Plan A: Complete

It's been said that the Blazers first priority this off season was signing Joel Pryzbilla. It would appear that they have accomplished that goal. 5 years, 32 million. At first that seems like a whole lot for a role player big man, but it's just the 32 mil that throws people off. That's only a little over 6 million per on average, which is very movable if he goes into the tank. It's also a small price to pay for a slightly above average center in the NBA. A look at Joel inside the numbers:

In the 04/05 season Joel averaged 10.5 points per 40 minutes and 12.7 rebounds/40 and accumulated a PER of 15.32 (15 is average). He followed that up in the 05/06 season by averaging 9.9 p/40 and 11.2 r/40, and a PER of 15.57. He's also a quality shot blocker and on ball defender for a big man. More importantly to people in Rip City, it appears anyway, is that he brings intangibles to the team. This is when you typically hear rubbish like he's "a warrior" or that he "does the little things" or a bunch of other cool sounding phrases that usually are code for "he sucks but we like him". In Joel's case, he's a solid center in the NBA and for a team like our Trailblazers, knowing that you have an above average player at one position on the floor locked up for the next 5 years can't be anything but a positive move.