The Trailblazers have decided to put 24-year old Wesley Matthews into the starting lineup at small forward. Matthews has played in 16 games (3 starts) for the Blazers so far this year and he is averaging 25.4 minutes, 12.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. 21-year old Nicolas Batum will go to the bench for now. Batum has played in 16 games (all starts) for the Blazers so far this year and he is averaging 30.3 minutes, 12.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals per game. This is just head coach Nate McMillan trying to shake things up a little bit.

26-year old starting shooting guard Brandon Roy doesn’t need knee surgery quite yet but he’s going to miss some time. Roy has played in 11 games (all starts) for the Trailblazers so far this year and he is averaging 35.4 minutes, 18.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. The Blazers are lucky they signed 24-year old SG/SF Wesley Matthews away from the Jazz last summer as he will replace Roy in the starting lineup until he’s ready to return to action. Matthews has played in 12 games (1 start) for the Blazers so far this year and he is averaging 23.1 minutes, 11.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game.

22-year old center Greg Oden needs microfracture surgery on his left knee which will cause him to miss the rest of the 2010-11 season. That means that Oden has missed two of his first four years due to injury. Oden has played in 82 games (60 starts) in his four years with the Blazers and he has averaged 22.1 minutes, 9.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, 0.6 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game. This really hurts when you consider that they could have drafted Kevin Durant over Oden. The 22-year old Durant has played in 247 games (247 starts) in his first four years in the NBA and he is averaging 37.8 minutes, 25.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals per game. The Trailblazers must be cursed because they did the same thing quite a few years back when the took a injury prone center (Sam Bowie) over Michael Jordan. History is repeating itself in Portland, Oregon.

34-year old Andre Miller is the classic pass first point guard. He has played in 12 games (all starts) for the Trailblazers so far this year and he is averaging 32.5 minutes, 13.7 points, 3.1 rebounds, 7.8 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Miller makes everyone on his team a better offensive player as he would rather pass than shoot. That’s good on the Blazers as they have a lot of decent offensive players who stay happy because the wealth is spread around by Miller.

21-year old point guard Armon Johnson and 21-year old small forward Luke Babbitt aren’t getting much P.T. this year. Armon Johnson is backing up Andre Miller at the point this year. He has played in 12 games (0 starts) for the Trailblazers so far this year and he is averaging 11.4 minutes, 4.8 points, 1.0 rebound and 2.2 assists per game. Johnson is shooting 52.2% from the floor and 57.1% from three point range so far this year so the Blazers have been pleased with him. Luke Babbitt has played in 5 games (0 starts) for the Blazers so far this year and he is averaging 5.2 minutes, 1.2 points and 0.8 rebounds per game. He will likely need injuries to players ahead on him on the depth chart to get any substantial P.T. this year.