Summit Eve

OK, maybe it's not quite as popular as the other "Eve's" out there. Sure, it's not Christmas Eve or Adam and Eve...but hey, it's Portland Roadie Summit Eve. That's exciting in my books. The original 4 scheduled for this trip - Golden, Idaho, French and Brussels - has already been reduced to just 3 as Brussels has had to back out due to school commitments. Then he was back in. Then out. Then in again. Then out again. In again one final time. Only to be back out again. We hold out hope for a last minute substitution with Maui joining us - but alas, if it doesn't happen, we have one crazy 3-way situation to talk about for 48 hours.

The plan is for Tuna to arrive at Chez Edwards at 8am and get on the road to pick up Hildy on 176th on the way to border. Hopefully, a short border lineup awaits, and then it's cruising all the way to downtown Portland. Friday night will hopefully bring us a sports bar, tv's galore, chicken wings, and beer. Oh, and of course, there could be some trade discussions along the way. After all, it is a pretty lengthy drive.

So, let's look at the 3 team definitely on the trip. What do they need and what do they have to offer?

Let's start in Golden. The current 1st place squad has had a rough week so far - mostly due to the lack of man games compared to other teams. Golden is still struggling in FG% and ATO (8th in both) while they excel in PTS and STL's (1st in both). Golden has cheap assets that could be valued for potential keepers. Gortat, Anderson, Biyombo, Thomas, and Thornton could all be seen as potential keepers. Golden is always looking to tweak his lineup and could probably use another big man that blocks and one more PG for the back court. I see some very interesting PG's in both French and Idaho.

French Lick is currently 5th and his only real weak category is PTS (11th). He does everything else quite well (6-4-2-5-5-6). French has made some major moves in the past couple of weeks (gathering all of the best assets out of Brussels mostly) so it's unknown if he has the pieces to move up. He has plenty of great potential keepers on the roster - Lawson, Bynum, Jordan, Teague, Morris, Gooden and others. What a core to build around. However, looking at the keeper list - there are more assets there than even possible to protect so he may as well try to leverage some of them. I can see his PG's Teague and Nash being popular names mentioned in trades. He needs scoring and Golden is 1st in scoring and Idaho is 5th so we could be perfect trade partners in some areas.

Idaho is currently in 8th spot. He's in a bit of no man's land as he's 150 points out of 4th place and still 100 points up on 9th (where he would lose a keeper spot). So, what to do? Go for the money? Or maintain a 5th to 8th spot and get 3 keepers for next season? Who would his best keepers be? Ilyasova for $1 buck looks awesome. I love James Harden for $8. Ed Davis $6 has potential if Toronto gives him minutes. Klay Thompson $1 could be valuable if the Warriors finally trade Monta. Even a kid like Kemba Walker $10 could be worth a look. So, there is some cheap talent on board. Idaho is 11th in blocks; 9th in ATO; 7th in rebounding; and 7th in FG% - so there is room for improvement in most categories. Idaho also has a lot of established talent that will likely be the discussion of many potential trades. Rondo, Bosh, Wallace, and Boozer are all proven fantasy stars. One Idaho guy that will be brought up repeatedly will be Danny Granger. However, I don't see Granger moving to French or Golden at any point during this trip. Or for that matter - ever. Idaho will also need to realize that selling French or Golden on Klay Thompson's merits as a potential keeper is useless. We have good keepers already. We are both stocked with good keepers so any trades made will be 'now' trades.

So - it's clear that the Portland roadie teams have talent. They are in 1st, 5th and 8th. Can they find common ground to make a deal? Possibly. How many offers will be made/discussed before a deal is reached - I am going to guess 30+ before something is hammered out. I hope someone has printed off the teams' stats because Johnny don't trade without some numbers to support my cause.

Well, that's it for now JBL peeps. I'll try to post some photos or comments during our journey. Have a great weekend. Look for us in section 218 of the Blazer game on Saturday night!! Go Blazers!