30-year old center Joel Przybilla has exercised his option with the Blazers for the 2010-11 season valued at $7.4 million bucks. Przybilla was smart to pick up the option as he knew he would get nowhere near that type of money in the free agent market. Przybilla played in 30 games (9 starts) last season for the Blazers and he averaged 22.7 minutes, 4.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 0.3 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game. He has now played in 364 games (264 starts) in his six years in Portland and he is averaging 23.1 minutes, 5.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 0.5 assists and 1.6 blocked shots per game. The Blazers now have Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla and Marcus Camby at center for the 2010-11 season so they are loaded there assuming that they can all stay healthy.

The Trailblazers have four free agents coming into this summer but they won’t have many hard decisions to make. Joel Przybilla has a early termination option in his contract but he’s not going anywhere. Juwan Howard would be a player the Trailblazers would like to keep as long as the price is right. Travis Diener is another player the Blazers might want back if he plays for the league minimum. Patrick Mills is a restricted free agent and the Blazers won’t match a decent offer if Mills gets one.

Starting shooting guard Brandon Roy underwent knee surgery and the original prognosis was that he would miss 4-6 weeks. But, it’s possible that Roy could return for the second playoff series if the Blazers advance. This is a big blow to the Trailblazers heading into the playoffs as Roy is without a doubt the best player on the team. Roy has played in 65 games (all starts) for the Trailblazers this season and he averaged 37.2 minutes, 21.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.

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.

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.