No, the reason this one took so long to write about was because it was so very dull. Depressing, even, with every wide shot of an arena less full than that of a Mid-Major college on a snowy Monday in December numbing the heart to the same effect as seeing Juan Dixon in a Blazer starting lineup. It’s a sad state of affairs in that arena, where you can’t really blame anyone, but everyone is a little bit at fault.

The game itself was hardly bleak, with the Blazers scoring 124.4 points per 100 possession — basically the point in basketball where your offense becomes God Mode in Doom — and the Nets were a more than respectable 113.4 per 100 themselves. Portland was on the better side of a 42-26 points in the paint split for once and the majority of their assists were on field goals at the rim. That’s, well, not really progress because it is a statistical outlier caused by the Nets, but at least they can get into the paint against the Nets.

Sure they “blew” another 20-point lead and allowed the Nets to be a threat late in the game, but when Marcus Camby leaves the game a couple minutes into the first quarter with an ankle injury, the Blazers were back to being a non-defensive team. Hence, they blow a lead, I don’t, and you shouldn’t, care. It has no bearing on the future. On that note, however, the Blazers still had some strong defensive possessions later on and were simply beat by some good shooting on Courtney Lee’s part. But they closed the game out, not allowing a single point over the final 3:06 until Lee hit a three with 0.6 remaining and the outcome already decided.

Nic Batum got the start over Martell Webster, strangely enough to spread the floor, according to Nate, and shared his relative ineffectiveness with Webster, combining to shoot 3-of-10 with a couple defensive highlights thrown in.

The game wasn’t about them, though. It was about Brandon Roy being Brandon Roy, and LaMarcus Aldridge continuing to impress as he inches up the evolutionary hoops ladder. Roy scored 28 points on 14 shots and didn’t look one bit hampered by a hamstring injury, and before you go lamenting New Jersey’s defense, consider that Roy managed to beat some quick double teams as well as beat a helping Brook Lopez in the paint on a number of occasions. For once, this was a Roy game with no asterisks attached, which should give everyone out there a nice, deep breathe.

Aldridge was a machine, scoring 27 points on 20 shots with the Blazers riding him all night until the final minutes when Roy took over. They could have gone to him even more, but the amount of times the ball was entered into the post was encouraging in itself. And though Aldridge only got to the free-throw line once, he continues to reward his team for his touches, scoring efficiently with a variety of moves while being patient enough to wait on double teams and kick the ball out (four assists, three for three pointers).

Andre Miller was solid in his own right with 20 points and seven assists, but this was about a glimpse of the near future when the Blazers can ride Aldridge and Roy to a victory despite only one other player scoring in double digits. Yes, it was against the Nets, but throw in a healthy Greg Oden alongside a dual performance like this from the two big extended contracts and you have yourself a team that can beat who it should purely on the strength of its stars.

This time, Blake has been offered with Travis Outlaw(notes) to the Los Angeles Clippers for center Marcus Camby(notes), a league source told Yahoo! Sports.

It’s also believed that the Blazers will add cash to the bid. All three players have expiring contracts, so it would likely take an additional ingredient – cash and or a second-round draft pick – to convince the Clippers to give up Camby for this package.

Of the two rumors today, I prefer the Tyrus Thomas one because he offers a higher chance of adding something in the long term, as I doubt the Blazers would be re-signing Camby this summer (though getting him on the cheap would be a heck of a deal). Woj also mentions that the Clippers would want to send Sebastian Telfair along in this deal, which I see zero chance of happening, partially for obvious reasons, and partially because there’s not much point in bringing back another meh PG.

“Portland Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard made an offer they’ll have to improve upon to be taken seriously – one of his expiring contracts (Steve Blake or Travis Outlaw) and two future second-round draft picks”

Brian T. Smith of The Columbian added some info today, with an article on the subject and multiple tweets. Here were some of his tweets from earlier:

Cont.: Source says #Blazers are interested in #Bulls’ Thomas because of his youth and shot-blocking abilities.

Cont.: Source also says #Bulls’ Thomas fits #Blazers’ timeline, and his restricted free agent status is key.

Every year, around this time we hear the Blazers attached with all sorts of names. This year has been way quieter than in years past, for many reasons including the fact that many of the rumored offers have been ridiculous. I can’t even think of the Wizards or Brendan Haywood without laughing and shaking my head. Seriously, if I tried to do that in 2K10 even my XBOX would be like ‘you’re kidding right?’. This one seems to have some legs, thus it gets a post. It seems to be a given that if (big if) Portland is going to make a move, it is going to be for a big man. In my eyes, the price is not too hefty. One thing this season has proven is that as much talent as we have, life can go on without them. And it has because everyone and their mom has gotten injured. I’ll be honest and say that even though I know Travis Outlaw can make this team better, especially when we need someone to score…I have not missed him as much as I thought I would. And Blake leaving would free Bayless off his chains for good. I’m not sure Portland has to make a deal unless it is just an absolute home run. KP has had this approach the last couple years as he got gun-shy near the deadline because it wasn’t a complete home run. With the roster in place, he’ll look to play it safer. I just don’t know if Tyrus Thomas is a piece that is going to take us over the top.

Now, I know he’s young and could give us a shot-blocking presence and a rebounder, something we obviously need. I know our front court depth is about as deep as VH1 would be without reality shows. I’m just iffy how much help he would us for 25 games. I could understand if the player in question was a veteran we were just using for the year that would obviously make us better and help our big men. I’m just not sold on Thomas. For one, he is near the definition of inconsistent. Some nights he looks like a double-double waiting to happen and a future All-Star, other nights he looks like he’ll fall out of the NBA when his deal is up. It’s not like he has a complete body of work that proves he will absolutely, positively have a positive impact on this team. He has the potential to do so, but he’s had the word potential tied with him for years. It’s the reason that Blazer fans have thanked goodness we ended up LaMarcus Aldridge instead of Tyrus Thomas. Seriously…imagine if we hadn’t made that deal. I know you just shuddered. Let me put it this way, I don’t want this guy anywhere near my FANTASY team why on earth would I want him on the Blazers?

In addition to the inconsistency, he has a horrible attitude. Now, granted that may have something to do with the Bulls organization and maybe he needs to move on and get a fresh start. I will give him that, sometimes when you have continued issues with the same people you stop caring. However, there is no denying there is an issue there. If everyone was going bonkers about Andre Miller…well let’s just say Thomas could be the Eddie Murphy of the 80s and Miller’s attitude will seem like the Eddie Murphy of the 2000s.(Sidenote: read Kelly Dwyer’s thoughts on Mr. Thomas. Good stuff)

Moving, what goes on past this year? The big man log jam becomes even more complicated. Granted he’s a restricted free agent, but let’s say somehow we keep him. That’s him, Aldridge, Oden, Przybilla, Cunningham and Pendergraph. Or as I like to say: WAY TOO MANY BIG MEN. Not to mention the European tag team of Freemen and Claver. I’d rather continue to see Dante Cunningham grow, seeing as how he’s obviously a part of our future. Ditto for Pendergraph. We stick Thomas in the fold, all of a sudden we have too many young bigs and not enough to time to develop them. Which means one of them we’ll probably end up pulling a Jermaine O’Neal and blowing up somewhere else. No bueno. Plus, old-man Juwan Howard just makes me smile way too much these days.

Thoughts? I’m looking to debate this, so if you can sell me on Tyrus Thomas congratulations. Can he help us? Would he hurt Cunningham?