KingSpeed

Joel? Ruben? Miles? Zach? Theo?

Blazer Freak

No one. He'll be traded.

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Nightfly

I wouldn't be surprised to see Miles sit on the Bench more after SAR is healthy... certainly after that recent incident...

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Radio is my life.

Once known as HearToTemptYou.

HOWIE

I am hoping that Joe Johnson gets some minutes when Rahim is healthy!

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Trader Ed

or Michael Redd



Ok, who actually plays D.... Redd or Johnson????

I doubt Redd is very good at it.. how about Joe?

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"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts..."

Heart, desire and hustle! Its the fire within that makes a champion.

Public Defender

Assuming Abdur-Rahim is not traded (and I'm sure teams are going to want to see him play at least a few games to make sure he's 100%), someone will have to sit.

My bet is that Przybilla will not see as many minutes as he has. Randolph almost has to lose playing time to get Abdur-Rahim on the floor, and Patterson will likely give up some time, too. As for Miles, since he hasn't been playing a great deal since he came back from his suspension, I think he just won't see his minutes go up.

I anticipate the frontcourt rotation will go something like this:

SF:
Ruben Patterson (25 minutes), Darius Miles (15 minutes), Abdur-Rahim (8 minutes)

PF:
Theo Ratliff (15 minutes), Zach Randolph (20 minutes), Abdur-Rahim (8 minutes), Ruben Patterson (5 minutes)

C:
Joel Przybilla (25 minutes), Theo Ratliff (15 minutes), Zach Randolph (8 minutes)

In terms of minutes, we'd see...

Abdur-Rahim: 16 minutes (8 at SF, 8 at PF)
Miles: 15 minutes (all at SF)
Patterson: 30 minutes (25 at SF, 5 at PF)
Przybilla: 25 minutes (all at C)
Randolph: 28 minutes (20 at PF, 8 at C)
Ratliff: 30 minutes (15 at PF, 15 at C)

It's not easy juggling six guys who all deserve playing time among three positions. So, basically, I anticipate Mo giving "starter's minutes" to Ratliff, Przybilla, Randolph, and Patterson, and giving "significant reserve minutes" to Miles and Abdur-Rahim. If Nash leans on him, maybe he plays Abdur-Rahim more.

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Next year...

hasoos

If the team is still winning a lot when he returns, I predict Shareef will be the one sitting.

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Hasoos

Foulzilla

Johnson is a good defender. Would love to have him on the Blazers but still doubt Phoenix lets him go.

KingSpeed

Even is SAR is traded, someone will have to sit. We're not planning on trading SAR for air, are we?

Dan

Maybe Air pnu monia will becoming over...so in a round about way, they could be trading for Air....

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A Buddhist walks up to a hot dog vendor and says "Make me one with everything".

when will the loss of life end?

The world respects the power of our example, not an example of our power.

I'd like to say I made this, but I didn't

mook

he's probably not going to re-sign with Portland.

if we can't unload him by the trade deadline, he really should be benched behind guys like Outlaw and Khryapa for the rest of the season.

it'll suck, and I wouldn't blame him for being pissed. but the fact is that if he isn't re-signing here there is absolutely no incentive to give him minutes.

we've got youngsters who will be here for years who need the playing time. also, if SAR plays well, he'll likely cost us a great lottery pick. him playing well could be the difference between the 12th pick and the 6th.

once the trade deadline passes, we need to bench all three big contracts (Damon, Nick and SAR) and start building for the future.