Starting tomorrow much of the focus on this site will be on "moves" that Portland should/could/may/cannot possibly make during the offseason including trades, drafting, and signings (though the cap handicaps us a bit there). One of the pieces that will no doubt feature heavily in these discussions is the expiring and possibly insurance-covered contract of Joel Przybilla. It is possible (though unclear how likely) we've seen the last of Przybilla on the floor with this team. I want to take this opportunity to say thank you Joel. Joel, thank you.

We should not forget that Joel was signed for the 2004-2005 season and is the last player on that roster whose name still appears on the roster cards. That year the roster also featured Zach Randolph, Ruben Patterson, and Darius Miles. Joel survived that experience to become the heart of this team as it transitioned to the team we have today - a team we are sometimes frustrated with, but not to the degree or for the reasons we loathed the team that Cheeks and Pritchard had to wrangle that year.

I won't say too much about why we love Joel. I think everyone already knows, and it was covered very well here, here, and here last summer.

Those posts by timbo and Dave say everything I could say here. So, instead, I'm going to re-say something I wrote in the Camby re-signing threads and hope that it catches on this time:

I understand that his expiring contract has value and I honestly think that dealing him might be a very good move. I hope the Blazers do trade away Joel and his EC if it will help the team. But, Pryzbilla has earned the right not to be referred to by a moniker that will see him compared, even in this small way, to Lafrentz. I propose a ban on the the use of JPEC on bedge and a contest for more creative and reverential terms for Joel’s contract. Two ideas just to get things going:

"The contract"

"Thrilla dollars"

As in: I heard the blazers parlayed Rudy Fernandez, B-Rex, a couple of picks, and The Contract into CP3 this offseason. Sweet.

or

I wonder what position the blazers are going to spend all those Thrilla Dollars on? PG, PF?

And, though youtube is a little light on good Przybilla content - I'll leave you with these two reminders.