TODAY’S GAME
Bobcats vs. Blazers, 7 p.m. at the Rose Garden
TV: CSN (cable Ch. 37)
Radio: 95.5 FM
Probable Starters
Blazers (34-27)
Position/player Ht. Avg.
F Nicolas Batum 6-8 12.1
F LaMarcus Aldridge 6-11 22.2
C Marcus Camby 6-11 5.6
G Wesley Matthews 6-5 16.5
TODAY'S GAME
Bobcats vs. Blazers, 7 p.m. at the Rose Garden
TV: CSN (cable Ch. 37)
Radio: 95.5 FM
Probable Starters
Blazers (34-27)
Position/player Ht. Avg.
F Nicolas Batum 6-8 12.1
F LaMarcus Aldridge 6-11 22.2
C Marcus Camby 6-11 5.6
G Wesley Matthews 6-5 16.5
G Andre Miller 6-2 13.4
Bobcats (26-34)
Position/player Ht. Avg.
F Stephen Jackson 6-8 19.2
F Boris Diaw 6-8 11.0
C Kwame Brown 6-11 7.1
G Gerald Henderson 6-5 7.2
G D.J. Augustin 6-0 14.3
G Andre Miller 6-2 13.4
Bobcats (26-34)
Position/player Ht. Avg.
F Stephen Jackson 6-8 19.2
F Boris Diaw 6-8 11.0
C Kwame Brown 6-11 7.1
G Gerald Henderson 6-5 7.2
G D.J. Augustin 6-0 14.3
TUALATIN, Ore. — No changes for the Trail Blazers tonight. Except, of course, for all the changes.
Everything is as it was before. You know, outside of everything that’s different.
Blazers coach Nate McMillan said he’s going with the same lineup he put on the court in the three previous games this week — starting Marcus Camby at center and bringing Gerald Wallace off the bench.
As for the team they’ll be going up against? That’s just going to be strange.
Portland hosts the Charlotte Bobcats tonight nine days after dealing them Joel Przybilla, Dante Cunningham, Sean Marks and two draft picks in exchange for Wallace.
Przybilla had spent nearly seven years in a Blazers uniform, and Cunningham was a locker-room favorite. So excuse the Blazers if they won’t be brimming with antagonism when staring down some of their opponents.
“I love both guys,” McMillan said. “This is a tough business … it’s like your kids leaving home. They’re both good people. I hope it works out for them.”
Patty Mills said, more than anything, that he misses his old teammates and looks forward to seeing them.
LaMarcus Aldridge said his former co-workers were like family. He added, however, that Przybilla used to tell him that if he was ever traded away, he was going to shut Aldridge down.
But will he take it a step further? Przybilla is, after all, known for getting up in opponent’s faces, even upon the most innocuous of triggers.
“I don’t think he’ll do us like that,” Aldridge said. “He’s only been gone a couple weeks.”
But you get the feeling Wallace is unconcerned with how Blazers old and new treat each other upon their pending reunion. He knows a lot more people on the Bobcats than his new teammates do.
Now three games into his tenure at Portland, Wallace said he’s beginning to feel more acclimated, but has plenty of motivation to elevate his game the next time he takes the floor.
“No matter what the sport, you never want to lose to your former team,” said Wallace, before singling out a reporter. “You always want to write a better article than your co-worker, right? Especially if he gets the raise before you do.”
But if Wallace is going to get the better of the Bobcats, it’s going to be in a reserve role — albeit a significant one.
He confessed at practice Friday that it’s strange coming off the bench, not only because he’s unaccustomed to doing so, but because the flow of the game has already been established upon his entry.
Nevertheless, McMillan said that, for now, it’s in Portland’s best interest to place Wallace in a sixth-man role and “let him be the man.”
More time for Roy
The Man. Brandon Roy held such a title with the Blazers for years. Not so much these days. But maybe, slowly, he could start inching closer to something resembling that position.
Roy didn’t play against Sacramento on Wednesday — McMillan adhering to the team’s decision not to put him on the floor on the second game of back-to-backs. However, that restriction could be lifted soon.
McMillan said Friday that he was planning on talking to team orthopedist Don Roberts about possibly increasing Roy’s minutes.
The Oregonian reported that after speaking with Roberts, McMillan planned on increasing Roy’s minute limit from 15 to about 25 in regular games, and limit him to 15-20 minutes on the back end of back-to-backs.
Additionally, Rudy Fernandez, who sat out against both Houston and Sacramento this week, will return after battling a cold. The Spaniard said it was the first time he didn’t have his mom to take care of him when he was sick.
A pleasant surprise
Aldridge admitted Friday that his recent Western Conference Player of the Month award was the greatest individual accomplishment of his career, that he didn’t think he was going to get it.
Perhaps using pessimism as a defense mechanism, the power forward said that, given all the All-Star disappointment in the past, he just naturally assumed that this latest honor would elude him.
He was aware he was in the running, though. And not because he was checking the stat lines of his competitors, but because Camby made sure he knew he was performing at a level worthy of the award.
“Camby started calling me ‘POM’,” Aldridge said. “He had me aware of it.”
