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Throw another name into the Tim Duncan Sweepstakes. The Portland Trail Blazers.

If the Blazers do not win the NBA
championship, expect the Blazers' general
manager, Trader Bob Whitsitt, to at the very
least contact the San Antonio Spurs about
the possibility of a sign-and-trade deal that
would bring Duncan, the most coveted free
agent on the market, to the Pacific
Northwest.

As one person close to the team said:
"Whitsitt is a shark. And if there is blood in
the water, he is going to swim over and see what it is."

Consider this: The Spurs do not want to lose Duncan outright, getting nothing in return for
the future Hall of Famer.

If it appears that Duncan is going to leave via free agency, you better believe Gregg
Popovich is going to do all he can to get a return on his investment.

Absolutely nobody. Their team is so deep, they are about the only franchise in the league
who could overpay for Duncan.

So how about this scenario? Duncan to Portland for Rasheed Wallace, Steve Smith and
Jermaine O'Neal.

It gives the Spurs a replacement for Duncan in Wallace, a shooting guard that they have
lacked this entire season and a young player to groom as a replacement for David
Robinson upon Robinson's retirement.

In Portland, it gives the Blazers a bona fide superstar. No team in the NBA in probably 22
years -- the 1978 Seattle Sonics, with Gus Williams and Jack Sikma -- has won a title
without a real, quality superstar.

The Blazers like to say that Wallace is their go-to guy, but how can a player that amasses
38 technical fouls be the team's leader? He's not even in there half the time, after getting
ejected.

The Blazers would not mind seeing Smith depart because Bonzi Wells, his backup, is
actually a better player, a future All-Star, and has shown a great deal of patience, more
than most, for agreeing to come off the bench this entire season. That is not going to
happen next season, believe me. This kid will get major time.

And O'Neal continues to languish on a team that has superior players in front of him. He
needs time. And plenty of it to develop. And he is not getting it in Portland.

Of course, the salaries don't match up, so the Spurs would have to throw in some extra
players to make it work. Antonio Daniels, Duncan's best friend, is a possibility. Or even
Jerome Kersey, who can return to the team with which he started.

Getting to the Western Conference finals is not good enough for Portland. Not with a
payroll that is twice as much as most teams'. And Trader Bob never has stood pat in his
six seasons in the Rose City. He has completed a shakeup each season there.

Even when Portland made the conference finals last season, he broke up part of the team
and added two huge pieces -- Smith and Scottie Pippen, as well as Detlef Schrempf.

What Portland has going for it is it does not care
about the NBA's luxury tax. While other teams are
shying away from players because they don't want to
be punished by such a harsh financial deterrent,
billionaire Paul Allen, the Blazers' owner, could care
less.

The hard part, of course, would be convincing Duncan to agree to come to Portland.

He has virtually ruled out Chicago because of its weather, and Portland's, while more mild,
certainly has its drawbacks for somebody from the Virgin Islands.

But if Duncan is about titles, he certainly has a chance at winning another one in Portland
a lot faster than he does in Orlando.

Meanwhile, national reports that Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy may lose his job if the
Blazers don't make it to the NBA Finals are, according to a source, drastically premature.

In fact, Whitsitt is telling confidantes, he is feeling more pressure than Dunleavy. His
contract is up this summer -- one more reason to pull off a blockbuster deal for Duncan --
while Dunleavy's runs two years beyond this season.

And it was Whitsitt, after all, who put together this squad, and has as many rings to show
for it as the Clippers.

It seems highly unlikely Allen would get rid of a man with a penchant for acquiring talent
like Whitsitt, particularly since Whitsitt also runs Allen's football team, the Seattle
Seahawks.

And it is Whitsitt who has staunchly supported Dunleavy in the face of what appear to be
erroneous reports.

Imagine what the two could do if they had Duncan on their roster.