Bet you're wonderin' how I knew

A long time ago – 20 years, maybe 25 – when there was no social media, or even blogs, yet, I was a participant on a Blazer chat board on the ESPN website. The folks there were friendly; we even met up in person once. When my first (and I think only) season was ending, I asked them what they posted about in the off-season. And the answer was clear: trade rumors.

I doubt that that chat board still exists, but the summer pastime of roster speculation persists through other outlets. The most persistent thing I keep seeing this year is that Blazer star Damian Lillard and Philadelphia 76er star Joel Embiid (Jo-ELL Em-BEED) want to play together on the same team.

So that raises an obvious question: Would that team be the Blazers, or the Sixers?

What could the Blazers get from Philly in exchange for Lillard? Ben Simmons and some junk, I guess. And there's all the folderol with the salary cap, which I have never quite been able, or interested enough, to understand.

What could the Sixers get from Rip City in exchange for Embiid? C.J. McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic, and some junk, I guess. But the Blazers just signed Norman Powell; maybe they could ship him out as part of the deal. Again, the fans in the know will hoot me down over the salary rules if I'm wrong.

Embiid in Portland would make sense, actually. He's an injury-prone big man –  sounds more than a little familiar. He might fit right in and continue the curse.

In any event, I hope the Blazers do something dramatic. Yet another year of the same old frustrations might not be so much fun to watch.