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ABM · 01-28-2005, 10:45 AM

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John Nash wears the look of a genius for signing Joel Przybilla to a guaranteed two-year, $3.36 million free-agent contract last August.

Of course, Nash may not seem so smart when you consider the three-year, $35 million extension the Trail Blazer general manager laid on veteran Theo Ratliff before the season. But that is the nature of the business.

While Ratliff has struggled to find the defensive presence that captivated Blazer fans last season, Przybilla has emerged as a very bright spot in a dismal first half of the season.

.......“Shoot, yeah, I’ve been surprised,” Cheeks admits, grinning. “Joel rebounds, he blocks shots, he clogs up the middle, he sets screens all over the floor. I love him. He does what he can do and doesn’t try to do anything he can’t do.”

Przybilla has little offensive repertoire, but it hasn’t mattered. Against Dallas on Wednesday, all four of his baskets came on dunks. Nick Van Exel has become especially proficient at setting him up, and Przybilla has done a nice job moving without the ball to the open spot.

“Earlier in the season, he was laying the ball up all the time and missing,” Cheeks says. “I had to tell him, every time you get around the basket, dunk.”

.......With Zach Randolph back in action and soon to return to the starting lineup, it would appear Ratliff, not Przybilla, will be the one coming off the bench. Not that the native of Monticello, Minn., would complain either way.

“I’m having a lot of fun, and not just because I am playing more,” Przybilla says. “We have a great group of guys. The relationships I’ve developed with Zach, Nick, Darius (Miles) … we’ve become close friends. That’s important to me. I just want us to start winning games.”.........