it won't be to acquire a bench player.

If you really want some muscle off the bench, sign Kurt Thomas to the league minimum in the offseason.

If we need roster spots, I think the first move will be to buy out Raef Lafrentz. Unlike Miles, if we buy him out his salary will come off the books in time for us to sign free agents in 2009. Buying Miles out, on the other hand, would lock his salary into our cap for 09-10.

If KP REALLY wants some cap space in the summer of 2009, then he simply has to get rid of Miles' contract. With how Martell and Jones have been playing, I really think we have to keep those guys around. You could argue the same for Frye, who will fit perfectly with Oden.

When you look at it, I really don't think we have that many holes to fill on our team. We just need to wait for the players we have to develop a little further. Therefore, I believe if there's a trade to be made, it will not be to acquire more talent. We already have almost too much to know what to do with. The sole purpose of any trades now or in the offseason will be to get rid of Miles' contract. Does that mean packaging him with Sergio and a draft pick? Probably. But that's the only way I see us getting under the salary cap for the summer of 2009.

since Rudy's coming over, there really isn't room for a combo gaurd who can't make a layup. And we already have our developing pg in Sergio, we don't need Green. I really don't think we need much in return. We have GO/PRYZ/FRYE at center, LA/FRYE/TROUT at power forward, JONES/OUTLAW/WEBSTER at small forward, WEBSTER/ROY/RUDY at shooting gaurd, and BLAKE/ROY/SERGIO at PG.

    Jarrett Jack is an integral part of this
team. The insane hatred is unjustified. He's
tough, is willing to go hard to the hoop and
finishes pretty well. He's a great FT shooter
and knows how to draw the foul when were not
hitting shots.
     How do you know Rudy will be able to get to the rim in the NBA ? The Euro league is soft and
Rudy the "Savior" hasn't played a minute.
Perhaps he'll be the real deal, but Sergio is
a TO machine, is a terrible FT & FG shooter,
isn't physical and can't play defense. Trade him
while he has some value. If fans want us to
wait until Rudy gets here, because he wants to
play with Sergio, well ... Keep JJ, he's a key
piece to this team.  

So we can swoop in and steal Calderon away!

If we want rebounding bruiser off the bench, we got Jor-el Pryzbilla.  We don't need shooters.  Maybe a better playmaker alongside Roy, but Blake is decent enough if one can't be found.  Perhaps Sergio develops into something more useful and less potentially useful.  

We gotta find a spot for Rudy, the #1 draft pick, and while that ain't small potatoes it isn't gonna be too hard.  Buyout Raef, a small trade, who knows.  Only KP and God know (assuming they aren't one and the same).  I can't figure who'd I let go, but Green and McRoberts are definately the cheapest options if we just cut someone.

My point is, I do not think we need to add anything other than a healthy Oden.  Hopefully Trout and Webby continue their development, and then get all 10 fingers sized for rings.

Mortimer

... can you name anybody out there you think could help the Blazers (and who realistically might be available).

Only Mort and bfan answered the question.  I agree with them both - I don't think there is anything we need to do.  Part of the reason for this diary was to also demonstrate that even if you did want to tweak the roster some, I don't think there is anybody out there that you could argue with be a distinct improvement over what we now have.

bfan - Kurt Thomas did come to mind. I think Seattle holds on to him for the rest of the season so they get the salary relief.  If we sign him over the summer rather than trade for him, then we have to cut somebody.  He falls into the Harpring category in my opinion.  You wouldn't mind adding him, but question if it's worth trading young for old.

Mort - I came away from the Toronto game very impressed by Calderon.  Enough so to consider Swapping Sergio and our 1st round pick.  But then I remember that while Calderon is by far the better player now, he also has 5 years on Sergio.  I think I'll be patient.

Someone who can eat up some fouls for our centers. Joel gets into foul trouble early every single game, and they usually aren't bad fouls either. If we could somehow re-sign joel, as two seperate players so that way he could have twice as many fouls to give, that woulde be our best option. Other than that, I really don't want to give anyone up, but that seems to be where our trouble is. Once Joel goes out, we don't have any strong interior presence. While I know this will be fixed next year, this year that would be the only postion where we really need shoring up. That said, i don't know of any free agents that would help in that situation. So yea sign JOel as two different players, and just have him change jersey's to signify he is another player, halfway through the game. That would be super helpful. :)

My hope is that Portland's younger guys show enough value that KP can convince someone to take Darius with them and some draft picks.  Otherwise, I think he is here for the long haul.

I think the Blazers have a lot of attractive players and will have a lot of GM's calling to deal this off season.  It is going to be an interesting summer.