"When it comes to bad days at the office during his five seasons with the Trail Blazers, there are two that rank right up there for Chad Buchanan.

One came last month in what has become known around Portland as "Black Friday" - that Dec. 9 day when Brandon Roy retired and the left knee of Greg Oden and the heart of LaMarcus Aldridge suffered setbacks.

The other was last February, when the team traded center Joel Przybilla to Charlotte. It was a great basketball move, one that netted the Blazers do-everything forward Gerald Wallace. But it was a lousy deal in the world of friendships. The Buchanan family — son Trey and wife Melanie — had become especially close with the Przybilla family. Trey was buddies with Joel's son, Anthony. Melanie was tight with Joel's wife, Noelle. And Chad and Joel — both rooted in Midwestern upbringings — were probably as close as an executive and player could ever be.

In fact, in the hours after the trade, Buchanan and Przybilla sat down and did what a lot of friends do when something major happens: They drank beers long into the night, telling stories and reliving memories. The next night, as the Blazers played Denver at the Rose Garden, Buchanan was at Portland International Airport, seeing Przybilla off on his flight to Charlotte.

So when the left ankle of Blazers center Marcus Camby folded like a soft taco here on Friday night, I wondered how long it took for a phone to ring in Milwaukee, Wis., where Przybilla lives.

You know, one friend reaching out to the other, asking for a favor.

Buchanan smiled wryly when I asked him if he had called Przybilla after Camby's injury.

"I stay in touch,'' Buchanan said, chuckling. "Because we are close friends. How do you know I don't call him every day?''

Officially, Camby is listed as day-to-day. But the veteran center could barely put weight on his swollen ankle as he left the AT&T Center following the Blazers' 99-83 loss to the Spurs. He declared himself out for Saturday night's game in Houston, and he said he would likely miss Monday's game in New Orleans.

"Maybe at some point I will come back on this trip,'' Camby said, unconvincingly. "Hopefully.''

Coach Nate McMillan said he has yet to make a lineup decision for Saturday, but he said he is leaning toward moving LaMarcus Aldridge to center, Gerald Wallace to power forward and inserting Nicolas Batum into the starting lineup at small forward. When you hear talk of the Blazers playing "small" this is the lineup people are talking about. And it's a lineup that has had some success, particularly at the end of last season."