Lemme just start off by saying I have a great deal of respect for Kevin Pritchard.. without him, this team would still be in the gutter, the city of Portland and all of the Blazer fandom owe him a great deal for this Rip City Renaissance. However, in the light of the Penn firing, I started thinking about what possibly could endanger KP's job... the man obviously has done a wonderful job so far, so whats the deal ?

This is when I remembered that Chris Bosh story that went a lil bit under the radar... a superstar basically makes a public statement of wanting to play for your team, but probably wont because his spot is occupied by another PF. But where does KP fit in you might say ? This is where the Vulcans come in... there's a huge difference in mentalities between them and KP. On one hand, our GM knows more about basketball than all of the Vulcans combined, meanwhile the latter have a more business oriented way of thinking. They might see an easily marketable world class player that could very easily be acquired to replace LaMarcus Aldridge, a player of lesser talent, less popularity around the globe, but thats being paid a large sum of money. However KP sees the sentimental side of it, as do we... we would much prefer our team to succeed with the current roster than to have us tinker around with it in order to build a championship team. We enjoy the journey to success just as much as the success itself. But thats were our arguments stop, and when the NBA is seen from the business point of view, to hell with sentimentality ! Even the sports point of view would tell you that Chris Bosh is a better player than LMA, so the only thing telling us not to do it right now is our sentimentality.

And so this is where I ask you... would KP be doing his job by not even considering the acquisition of Chris Bosh ? Can he even let his emotions get the best of him ? I'd like to think that for this team to reach higher planes, not only does Brandon Roy have to show some ruthlessness, other players and even Pritchard need to show it too.

Obviously our only reliable big man for the remaining season is LaMarcus Aldridge, and the irony of this whole situation is he is just comming from a big deal and a dissapointing first half of the season. After a period in which we seemed reluctant to admit that LMA was not soft, we started to believe those statements after seeing him play this season. However we've seen him man up and rough it up on several occasions, so you know its in him. The talent is there, the shear athletic power is in him, it just needs to be unleashed, and now is the perfect time for him to prove it.

Remember how under intense pressure or drastic circumstances, nature makes sure that the subject under this immense stress somehow grows stronger. This is how diamonds are made, and I imagine this season will turn LaMarcus into one worthy of the extension he received and especially worthy of our belief in his talent. May his season be full of rough play, scars and sheer interior dominance that will turn him into the beast we need him to be in the future.

 cannot believe what im hearing in terms of trade rumors by the media and complaints by the fans, or what im seeing in terms of rotations and lineups by coach Nate. We signed a veteran point guard for 7 million dollars a year to provide our team with stability, leadership, experience, and quite frankly a much better point guard. From day one of the pre-season Andre Miller has been disrespected and mistreated. First of all, you can't bring a 34 year old point guard and expect him to break his habits and traditions which have WORKED for him so far in his career. Im talking about his habit of slow starts in the early season, but ALWAYS followed up by great finishing performances later on. This habit of his is well documented, so KP and Nate should have been aware of this fact, as well as the fact that Andre is considered an "ironman" of the league, a player that rarely misses a game, be it for injuries or whatever reasons. Obviously his habits have worked for him so far. He's also started for most of his career... which is why people reffer to him as a STARTER throughout the league.. I don't think players that are known as starters can easily adjust to beeing benched.. its not a matter of ego, well maybe it is, but all players have egos, and if their egos arent satisfied at any giving moment, they will not perform at their best. Ask Brandon Roy how his season is going so far. But its also a matter of trust, and right now I dont think Miller feels trusted as a point guard to "thread the needle" as Roy put it.

This is a man who brings consistency to the table, something this team desperately needs right now! But for him to be consistent, I truly believe the guy deserves a chance to do what he does best ! And that his playing in his "niche", meaning giving him a guarateed starting spot, handing over the reigns of the offense to him, and basically lettinh him do what he does best, BE A POINT GUARD. Its not as if he will disrupt team chemistry at this moment, seeing as there is none of that chemisty.

And so, I find it pathetic that this team would consider trading Miller at this moment... how about trying to play the guy for god's sake ? How about starting Miller for an extended period of time ? What ? We've done that already ? Ah yes, the infamous 3-guard lineup...the way I see it, we went on a 6 game winning streak with him as a starter... yes we underperformed, yes they were weak opponents, but we STILL WON. And from what I see, it might be thanks to him. Start Miller.

