Ken Berger of CBSSports.com writes that big things could be in store for the Portland Trail Blazers next week... ----------------------- Execs are monitoring the intentions of Houston, Portland and Utah -- all tax-paying teams that will be deciding whether to go deeper into the tax or pull back from it. ... One exec said he believes Portland GM Rich Cho is "poised for a pretty significant 24th." Given the grim prognosis for star guard Brandon Roy and the uncertainty about what cap space will be worth under the new labor rules, Cho is seriously considering cashing in on the expiring contract of Joel Przybilla and the essentially expiring deal of Andre Miller, whose 2011-12 salary is fully non-guaranteed. Marcus Camby, who has a year left at $12.9 million, could be enticing to one of the few deep-pocketed contenders not shy about taking on future money with CBA changes looming. The Mavericks, for example, will "listen to anything," according to a source. ----------------------- While we're on the subject of expiring contracts, Golden State Warriors GM Larry Riley told Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News on Tuesday night that he believes this year has been a soft market for expiring contracts, pointing to Toronto's buyout of Peja Stojakovic and a relatively weak 2011 summer free agent crop. In that same vein, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reported that New Jersey will likely buy out Troy Murphy because "trade talks have gone nowhere." If Riley's assessment is accurate, it doesn't bode well for Portland's hopes of acquiring a piece and/or off-loading salary by moving center Joel Przybilla, although Przybilla's contract ($7.4 million) is easier to move than Stojakovic's ($14.5 million) or Murphy's ($12 million). -- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter