In the spring of 2007, Steve Patterson resigned as team president, and Paul Allen entered into an agreement to re-purchase the Rose Garden.On the court, the team finished with a 32–50 record, an 11-game improvement, and rookie Brandon Roy was named the 2006–07 Rookie of the Year. That summer Pritchard was promoted to general manager, and former Nike Inc. executive Larry Miller was hired as team president. The Blazers won the 2007 NBA Draft Lottery, and selected Ohio State center Greg Oden with the #1 pick in the draft. Many had speculated that they might choose Kevin Durant instead; Durant was picked at #2 by local rivals the Seattle SuperSonics. Oden would suffer a pre-season knee injury requiring microfracture surgery, and missed the entire 2007–08 season.

Despite this, the Trail Blazers had a 13-game winning streak that began in early December, resulting in a 13–2 record, an NBA best for the month of December. McMillan won NBA Coach of the Month honors, and Roy garnered NBA Western Conference Player of the Week honors in back-to-back weeks (the first Trailblazer to accomplish the feat since Clyde Drexler in the 1990–91 season.) Roy was also named as a reserve for the 2008 NBA All-Star Game, the first All-Star for the Blazers since Rasheed Wallace in 2001.The Blazers would go on to finish the season 41–41, their best record since the 2003–04 season, and all without the help of their injured #1 overall draft pick Greg Oden.