All of this talk by Brandon, McMillian and other Blazer affiliates really has us believing that the 3-guard lineup needed to be changed after the Warriors game. I don't know if its been that long, but I'd like to remind all of you that it was this Blake-Roy-Martell-LA-Oden lineup that got us to a 2-3 record at the begining of the season... and then injecting Miller into the lineup must have stimulated something in our team, as we suddenly got off to a 6 game winning streak... slightly attributed to a series of weaker opponent, but nontheless impressive to see as Portland finished 4-1 on the road, breaking away from the habits of last season when we looked like a different team on the road. This winning streak was followed by another loss to Atlanta, which although was dissapointing, I would still blame it on fatigue.

The team was looking great so far, and everything was dandy. Except that one star guard was feeling a bit out of position and was no longer gonna be quiet about the matter.

And then we lost to the warriors.. a change had to come, and changing the lineup was an option. But who would've known that after witnessing how Miller can single-handedly impact the ball movement of our team, we would once again resort to habits of old ? Blake was not performing well, neither was Brandon, so Miller was indirectly blammed. Did Nate even think about inserting Rudy into the lineup ?

A lineup of Miller-Rudy-Roy-LA-Oden with (Roy and Rudy switching between the 2 and 3 a possibility) would give us:

-A wing that can play off the ball and cause some movement, thus resulting in openings on offense, all while beeing a 3 point threat and performing well on defense

-A point guard that can distributed the ball and create his own offense, all while having the ability to penetrate and draw out fouls

The first catters to Roy's needs... what Blake does, Rudy can do AND MORE! Its only a matter of playing time.. once these two start together, their synergy could increase, and we've all heard the stats of how effective lineups with Rudy and Roy are.

The 2nd gives us an alternative ball handler in Miller, that can give our bigs the ball when we need it.

All in all this results in a lineup that would work well in theory. Its only a matter of time and losses until we all realize once again that Blake will never be the solution to our problems, no matter how much Roy pleads it.

Lets face the facts.. Kevin Pritchard has made a statement at the trade deadline that the team chemistry comes first... and that he is looking to add pieces which will help us in the long run... the really long run, and not just guarantee us a championship in the next 3 years. We're looking towards building a dynasty, one that will still be in contention for the championship in 10 years. 

As much as we all love Przybilla for his hustle, daily effort, his interior D and the fact that he really was the glue of this team in the season, I think that he is entering his prime and will probably start declining about 2-3 years from now. Dont get me wrong, he will surely provide us with his best effort in this span, and will continue to contribute even after that period of time. But what im saying is that if we are faced with an opportunity to add a missing piece that we seriously need and would help us in the long run, and Joel is the key in such a trade, I think we should seriously consider it. I think that after this season, Joel's stock has risen after teams have seen how good of a center he can be, and any playoff team would probably consider snatching him away from us, but the question is: At what cost ? I think its safe to say no playoff team looking to improve would ever trade away its franchise player... but a lottery team desperate to make its way into the playoffs would surely consider making a sacrifice in order to acquire a center of Joel's caliber.

Think a couple of years later... who do you consider will be in this core ?

I say Roy, LaMarcus, Rudy, Nick, Oden and Martell. But the problem with this core is there are only 2 big men and 4 wing players... I cant say I consider Outlaw a part of this core because his main contribution is scoring and we have enough scoring in this core. Pryz is an essential contributor right now, but I think of him as a role player.

I'm sure everybody and their mothers know that our team isnt labeled the "Baby Blazers" or any other kind of condescending name, like the Bulls were a couple of years ago. I think its because the league takes us more seriously than they did take chicago at that time... Mostly, its teams with losing-to-mediocre records that pull out this "youth card" and start making excuses for their lack of success, but yet I see BEdgers and Blazer fans doing this anytime somebody critisizes the team.

I believe that since we are in the playoff run, in contention for the NW Division Title and have a pretty good record in the WC, us fans should not be making any age-related excuses for the team anymore, regardless of how many rookies and early 20 year olds we have on the team.