Hello, BE. I've been a long time reader, recent member, and now this is my first time posting. This is in response to the recent post about Pryzbilla's role on the team. It also talked a little about acquiring Millsap and everything, so I'll cover that a little too.

I don't think we need a new power forward if we can make the right roster changes to accommodate the notion. Acquiring a player like Bass would be great, but it seems like too much money to spend on a reserve right off the bat. The money that gets tossed around in the Free Agency period is predominantly for starters. A player like Lee or Millsap would also be a great backup to LMA, but the nature of their games suggest they won't be happy playing the reserve under Aldridge. These are starting PFs.

SO, in my opinion, this is how we solve our issues, especially with the PF position.

Move 1: Keep amicable relations with Joel. He's one of the greatest veteran presences on our team, and it would hurt to see him go. He contributes greatly to our team, especially defensively. The Blazers wouldn't be able to function as well as they did last season without a veteran such as the Pryz on their hands.

Move 2: Make moves to sign Lamar Odom. It might be a little late in the game for it, but as we saw with Turkoglu, it's never too late to make an agreement.

Move 3: Play Joel as C/PF. Play Lamar as a SF/PF. Without having a "true" 2nd line on the PF position, it makes things a lot more confusing, but with the 4 players we have lined up, we have 4 very different perspectives on the position. The way it would probably end up looking would be LMA/Odom/Pryz/Pendergraph.

Move 4: Make during season trades to acquire a new starting PG and reserve C. These issues are so complicated, I'll just throw a few ideas down on the table. I support the idea of having Kirk Hinrich on the team, so we'll throw him in the mix here. As far as a center, we need a player with veteran presence who is okay with playing the third line. Usually the kind of player a lot of teams are quick to get rid of. I would have suggested Dikembe Mutombo, but we all remember what happened there. Tony Battie is a reasonable option, although it may be hard to pry him from his new home in New Jersey. For these trades, i suggest we offer up Outlaw, Cunningham and Blake.

 

That would leave our roster as such. The Parenthesis'd players are the ones who will fill in for the role, but don't list it as their actual position.

PG Hinrich?/Bayless/(Rudy)/Mills

SG Roy/Rudy/(Bayless)

SF Odom/Batum/Claver/(Rudy)

PF Aldridge/(Odom)/(Pryzbilla)/Pendergraph

C Oden/Pryzbilla/Battie?