NORTHWEST PASSAGE?

After back-to-back days that brought Shawn Kemp and Dale Davis to the Portland Trail Blazers, there’s only one question left to ask.

Where are they going to hang the NBA championship banner in the Rose Garden?

Just as the Miami Heat did in the Eastern Conference, Portland managed to add to its roster without losing too much. The difference is, the Trail Blazers were much closer to a championship than the Heat.

When the Trail Blazers finalized the three-team trade that cost them Brian Grant and brought in Kemp, they added even more firepower to their squad. Kemp is more of a scoring threat than Grant and has a better array of offensive moves. But he lacks the defensive and rebounding abilities of Grant.

No problem. The Trail Blazers turned around and worked a deal that sent little-used Jermaine O’Neal to the Indiana Pacers for the rugged Davis, who worked the Lakers on the backboards during the NBA finals.

So now they have it all: Kemp’s offense and Davis’ inside work, in addition to Rasheed Wallace, Scottie Pippen, Steve Smith, Arvydas Sabonis, Damon Stoudamire and Bonzi Wells.

And the Lakers have . . . Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.

We’ll include Isaiah Rider, because he hasn’t committed any transgressions since he arrived in L.A.

The Trail Blazers came ohsoclose to beating the Lakers in the Western Conference finals. But last season was the Lakers’ time. You began to sense it in January, and believed it by the end of February when they won at Portland to get the edge in the home-court advantage race.

Home court meant everything in that thrilling Game 7 of the conference finals, when the Lakers erased a 15-point deficit and the Staples Center crowd was roaring and the Trail Blazers were choking.

It’s hard to imagine that scene repeating itself. It’s hard to imagine the Lakers with home-court advantage in the seventh game. It’s hard to imagine them finishing with a better record than the Trail Blazers.

Here it is, only September, and it’s starting to feel as though it’s Portland’s season.

The Trail Blazers still have some issues, such as Sabonis’ status after he had surgery to remove bone spurs from his right foot this summer, Kemp’s commitment to the game after ballooning in Cleveland the last two years, and Mike Dunleavy’s ability to keep everyone happy in this share-the-wealth rotation that hasn’t produced any rings yet. And, of course, they have to stop Shaq and Kobe.

But no team demonstrated a better defensive attack against O’Neal than the Trail Blazers did in the playoffs, and no team has more players to throw at Bryant and get him in foul trouble defensively.

It’s up to the Lakers to come up with the solutions.

Why did the Lakers do so little while the Trail Blazers acted as if this were a fantasy league?

It comes down to roster flexibility and financial philosophy.

Laker owner Jerry Buss is determined to avoid paying the luxury tax that kicks in for teams that surpass the salary cap next year. That’s tip money for Trail Blazer owner Paul Allen.

And the Trail Blazers have players on their bench other teams would be eager to insert into their starting lineup.

And so the Pacers, who can never seem to decide whether they’re going all-out for another championship or building for the future, were willing to rescue Jermaine O’Neal from the bottom of Portland’s depth chart and give him a chance. O’Neal has talent, or the Trail Blazers wouldn’t have given him a four-year, $24-million contract before he ever accomplished anything in the league. But O’Neal didn’t have patience, and he was tired of sitting around in Portland.

The Lakers are constructed to complement O’Neal and Bryant with pieces that work well with the stars but don’t have much market value.

It’s a lot like the Bulls when they ran Phil Jackson’s triangle in Chicago.

Even when the Bulls were posting the best record in NBA history during the 1995-96 season, there were only two players any other general manager would take for his team without hesitation: Pippen and Michael Jordan.

For the Lakers to land any talented players, they will have to also accept the baggage that comes with players such as Rider and Dennis Rodman.

It has been that kind of turnaround in Lakerland this summer, from taking ring sizes to taking risks.

Kemp is a little bit of a gamble himself. The Trail Blazers are hoping he can revert to the form (and weight) he displayed in Seattle, when he was one of the forces in the game.

But they have Plans B and C. If Kemp doesn’t perform, they still have Wallace and Davis to play power forward. Davis can also do an adequate job backing up Sabonis at center. No one player can stop Shaq, but Davis puts in as brave an effort as anyone.

And if Kemp does work out, Portland could possibly send out a big lineup of Kemp, Wallace and Sabonis or Davis on the frontline, with Pippen and Smith in the backcourt.

Or Stoudamire at the point to add an element of quickness. Or Wells, for another low-post scoring threat.

So many different combinations, all adding up favorably for Portland.

You might recall that last year’s preseason began with everyone talking about Portland’s physical superiority to that of the Lakers. The Lakers have since proved that they acquired an understanding of how to win.

The Trail Blazers? They just keep acquiring more players.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at his e-mail address: j.a.adande@latimes.com.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Power Play

Portland, which

barely lost to the Lakers in the Western Conference finals, significantly bulked up its frontline this week (Players’ statistics from 1999-2000 season):

AUG. 30

Shawn Kemp

Forward

6-10, 280

In: Kemp (Cleveland)

(17.8 points, 8.8 reb.)

Out: Brian Grant (Miami)

(7.3 points, 5.5 reb.)

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AUG. 31

Dale Davis

Forward

6-11, 230

In: Davis (Indiana)

(10.0 points, 9.9 reb.)

Out: Jermaine O’Neal (Ind.)

(3.9 points, 3.3 reb.)

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INSIDE

RICE RUMORS

The latest one has him going to the Nuggets for three players. No comment from Lakers. Page 9

Changes Out West

With the additions of Shawn Kemp and Dale Davis, the Trail Blazers currently have six players on their roster who are 6 feet 10 inches or taller. How their current roster compares to the Lakers’:

TRAIL BLAZERS

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Stacey Augmon F 6-8 Dale Davis F 6-11 Antonio Harvey F 6-11 Shawn Kemp F 6-10 Scottie Pippen F 6-7 Detlef Schrempf F 6-10 Jamel Thomas F 6-6 Rasheed Wallace F-C 6-11 Arvydas Sabonis C 7-3 Greg Anthony G 6-1 Erick Barkley G 6-1 Steve Smith G 6-8 Damon Stoudamire G 5-10 Bonzi Wells G-F 6-5

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LAKERS

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Rick Fox F 6-7 Robert Horry F 6-10 Mark Madsen F 6-9 Andy Panko F 6-9 Glen Rice F 6-8 John Salley F 6-11 Shaquille O’Neal C 7-1 Travis Knight C 7-0 Kobe Bryant G 6-6 John Celestand G 6-4 Derek Fisher G 6-4 Devean George G 6-8 Ron Harper G 6-6 Corey Hightower G 6-8 Tyronn Lue G 6-0 Isaiah Rider G 6-5

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