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Run that by me again.

• Steve Blake. Decent little affordable point guard.
• Brian Skinner. Big man who can help, but at this point is a journeyman, who is not super-cheap.
• Ha Seung-Jin. Yet to have his first good NBA game, he's super big, and he has been after it for a while already.

For a massive, strong, recent All-Star center, still in his prime, who led his team in rebounding, with Bird rights intact, and the potential to get cap space or sign-and-trade next summer?



There's something funny about this Jamaal Magloire trade. Isn't that cheap for a good, healthy center? Or is Steve Blake going to really keep developing?



Seems there must be something wrong with Magloire that I don't know about.



I'm not one of those people who is all worried about having two starting centers. That part I'm OK with.



I also don't buy for a second that this means they are planning to trade LaMarcus Aldridge as has been suggested. No, no, no, that's insane. No way. Aldridge is cheap, he was never going to play a whole lot this season, and most importantly, he's the guy they wanted.



Kevin Pritchard's whole philosophy, and he says he learned it in San Antonio, is that you identify the players you want, and then you get get them. You do whatever it takes. He talked about that specifically in terms of LaMarcus Aldridge.



The Blazers got better today, any way you slice it--even if there are more trades in the works. Pritchard will be on the radio in a few hours to explain more about it. I'm curious.



In the interim, Pritchard is known to talk a lot to Mike Barrett, who writes about it as if it was all founded on the fact that the Bucks were fixated on Blake (who is good! he can play! I watched him outplay Kobe Bryant down the stretch of a Blazer win last season). Barrett adds:

Keep in mind, a little over a month ago the Blazers faced the prospect of having only two centers, Ha, and Brian Skinner. Now, they've got Przybilla, who was re-signed, Raef LaFrentz, Magloire, and LaMarcus Aldridge.



It has also helped alleviate a log jam at the point guard position. It wasn't easy for the Blazers to trade away Blake, who was very popular in the community, and had a breakout season last year, but with Jarrett Jack nearing 100 percent on his surgically-repaired ankle, along with Sergio Rodriguez, Dan Dickau, and Brandon Roy showing the world at summer league he can certainly handle playing some point, the move was too good to pass up.

Odd man out could be Raef LaFrentz if everyone's healthy.



(By the way, I looked up the rules--the Blazers can trade Magloire again immediately if they're so inclined. They would only have to wait two months if they want to package him with someone else, if I'm understanding Larry Coon correctly.)



And, for the record, the Blazers made such a song-and-dance about re-signing Joel Przybilla, trading away Theo Ratliff to make room for him, welcoming him with the big ceremony, splashing his picture everywhere... I have to believe that Przybilla has the inside track on the starting position. Barrett communicates as much, saying Magloire will "battle for minutes" at the four and five.



To me, however, this trade is all about one player: Jarrett Jack. The team had a three-headed monster at point guard last year, which hurt their ability to develop an identity. Point guard is too important--it's your style of play. Jack was the battler that Nate McMillan seemed to like the best. I'm excited that the team has made a decision, decided to trust someone, and moved forward boldly. Now Jarrett Jack can go about becoming a leader.



And remember they had Brandon Roy playing point guard in summer league? Now that makes some more sense, too. He might actually get some minutes doing that now that the team doesn't have 750 point guards