I thought about turning this into a poll, but that's pretty limiting, but anyway, after clearing the haze induced by witnessing too many injuries and a lot of battered expectations, what do you think will be the one or two pleasant surprises you take away from this season?

For me, it won't be the scoring explosions of Jerryd Bayless, the sublime 31/7/7 game of Nic Batum, nor even Miller's 52 point outburst against the Mavs. Once the season is over, I think I'll look back and the play of Dante Cunningham will stick with me the most; he's never going to be a star, he'll probably never even be a starter, but with that sweet mid range jumper, heady defense, toughness and ability to play two positions at a reasonable level, all as a rookie, I get the feeling he's going to be a pivotal part of the Blazers rotation for years to come as a sort of glue guy off the bench -- exactly the kind of player any team with championship aspirations needs rounding out their 6th-9th spots.

Read this excellent article from BlazersEdge about how KP & Co. are at the head of the pack in terms of quantitative evaluation. Some great insight into KP's moves and workings. It's long, but it's most definitely worth it (just read it while eating lunch).

Assuming the Blazers don't?

It's being discussed on 95.5......as Larry has been inquiring with the Clippers should things go south with Michael Jordan.

Anyhoo, thoughts if KP (who played for Brown @ Kansas) might want to enter the derby for his head coaching services?

GSP is in Manhattan training at Renzo's school for his upcoming fight with Dan Hardy @ UFC 111. Renzo faces Matt Hughes in Adu Dhabi @ UFC 112 next month.

GSP has trained BJJ with Renzo in the past and at one point it was awkward because Matt Serra is also a Renzo Gracie BJJ student.

Also in the shot is BJJ prodigy Gunnar Nelson from Iceland. The 21-year old is a BJJ champion many times over and is currently developing into an MMA fighter (5-0-1 record thus far). He has a background in karate and three of his five wins are by knockout. Keep an eye out for him coming up.