Randolph for Jefferson, Two Presidentialish Names Being Traded for One Another is Quite Intriguing

I’m firmly in the pick Greg Oden first camp. I think Durant is a fantastic player and he’s going to be terrific. He and Oden will dominate the NBA for 15 years, and then retire to play chess against each other. However, as it’s been said over and over, big men win championships. Shaq or Duncan have played in every NBA Finals since that one guy retired the second time, and there’s really no reason why big men won’t continue to dominate championships. Even in the college ranks Florida just won two straight titles with what might be the best frontcourt ever. Bigs are important.

That being said, there’s a definite logjam in the Blazers frontcourt. They have Zach Randolph, LaMarcus Aldridge, Joel Przygorilla, the corpse of Jamaal Magloire, Ronald McDonald, Jaws from the James Bond movies, that huge giant from Big Fish, former Benedictine Eagle center Will Crawford, an Amazonian refugee, the Jolly Green Giant, an actual gorilla, and Raef Lafrentz. It’s pretty obvious that someone needs to be moved to make room for Son of Bill Russell. Furthermore, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick up a wing guy who is good at playing basketball (the whole basis for the Draft Durant movement). Currently, the vaunted triumvirate of Darius Miles, Fred Jones, and Martell Webster has been slow to impress precisely because they are Darius Miles, Fred Jones, and Martell Webster.

Thankfully, there is hope. As a blog reader, you may have heard that Zach Randolph is sort of available. By available I mean that the Trailblazers front office is considering taking him to his favorite strip club, saying they have to go to the bathroom, and sneaking out and not returning his calls. I’m not entirely sure this is true, but if I heard it on the internet it must be true. Of course, if they can pull off this tricky maneuver, they’d still have his fat contract on their salary cap, so why not just trade him instead. Perhaps to New Jersey for Richard Jefferson? According to the trade machine it works, plus both teams are trading players who look like dinosaurs from Jurassic Park; something that I think is covered in the collective bargaining agreement.

If that happens, New Jersey has a lineup looking like this:

Jason Kidd
Vince Carter
Boston Nachobar
Zach Randolph
Nenad Krstic

If they resign Mikki Moore, they have a solid bench with him, Marcus Williams, Josh Boone, Jason Collins, and whatever human they draft with the 17th pick (Thaddeus Young, perhaps). In the abysmal Eastern Conference, that’s a team that could compete with the Bulls, Cavs, Pistons, and Heat.

If I’m the Blazers (and I do drive a Trailblazer), I’m trying my best to figure out how to build around Oden, Aldridge, and Brandon Roy. That’s a nucleus that will be upper-echelon for a long time.