With all the rumors about trades, we can't say for certain who is coming into or going out of town before the trade deadline. If they can pull something off, we may be in position to win down the stretch. It's would be no higher than a 7th seed, something like that. Netting a point guard is the obvious choice, or perhaps a Center...or both. Andre miller made Aldridge better. Marcus Camby makes Aldridge better. Dare I say Crawford makes makes him better. Brandon Roy, no? Whatever the case, this is certain enough. This team needs a point guard that makes Aldridge better. We know what a high IQ player at point will do for him. This kills the Kevin Love.

I've come to the conclusion this morning that we can talk about how this team has been injury plagued. We can make statements about the training staff that may or may not have merit. We can judge the organization on how they've handled draft picks by selecting what may or may not be injury prone players over the years. Blame can be passed around the training staff on accounts of poor rehabilitation. None of this kind of banter am I sure about, or even able to have a stable opinion on such subjects. There is one thing that I can be sure about however.

Oh how lucky the Blazers would have been had they received the number TWO pick in the Oden/Durant draft. The Sonics would have used the number one to select Oden. Portland would have had to take Durant, and suddenly three years down the line, we have the BRoy replacement player we never thought we would need. Obviously, this isn't what happened, but it's odd to imagine that receiving said pick really would have been the solution to the injury problems this team is facing today.

First it was the Jailblazers.

And now we must come to terms with the Frailblazers era. Good luck.

Roy is playing bone on bone in both knees.

This is quite possibly the worst news since Oden's last injury. I am little befuddled and slightly nauseous. Let's first assume the worst here I guess. That being, he eventually can no longer play basketball at a high level, all while the Thunder leave us in the dust. Perhaps we'll see his minutes suffer over time, but he'll still contribute as he did tonight for awhile. You know, making nice jumpers on bad knees.

This black cloud surrounding the team never seems to go away. One minute it's not selecting Jordan, then jail themed, then the worst, then utter joy with all our awesome picks only to have it taken away by injury. Is there somethin' in the water right?

I was unable to wait any longer for the season to start last weekend so I popped NBA2k10 in, updated the roster and traded for Wes Matthews. Got rid of Webster as well. This venture ended up being a reminder that the actual Blazers squad isn't much of a 3-point threat like it was when Blake, Webster and Outlaw were still in the mix. That's not to say that I think the old lineup is better, because it's not. I in fact think we are suited to win more games than with the one that won 54. Nonetheless, I'm worried the 3 point shot might not show up this season.

 Which of our players do you think should garner this role? Matthews and Batum both shoot it quite well from outside, and yet I wouldn't consider them the be all end all 3-point shooters by any stretch of the imagination. I feel that they could adopt a role like that alongside their perimeter defense and actually be quite good at it. Most of us would agree that Rudy isn't going to be the guy, and Brandon Roy is better off shooting clutch perimeter shots. I have a have enough faith in Bayless in hitting the shot at a 35% mark from out there, but I wouldn't say that strategy works with his strengths.

Now, all of this could be a good thing in that we have to take it to the the paint more often. I'm just worried that opposing teams will smother Greg and Aldridge and force what few 3-point threats we have left to shoot it more often from beyond the arc. This should in theory leave our shooters wide open, but as I said above, how well can these 'shooters' deliver from outside?

One more thing. Let's stick with what we have, and not turn this into an Andre Miller bash-fest. Obviously, he should absolutely never shoot it from outside, but should be included in the discussion. Will his presence be felt for better or for worse?