moving some lumber

ok, i know alot of you aren't going to like this, but i think it needs to be said. the blazers have to to something with the center position now. and the means appear to be available to move someone. even though i like joel and respect magloire, if i was gm, i would try to move both. here's why..

by himself, magloire might not fetch a ton of talent, but combined with any number of our guys, guys who i really like, but guys whose worth i can't really see increasing much from here on out.

guys like martell, dixon, outlaw. combine one of these guys with magloire and a 'future' first rounder, and you are an instant player in any three way deal around the league.

and something's up with joel. when he can't beat out magloire and a rookie for more pt... we may not know what it is, but this is not the same player of the last couple of years. IF we could move joel and/or magloire and end up with a young quality big and maybe a solid veteran at the 3, we would have all we need.

the way that i see it, the future core of this team is jack, roy, udoka, lamarcus, sergio, and zach randolph, depending on which side of that fence you stand on... (ship him)

(and who knows, maybe joel freeland, aka english breakfast, will be the fourth star from the already bounteous 06 draft in three years' time)

if we could translate any combination of webster, outlaw, dixon, magloire, przybilla, into a budding superstar, even without discussing a zach trade above and beyond that, why wouldn't you do it?

i just think we need to clear some deadwood, shape our ideal team for the future and get a lot more athletic and dynamic...

blazers ponder their next move..

ok, as the trade deadline approaches, i'm just curious to how everyone is feeling about where the blazers are at right now? do you think we should make a trade? should we move jamaal? should we move zach? someone else?

or do we wait until the summer, let jamaal's contract fade away and see if there are any upgrades available on the free agent market?

i can understand that people like where we are at, and justfiably so, but there seems to be an awful lot of high caliber talent available across the league at the moment. we are good and getting better, but that doesn't mean we are complete. so what do you think the blazers should do?

so, if i'm kevin pritchard, this is the way that i see things.. if the blazers can get someone that is productive for magloire (for instance, morris petersen) than we should, if not then we get cap flexibility for the future, seems like a win-win situation.

as far as zach, well i've stated my opinions clearly in my other posts, but i think the time is now to move him. if we could get someone like pau gasol for zach i'd pull the trigger on that baby in a heartbeat. i wouldn't move him to just move him, not by any stretch of the imagination, but what if you could combine zach and our first round pick for a superstar? you would have to consider it; the blazers just have alot of assets at the moment and one more important, young piece could ensure championships in years to come.

i read with interest on espn the juan dixon for fred jones rumour. that would work for me, i really like juany, but the hometown-vibe of a classy kid like fred jones would give us another, ime udoka-type uplifting of spirit. and he's athletic and a great defender, why not?

agent zero goes m.i.a.

first of all, let's get one thing straight: i really like gilbert arenas. guy is a stud, when he's on, he's as unstoppable as anyone in the league. and a second rounder to boot. love all that. even love the fact that he creates situations where he has a grudge to bear, reminiscent of mj, constantly stoking the competitive fire with fuel...

but man, when the time comes you gotta back it up.

agent zero declares that he is going to score fifty on the blazers the next time he sees them, even tells reporters to circle the date in their calendars. this is personal, nate mcmillan obviously had the pull with coach k. to leave gilbert off of team usa for the world championships. he's been dissed, his manhood has been challenged, nobody ever gives him enough credit, etc, etc, etc.

so, come february 11, he's going to rain down 50, minimum, on the blazers and, i assume, help his team to a comprehensive victory...

now, granted the wiz were without antawn jamison. (and etan thomas as well, after another boneheaded brawl with brendan haywood). however.. washington is one of the best teams in the east (for what it's worth), were playing at home, were trying to set a tone going into the all-star break and were playing a portland team that is an also ran in the west, quietly hoping for some oden/durant love and that relies heavily on three rookies and two sophs.

in other words, the wizards had to be thinking that this was going to be a certain victory... oh dear.

highlights of the night would include:

portland absolutely crushing the wizards from start to finish, with mediocre games from randolph and roy and big contributions from jack, aldridge and dixon. score 94-73.

arenas blames coach jordan's new emphasis upon defense as the main reason the wiz forgot how to score. jordan responds, 'that's stupid'.

agent zero, goes oh for eight from three point land, and finishes with exactly nine points; less than caron butler and deshawn stevenson and exactly the same as donell taylor (???) who played precisely six minutes. genius.

but this night was about portland coming of age. some of the comments after the game really demonstrated that the blazers are now fully nate mcmillan's team; tough, focussed, resilient and possessing a quiet, but steely determination. this was the best night of the season for the blazers, heck, the best night for years perhaps, and may change the way they look at themselves permanently. the gauntlet was thrown and they showed who the better team was and what they are capable of:

"Thats like a dude saying he's going to punch you in your face," said Jarrett Jack, who guarded Arenas for most of the game. (Responding to Arena's promise of 50 points)

"Other than the [20] turnovers, they (Blazers) probably executed the game plan better than we've seen them this season," McMillan said.

"You can't put your finger on it, Portland played good basketball, that's it. They played great basketball on both ends of the floor," Butler said.

"Frankly, we didn't have enough talent on the floor." (Eddie Jordan)

it will be interesting to see if this game galvanises the young blazers, as i think it might, and interesting as well, to see how this affects the confidence and performance of the wizard's secret weapon..

perhaps agent zero should lay low for awhile.

(quotes from the associated press)

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)