26-year old shooting guard Wesley Matthews is having a solid 2012-13 season for the Trailblazers. He has played in 31 games (all starts) for the Blazers so far this year and he is averaging 35.0 minutes, 15.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Matthews is shooting 43% from the floor, 40.8% from the three point line and 76.5% from the free throw line so far this year…and those are solid shooting %. For some reason, Matthews really likes playing on Mondays so far this year. He has played in 5 games (all starts) on Monday so far this year and he is averaging 39.8 minutes, 19.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.0 blocked shot per game. The Blazers hope that Matthews keeps up the good work.

27-year old power forward LaMarcus Aldridge has been rock solid once again for the Blazers in 2012-13. He has played in 31 games (all starts) for the Trailblazers so far this year and he is averaging 37.5 minutes, 20.4 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.3 blocked shots per game. Aldridge has really been stellar on Monday Nights so far this year. He has started 5 games on Mondays so far this year and he is averaging 38.6 minutes, 24.2 points, 9.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.8 blocked shots per game. Aldridge already has 13 double/doubles so far this year for the Blazers. He is still without a doubt the main man for the Trailblazers.

24-year old center J.J. Hickson has been a rebounding machine for the Trailblazers so far this year. He has played in 28 games (all starts) for the Blazers so far this year and he is averaging 28.9 minutes, 12.5 points, 11.0 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. He is shooting 55.7% from the floor so far this year, but only 63.7% from the free throw line. Hickson already has 18 double/doubles so far this year as he has really rewarded the Blazers for picking him up on waivers last year. He still has a huge upside.

22-year old rookie Damian Lillard has been outstanding so far this year for the Blazers. He has played in 24 games (all starts) for the Blazers so far this year and he is averaging 37.9 minutes, 18.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game. Lillard is shooting 41.5% from the floor, 36% from three point range and 84.3% from the free throw line so far this year. Lillard is going to make a very serious run at the Rookie of the Year Award is he keeps playing like he is right now. 29-year old Ronnie Pirce is the Blazers’ #2 point guard for now. Price has played in 16 games (0 starts) for the Trailblazers so far this year and he is averaging 14.8 minutes, 2.8 points, 1.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game. He is now shooting 31.5% from the floor, 27.8% from the three point line and 75% from the free throw line so far this year and that is awful. It’s lucky for Price that 24-year old Nolan Smith has shot the ball even worse than him. Smith has played in 15 games (0 starts) for the Trailblazers so far this year and he is averaging 8.8 minutes, 2.5 points, 0.4 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. Smith is only shooting 34% from the floor, 9.1% from the three point line and 62.5% from the free throw line so far this year.

Power forward LaMarcus Aldridge and small forward Nicolas Batum are moving up in the record books for the Trailblazers. LaMarcus Aldridge is #5 in offensive rebounds (1,266), #9 in defensive rebounds (2,182), #7 in total rebounds (3,448), #9 in blocked shots (460) and he is #10 in points scored (8,199) in Blazers’ history. Nicolas Batum is #7 in steals in Trailblazers’ history with 394 of them. Both of these guys are logging big minutes this year, so I look for them to both keep moving on up in the record books for the Blazers.

The Trailblazers picked 24-year old center J.J. Hickson up off of waivers from the Kings last year and he has been rock solid for them. Hickson has played in 17 games (all starts) for the Blazers so far this year and he is averaging 28.5 minutes, 10.8 points, 9.6 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. Hickson is shooting 52.4% from the floor, but only 60.7% from the free throw line so far this year. Hickson already has 8 double/doubles already this year and the Blazers hope he keeps up the good work. He has a nice upside.

24-year old small forward Nicolas Batum is proving himself to be worth the money the Blazers re-signed him to over the winter. Batum has played in 13 games (all starts) for the Trailblazers so far this year and he is averaging 38.6 minutes, 18.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.2 blocked shots per game. He is shooting 46.4% from the floor, 36.6% from three point range and 80.9% from the free throw line so far this year. Look for Batum to keep rewarding the Blazers in 2012-13.

22-year old rookie point guard Damian Lillard has hit the ground running for the Trailblazers. He has played in 4 games (all starts) for the Blazers so far this year and he is averaging 37.0 minutes, 19.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 8.0 assists per game. Lillard has only shot 40.6% from the floor and 29.2% from three point range so far this year, which he will need to improve on, but he is also shooting 94.7% from the free throw line (18 of 19) as he has been very aggressive. It will be interesting to see if Lillard can continue to put up such outstanding numbers, but I will say that he looks pretty good to me so far this year.

The Portland Trailblazers are going to have to pay through the nose to keep 23-year old small forward Nicolas Batum. He is a restricted free agent and he has indicated that he’s going to sign the first big offer sheet he gets. Batum played in 59 games (34 starts) for the Trailblazers last year and he averaged 30.4 minutes, 13.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 1.0 steal and 1.0 blocked shot per game. Batum has now played in 255 games (202 starts) in his first four years with the Blazers and he is averaging 26.2 minutes, 10.2 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. This is going to be a tough decision for the Blazers to make, whether or not to match a big offer for Batum or not.

27-year old point guard Raymond Felton is playing pretty well in April so far. He has played in 7 games (all starts) for the Trailblazers in April and he is averaging 34.0 minutes, 14.0 points, 5.0 rebounds, 8.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He is shooting 48.8% from the floor and 50% from the floor so far this month, which is outstanding. Felton has been a disappointment overall this year as he has played in 57 games (53 starts) in which he is averaging 31.7 minutes, 11.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.3 steals per game. The Blazers hope that Felton stays hot the rest of this year.