Andre Miller has been a very underrated point guard his whole career, and has career averages of 14.5 points, 7.2 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.4 steals in 10 years in the league.  Miller has been using his strength and great vision to make up for his lack of athleticism his whole career, and this year has been no different.  He is averaging 13.8 points, 5.5 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.1 steals in only 30.8 minutes per game.  He has been playing even better this month, averaging 15.8 points, 5.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.8 steals while helping Brandon Roy lead the Trail Blazers to a 10-2 record in March.  They are currently only 3.5 games back of the second place Dallas Mavericks and are tied with the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder.

37-year old Juwan Howard really stepped up for the Trailblazers after they lost their top two centers. Howard has played in 63 games (26 starts) for the Blazers this season and he is averaging 22.7 minutes, 5.9 points, 4.9 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. He held the fort at center for the Blazers until they traded for Marcus Camby. If the Trailblazers hold on and make the playoffs, Juwan Howard will be a big reason for it.

Maybe it’s because he plays in Portland that Brandon Roy doesn’t get his due. Roy has started 56 games for the Blazers this season and he is averaging 37.7 minutes, 22.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.7 assists and 1.0 steal per game. Roy is the Northwest part of the country’s D-Wade. If Roy were more selfish he could probably average around 30 points per game but he is a good team player. This might be the year that Roy carries the team on his back in the playoffs.

21-year old, second year small forward Nicolas Batum is playing really well lately. In his last 5 games, Batum is averaging 24.6 minutes, 15.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game on 57.1% shooting from the floor. The Trailblazers need him to keep up the good work the rest of the season. Batum has played in 21 games (9 starts) for the Blazers this season and he is averaging 22.8 minutes, 9.8 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. He is shooting well from everywhere on the court this season hitting 55.3% of his shots from the floor, 42.9% from three point range and 91.7% from the free throw line. The Blazers were right to bump Martell Webster to the bench and start Nicolas Batum at small forward.

Marcus Camby has injured not one, but both ankles in his brief time with the Portland Trail Blazers.  He injured his right ankle on February 23rd against the New Jersey Nets, only his third game with the Blazers after being acquired in a trade from the Los Angeles Clippers.  He missed just one game after that injury, but he injured his left ankle in practice only a couple of weeks later.  Camby again missed one game and returned last night in a 88-81 win over the Sacramento Kings.  Despite Camby being hobbled by his bad ankles, he has still been a force down low on defense.  In the seven full games he has played with the Trail Blazers, he has averaged 3.0 blocks per contest.  In his return against the Kings last night he had 5 blocks.  He has also averaged 8.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals.  He hasn’t been much help on offense though.  In those seven games he is averaging 31.4 minutes and only 3.9 points, including one scoreless effort against the Indiana Pacers.  Camby is obviously very injury prone, but the Blazers have themselves a great shot-blocker even when he is not healthy.