It wasn’t a colossal mistake, but compared with all the great moves Pritchard had made so far, it seemed like it for a few days. Things have quieted now and the Blazers — in the middle of the playoff picture in the Western Conference — emerged unscathed, without the situation creating too much of a distraction. Here’s the deal: General Managers are human. Like all of us, they, too, make mistakes. Sometimes they pick Todd Blackledge over Jim Kelly and Dan Marino. Sometimes they pick Sam Bowie ahead of Michael Jordan.Speaking of Jordan, even the man widely regarded as the greatest basketball player of all-time, made a major mistake when he was in charge of the No. 1 pick. Yep, MJ made Kwame Brown the No. 1 pick of the Washington Wizards back in 2001 and has yet to live it down. Heck, Greg Oden already has had 10 times the career that Brown has had, and it’s far too early to write off the Portland big man as a bust. Similarly, it’s too early to pass judgement — good or bad — on Pritchard’s time with the Blazers. He’s made some great moves, he’s operated as the center of the basketball universe, and now, after the Darius Miles incident, he’s made his first mistake. It won’t be his last. And I’m guessing, based on the solid track record he already has under his belt, Pritchard will make more good decisions than bad ones the rest of the way.