I don't know whether GlazeDuck or Charcoal Filtered will win this thread, but I do know that it made me hungry.
Pretty simple and already pointed out over and over again. You have the following assets: Camby- Solid vet to be moved to a team with a chance for a ring this year. That really only puts a few teams in play: Lakers, Dallas, Spurs, Miami, Boston, maybe Atlanta(but let's be honest it's the NBA so no). Out of those teams you have maybe a handful of players that are young and talented. You get a guy in the 27-30 range that can be a longer-term fix while you rebuild and a high 1st round pick. Miller- Solid vet that has two more years of starter production. On top of that he has a expiring contract so it opens the door to both the Camby options and basically any team looking to dump salary. Joel- I love him, but he is more valuable as a rebuilding tool than a long-term option in Portland. Same deal as Miller and Camby except that he is younger and could be viewed by some teams as a 5-7 year option at the center position. That might actually make him an attractive option for the Blazers to re-sign. I could live with Joel as our center for the next five years,, but at the same time he could be the extra player in a package that really helps to bring a young talented player to the Rose city. LMA- He is your best young player with potential that anyone would be willing to move serious potential talent for, and/or a lottery pick. He is hard to trade because of BYC, but it can be done. Nic- I wouldn't want this to happen, but he is the wild card. There are a lot of unknowns with this kid, and we Portland fans love us some unrealized potential(see Outlaw). If a deal was on the table to bring a young all-star to town with a long-term outlook of being great I think you might have to say goodbye to Boom Boom. Rudy- If someone wants him and you can get anything for him, you do it. He is going to walk when he can, so you might as well get something for him. The above players are enough the basically do what the Thunder did a few years ago. You stock the pond with young talent and develop it over time. You move B-Roy in five years like a Ray Allen to complete the process. This means several seasons of being around .500 or better. One the bright side you have a nice player in Wes, and a chance that Oden could be something other than a dark cloud that makes you want to crawl back into bed and sleep away the dark times.
