No Brandon Roy, no problem, right? I mean, the Blazers just beat up on Dwight Howard and the Orlando Magic, and the competition level was moving from the penthouse of the Southeast Division to the cellar as they took on the Wizards in Verizon Center.

Unfortunately didn't work out that way, as Andre Miller was apparently the only one to pack his A-game for the road trip. And shortly after the team jet took off, it's rumored that Nate McMillan smacked his forehead and said "Post defense! I knew I forgot something. Maybe we can pick some up at the hotel store..." Antawn Jamison, Caron Butler and Randy Foye got whatever they wanted in the paint whenever they wanted it. Mike Miller, in his return from four games off with a calf injury, didn't bother to miss a shot.

The Blazers hung tight thanks to the aforementioned A. Miller (+5, the only player above +1), 15 big rebounds and a variety of shots from Lamarcus Aldridge and intermittent aggression from Tyrannasaurus 'Ryd, who didn't shoot great but collected eight assists. But ultimately, trading long two-pointers for layups and foul shots gave the Wiz the win.

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Or, alternately, which might the team actually consider? I've got the following agreed to:

Raja Bell
Ajinca
$3 million
#12

for

Rip Hamilton
#15
And (maybe) a first rounder for next year

I've also got:

Gerald Wallace
D.J. Augustine
#12

for

Jamal Crawford
Brandan Wright
C.J. Watson
#7

If this were to come through I'd try to move the #7 for a lower pick and a backup SG or SF.

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Is there any sort of list of places out-of-town Blazers fans gather to watch the games? I'm way on the other side of the country in D.C. but would love to plunk down in a bar to watch the playoff games with fellow Rip City refugees. Do the congressional staffs watch the games somewhere? Should I just pick a place, post it and hope?

Filler filler filler, filler filler -- filler filler!

Tried a few things in Trade Machine and this seemed ot be the one it was most likely that the Wizards would agree to: http://games.espn.go.com/nba/features/traderesult?players=3204~2754~454~3025~1705~851&teams=27~27~27~27~22~22

That's RLEC, Rudy, Sergio and Channing for Butler and Etan Thomas. In my opinion that's still a good trade for us (barely), assuming the team gave Martell a contract for a reason. Sucks to lose Rudy, but I have trouble seeing the Wizards take Outlaw and change (I'm figuring Bayless + maybe the rights to Koppenen).

This seemed like the best trade I could come up with that seemed believable. Hinrich + Deng would be fantastic, but seems questionable from Chicago's end of it.