Mike Cranston, a Charlotte Bobcats beat writer for the Associated Press, tweeted: "Higgins says Joel Przybilla will arrive in CLT Sat. DJ White later today, but Nazr won't be in OKC in time for White to be eligible tonight" and also "Bobcats will have only 8 players dressed tonight vs SAC."

With no physical for Przybilla, Wallace's first game for the Blazers will likely be against the Hawks on Sunday.

Joe Freeman of The Oregonian also reports Blazers center Marcus Camby is out tonight. Jay Allen of 95.5 The Game reports: "Nate says he doesn't expect to have Wallace for tonight. Nate says Nic will play some center tonight vs. Denver. Rudy will start tonight against the Nuggets."

ed: bumped to front page

"* As Henry Abbott has often pointed out, Portland’s high offensive rebounds and low turnovers mean they don’t play nearly as slowly as Pace Factor indicates. Their Speed Index value supports this notion; by Speed Index, they’re still in the bottom half of the league, but they’re much faster than their Pace lets on."

This is an interesting look at offensive and defensive pace. San Antonio is still a somewhat slow offensive team, Phoenix is still the fastest offensive team, and Portland's offense is actually not abnormally slow.

I'm not sure if it has happened before in this season, but the Blazers now have the lowest 3-pt shooting percentage in the league at 32.6%. That beats the Thunder (32.7%), the Raptors (32.9%), the Clippers (33.0%), and the Cavaliers (33.4%). The only rotation player shooting above league average is Wesley Matthews.

Ed: bumped to front page

Doctors have not ruled out Oden's return to this season yet.

WS has the Blazers in 3rd place.

http://basketballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=747

SCHOENE has the Blazers in 5th place, but 1st in the Northwest (4th by default). NBAPET has the Blazers in 6th place.

"While extensions are inherently a tricky business, none of the players of Aldridge's ilk signed contracts their teams have really come to regret. The negotiations on Aldridge's extension were difficult, complicated by the fact that the two sides had to try to hit a moving target in terms of next year's salary cap, which will depend on how much the NBA and the economy in general rebound over the next six months. Using history as a guide, it appears that the Blazers and Aldridge did a fine job of reaching a deal that is equitable to both sides."

He's flying back to Portland because he wants to be in the NBA rather than go to Europe.

It has the Blazers at 8th. I've never liked Marc Stein's rankings, but they're from a large site.

Roy, Aldridge, and Oden look good; Przybilla and Batum do not.

Of course, there's not much to extract out of a six-game sample.

"There was a big buzz around the team about local product Nicolas Batum—the player we came to scout this time last year—now starting for the Portland Trailblazers after being drafted in the first round last June. He had 15 points and 6 rebounds in the evening before the game, and is really acquainting himself well with American basketball. One of the journalists we met, Bruno Palmet of local newspaper Le Maine Libre mentioned having spoken to him that day and passed on how happy he is in Portland at the moment. The people in Le Mans are very happy to see Batum succeeding, as they put a significant effort into helping him develop.

It’s funny to look back a year ago and think about the evaluation we offered up back then—talking about a super versatile talent with incredible physical tools, but questioning whether he has the aggressive mentality required to be a lottery pick. A huge amount of confusion regarding the diagnosis of a minor heart problem, combined with his physical magically disappearing following a workout he conducted with the San Antonio Spurs, led him to being drafted by the Houston Rockets and then sent to Portland on draft night.

It’s not hard to pick up on the irony here. The team that diagnosed Batum with a heart problem—the Toronto Raptors—ended up selecting a player (Nathan Jawai) who’s career is now in doubt due to concerns over heart problems, while Batum is looking like one of the biggest steals of the draft. His perceived biggest weakness back when he was considered a potential lottery pick—a lack of aggressiveness—is exactly the reason why the Trailblazers love having him on the floor with their starting unit, as he brings an incredible amount of versatility to the table with his terrific defense, passing skills, basketball IQ and athleticism. His biggest weakness is now his biggest strength, having landed in the perfect situation, and he looks well on his way from what we can see early on."

"While it's best to be cautious of such players, don't throw out preseason stats altogether. The evidence indicates there is some predictive value to how players play even in seemingly meaningless games." - Kevin Pelton, former Sonics stat geek

The tiny sample size of preseason rather than the lower competition appears to be the major factor for why it's not more predictive. Nevertheless, it does a surprisingly nice job of showing who put up stats in the regular season.

Quick writes about Outlaw's role, Rudy with Roy starting at the wings, the players who will sit out of Sunday's game (Blake, Frye, Rudy, Przybilla, Roy, and Aldridge), and a few thoughts on Batum.

"Not everyone is making the trip though. Rudy Fernandez (left ankle sprain) and Joel Przybilla (bronchitis) are staying staying behind to heal. I haven't heard about Martell Webster (broken bone in foot) or Steve Blake (pulled hamstring), but I bet they're not on the trip either. "

From Casey's blog, we will be down to only Oden and Hill at center and only Roy, Outlaw, Batum, and Jackson for the wings.

"This is great news for Oden and the Blazers, who were very conservative following his surgery and immediately ruled him out for the entire 2007-08 season instead of trying to rush him back late in the year. On opening night, Oden will be 13-and-a-half months removed from his microfracture procedure, marking the second-longest rehab on record (Kittles, one of those two players to improve coming back, sat out 16.5 months, making him the top right dot on the chart)."

"Based solely on the length of his rehab, Oden would be expected to lose 4.7 of his per-minute productivity following the surgery. Add in the training-camp factor and that gets as low as a negligible 1.8 percent. Of course, as the first player to undergo the procedure prior to his rookie season, Oden does not have an established level of performance, but his college numbers project very nicely indeed. Using the translation system I introduced before this year's draft, Oden rates as the second-best prospect to enter the NBA dating back through 2000."

From former Sonics stat guy Kevin Pelton, microfracture doesn't appear to be a huge detriment in both the long and short run.