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Blazers Rumors: Stotts, Ezeli, McCollum, Turner

January 4th, 2017 at 11:44am CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers are just a single game out of the playoffs in the Western Conference, but with a 15-21 record, it has been an extremely disappointing season so far in Portland. Still, the organization isn’t panicking at this point, as there’s a belief that the team will work its way back into the postseason picture, writes Chris Haynes of ESPN.com. According to Haynes, Terry Stotts‘ job as the team’s head coach isn’t currently in jeopardy.

In a lengthy and interesting piece, Haynes provides several other notable Blazers-related tidbits, so let’s round up some of the highlights…

  • The Blazers went into free agency aiming to retain their own key free agents, as well as adding another ball-handler and a rim-protecting big man. The club targeted players like Hassan Whiteside, Joakim Noah, and Dwight Howard, but came up short. According to Haynes, Portland was ready to renounce a player – perhaps Meyers Leonard – in order to free up cap room to sign Pau Gasol, but the free agent center opted to sign with San Antonio instead.
  • Ultimately, the Blazers landed Festus Ezeli on a two-year, $15MM deal, but Ezeli may end up not playing a single game for the team, as he’s expected to undergo season-ending surgery. According to Haynes, Ezeli gave a “stern” locker-room speech after a tough loss last month — when the big man launched into a similar speech a couple games later, he was cut short by C.J. McCollum. As Haynes puts it, “being lectured by someone who wasn’t even playing wasn’t received favorably” by other Blazers players.
  • Potential trade targets like DeMarcus Cousins and Nerlens Noel aren’t currently on the Blazers’ radar, sources tell Haynes. Cousins likely isn’t available anyway, and Noel is eligible for restricted free agency, so Portland may be turned off by his contract situation.
  • The Blazers are open to making a trade, but don’t feel obligated to make a move. According to Haynes, the team isn’t looking to trade McCollum or Evan Turner.
  • Team owner Paul Allen was insistent on retaining Portland’s own assets during the offseason, and as such, the team “never thought twice” about matching Allen Crabbe‘s offer sheet from the Nets, per Haynes.
  • Be sure to check out Haynes’ full piece for more on the Blazers.
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Northwest Notes: Turner, Blazers, Lauvergne, Payne

November 23rd, 2016 at 11:02pm CST by Arthur Hill

Evan Turner says it’s nice to know he’s missed in Boston, even as he struggles to find a role in Portland, writes Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald. Turner accepted a four-year, $70MM deal this summer to head to the Pacific Northwest. However, the Trail Blazers haven’t used him as a primary ballhandler the way the Celtics did, and he has found it hard to adjust to a backcourt rotation with Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum. “I was most definitely comfortable there [in Boston],” Turner said. “There were certain situations where there were coaches that didn’t really sort of comprehend my game, and sometimes I wasn’t always in position to be comfortable or successful. So when you finally find that mixture of great basketball and off the court and things like that, you definitely don’t take it for granted.”

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

  • The Blazers haven’t shown significant improvement so far despite raising their payroll from $62MM to $112MM, contends Bobby Marks of The Vertical. Portland will have a hard time shaking things up until at least December 15th when the trade restrictions expire for Turner and Festus Ezeli. Restrictions for Allen Crabbe, Meyers Leonard and Maurice Harkless will remain in effect until January 15th. Crabbe cannot be traded without his approval for a year because the Blazers matched an offer sheet from Brooklyn.
  • Offseason addition Joffrey Lauvergne is taking away minutes from Enes Kanter in Oklahoma City, notes Erik Horne of The Oklahoman. Lauvergne, acquired in an August trade with the Nuggets, has impressed the Thunder with a combination of defense and long-range shooting. “A lot of it’s going to be based on matchups, how the game’s going, who’s alongside of him, do we have the speed and quickness in the frontcourt,” OKC coach Billy Donovan said when asked about Kanter’s playing time. “That’s not to say the last couple of games with Enes, with his minutes, he’s not going to play more because I do think he and Steven [Adams] together is a good combination for us.”
  • Timberwolves forward Adreian Payne‘s option wasn’t picked up last month, but his role with the team is growing, writes Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune. Payne got a chance to show what he could do after Shabazz Muhammad was sidelined with a sore knee. “Being patient is part of the NBA, being ready,” Payne said. “You just have to continue to work. Just going through this has been tough. It can break a lot of people. You just have to stay positive and continue to work.”
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Western Notes: Parsons, Crabbe, Jones, Motiejunas

November 20th, 2016 at 9:44pm CST by Arthur Hill

Grizzlies forward Chandler Parsons is expected to miss up to two weeks with a bone bruise in his left knee, posts Tim MacMahon on ESPN Now. It’s not the same knee that Parsons had surgically repaired twice. He missed the start of this season while recovering from the latest operation in March and has played just six games for Memphis, which signed him to a four-year, $94MM deal this summer.

There’s more from the Western Conference:

  • Trail Blazers shooting guard Allen Crabbe didn’t believe the Nets’ $75MM offer sheet was real when he first heard about it, relays Anthony Puccio of NetsDaily. Portland matched the four-year deal, keeping Crabbe in a Blazers uniform, but he would have been happy to come to Brooklyn if things had worked out differently. “When I met with them, they were straightforward and told me, ‘Look we’ve got a lot of young guys here that are looking to compete. We’re going to try and build from here,’” Crabbe said. “So you know, I felt like that was a positive first step going into something good being built here. I liked everything about how they were going to use me. But you know, everything happens for a reason and I’m back here and I’m happy with that.”
  • Circumstances allowed Suns rookie Derrick Jones to make his NBA debut close to home, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. A native of Chester, Pa., Jones was recalled from the D-League after T.J. Warren was struck by illness and couldn’t travel to Saturday’s game at Philadelphia. Family members watched as Jones played the final 2:41. “I love the game and I love being part of the team,” he said. “I’m thankful. Out of all places, I’m coming back home for my call-up game. I got to pray and hope that I stay here now.”
  • The Rockets continue to hold contract talks with representatives for Donatas Motiejunas, tweets Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. “Good discussions” have been reported with the free agent power forward over the last few weeks, but they haven’t resulted in progress toward a contract.
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Northeast Notes: Harkless, Nurkic, Jokic, Sabonis

October 15th, 2016 at 10:00pm CST by Arthur Hill

Maurice Harkless has played well enough this preseason to claim the Trail Blazers‘ starting small forward slot, contends Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. The 23-year-old Harkless re-signed with Portland this summer for four years at $40MM, but faces competition for the starter’s job from the re-signed Allen Crabbe and free agent addition Evan Turner. Coach Terry Stotts hasn’t named a starter yet, but Freeman believes Harkless’ defensive abilities and his chemistry with the other starters makes him the best choice. “Moe … just makes us versatile,” said Damian Lillard. “Being able to rebound the ball and push it, knock down threes, he can guard a bunch of positions, he changes the game in a different way.”

There’s more tonight out of the Northwest Division:

  • While the rest of the league is getting smaller, the Nuggets may start two 7-footers on opening night, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Jusuf Nurkic appears to have played well enough in preseason to earn the starting center job, with Nikola Jokic sliding over to power forward and Kenneth Faried moving to the bench. “It definitely is a herd mentality type of league,” said coach Michael Malone. “We’ve started two bigs together in (three) of our preseason games. We think that they can play well together because they are so skilled.”
  • The Jazz may need time to adjust to roster changes and the return of Dante Exum from injury, warns Dustin Jensen of The Deseret News. Utah traded for George Hill and Boris Diaw, signed free agent Joe Johnson and welcomed back Dante Exum after a year away with a torn ACL. Add in the emergence of second-year forward Trey Lyles and the Jazz may need time to develop chemistry.
  • Foul trouble is hampering rookie Domantas Sabonis as he bids for a starting job with the Thunder, writes Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman. Sabonis has started every preseason game for Oklahoma City, but is averaging 3.3 personal fouls per night. Coach Billy Donovan is confident that Sabonis will learn to adjust. “When you’re a guard, you’re pretty much guarding the ball,” Donovan said. “But when you’re behind the (perimeter) defense and the floor starts moving and guys start shifting, you got to be able to pick up those movements and figure out what’s getting ready to happen.”
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Players Who Can Veto Trades

October 4th, 2016 at 10:14am CST by Luke Adams

No-trade clauses are rare in the NBA, and they became even rarer this offseason, when several players with those clauses in their contracts either called it a career or signed new deals. Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, and Kevin Garnett, who all opted for retirement, had no-trade clauses last season, and so did Dwyane Wade, who doesn’t have the same protection on his new contract with the Bulls.

Nonethless, while the list of players with explicit no-trade clauses may be dwindling, there are still several players each year who have the ability to veto trades. A player who re-signs with his previous team on a one-year contract – or a two-year contract with an option clause – is given no-trade protection, and so is a player who signs an offer sheet and has that offer matched by his previous team. Players who accept qualifying offers after their rookie deals expire can also block deals, though no restricted free agents signed their QOs this year.

Taking into account that list of criteria, here are the players who must give their consent if their teams want to trade them during the 2016/17 league year:

No-trade clauses

Players whose offer sheets were matched

Players accepting qualifying offers

  • None

Players re-signing for one year (or two years including an option)

Information from Basketball Insiders and Yahoo! Sports was used in the creation of this post.

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Blazers Notes: Small Forwards, Harkless, Napier

September 30th, 2016 at 10:01am CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers committed a ton of money to free agent contracts and extensions this summer, and will have one of the NBA’s highest payrolls in 2016/17. However, owner Paul Allen suggested earlier this week that he believes in the team’s current group of players and had no problem handing out those contracts. Still, Allen didn’t sound overly eager to become a taxpaying team this season, and Portland is currently right on that threshold, so it will be interesting to see if the team makes a conscious effort to slip below the tax line with its roster moves.

Here’s more on the Blazers:

  • Blazers head coach Terry Stotts is keeping an “open mind” about the team’s small forward spot, writes Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. Evan Turner, Maurice Harkless, and Allen Crabbe – each of whom signed lucrative long-term contracts this offseason – will all be in the mix for minutes at the position, and any one of the three could be the starter. “We’re all just pieces to the puzzle,” Harkless said. “It’s up to him to put it together.”
  • Speaking of Harkless, the 23-year-old said Thursday after practice that he never seriously considered playing anywhere besides Portland when he became a restricted free agent in July, calling the Blazers a “very well-run organization.” “I wasn’t really paying mind to any other team,” Harkless said, per Cody Sharrett of Blazers.com. “I wanted to be here, and I think I made that clear. [The team] knew that. We knew that. This is where I wanted to be, and I’m happy.”
  • The Blazers have been impressed so far by Shabazz Napier, writes Mike Richman of The Oregonian. Napier, who was acquired by Portland in a summer trade, knows he won’t have a major role with the team, but he’s looking forward to making the most of any opportunities he gets. “My résumé in this league is not good at all,” Napier said. “So I can’t worry (like), ‘There’s minutes up in the air so I gotta do this or I gotta do that.’ I just gotta play my game.”
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Blazers Notes: Whiteside, Aminu, Turner, Offseason

August 4th, 2016 at 9:55am CST by Luke Adams

As we detailed on Tuesday, the Trail Blazers blew away their Northwest rivals when it came to offseason spending, committing more than $242MM ($234MM+ guaranteed) to free agent contracts. By comparison, the other four Northwest clubs combined to commit about $85MM to free agents. And the Blazers’ total doesn’t even include the $106MM extension that the club handed out to C.J. McCollum last week.

Considering so many of the Blazers’ big signings were players who were already on the team’s roster, it remains to be seen whether the franchise will take another step forward in the Western Conference picture this season. Zach Lowe of ESPN.com examined the situation in Portland in his latest column, and passed along a few interesting tidbits, so let’s round them up…

  • According to Lowe, the Blazers would have liked to make a run at Hassan Whiteside in free agency, but were “spurned” by the young center, who didn’t waste much time in agreeing to a new deal with the Heat. With Whiteside no longer in play, the Blazers could have pursued another center like Dwight Howard, Bismack Biyombo, or Ian Mahinmi, but ultimately went in another direction.
  • The Blazers’ decision to sign McCollum, Allen Crabbe, Evan Turner, Maurice Harkless, and Meyers Leonard to pricey long-term contracts means that the team won’t have any cap room to work with for the foreseeable future. “Good players on favorable contracts are more valuable to us than cap room,” Blazers GM Neil Olshey said. “Especially in an era where all 30 teams have cap room — or the ability to get it. … With our interest in extending C.J., we weren’t going to be a cap room team next year, anyway.”
  • As Lowe observes, the Blazers are currently projected to be in luxury-tax territory in 2017/18 and perhaps 2018/19 as well. However, he notes that if the new Collective Bargaining Agreement includes a new amnesty clause for each team, as the last CBA did, Portland could have an opportunity to avoid that fate.
  • Stotts tells Lowe that the Blazers intend to play Al-Farouq Aminu almost exclusively at power forward rather than small forward. As Lowe points out, that could be bad news for Noah Vonleh.
  • Damian Lillard‘s work ethic helps dictate the culture of selflessness in Portland, which will help ensure that all the players with huge new contracts will continue to work hard. Sources tell Lowe that when one recent draft pick entered the NBA “carrying a whiff of entitlement,” the Portland coaching staff pointed to Lillard and essentially said: “He’s way better than you, and he’s working harder.”
  • Olshey on the Blazers paying $70MM+ to both Crabbe and Turner: “The way the game is being played, plus the dearth of available wings, made us willing to pay a premium for two impact players that fit our model.” The GM is also confident that Turner will improve his outside shooting in Portland.
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Trail Blazers Notes: Leonard, Crabbe, Free Agency

July 23rd, 2016 at 2:31pm CST by Dana Gauruder
Power forward Meyers Leonard is hopeful that he can return to action by the start of the regular season, he told Brian Wheeler and Michael Holton from Blazers.com. The 7’1” Leonard suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in mid-March and underwent surgery later that month. Leonard will be re-evaluated at the beginning of August and believes that he’ll be cleared for contact and one-on-one drills during the middle of training camp, Leonard added in the interview. Despite the injury, the Blazers re-signed Leonard to a four-year, $41MM deal after he entered the market as a restricted free agent.
In other developments around the Trail Blazers:
  • President of Basketball Operations Neil Olshey never balked at matching the monstrous four-year, $75MM offer sheet the Nets handed to Allen Crabbe, he told Joe Freeman of The Oregonian. The 24-year-old shooting guard averaged 10.3 points as the team’s sixth man last season and cashed in on a free agent bonanza. “It was never a question. We don’t draft guys here to let them walk away or we don’t take it for granted,” Olshey said. “I think you’ve seen the commitment we’ve made to the guys we’ve drafted.”
  • In the same story, Olshey indicated he accomplished his offseason goals by retaining Leonard and Crabbe while adding two outside free agents, swingman Evan Turner and center Festus Ezeli. “I think we maximized our cap room,” Olshey said. “We had some holes, maybe not positionally, but in terms of skill-set, that we identified. We were able to do, I think, a pretty admirable job in free agency.”
  • The Blazers have their deepest roster since Olshey joined the franchise in 2012, Mike Richman of The Oregonian opines. Ezeli and Leonard will join Mason Plumlee, Ed Davis and Al-Farouq Aminu in the frontcourt rotation while backcourt starters Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum have solid backups in Crabbe and Turner, who will also see playing time at small forward, Richman points out. They could be even deeper if they retain restricted free agent forward Moe Harkless, Richman adds.
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Blazers Re-Sign Allen Crabbe

July 13th, 2016 at 10:00pm CST by Will Joseph

JULY 13, 10:00pm: The signing is official, the Blazers announced. “Allen is an important part of the core of this team and a building block for its future growth,” said GM Neil Olshey.

JULY 10, 4:13pm: The Blazers have matched Allen Crabbe‘s four-year, $75MM offer sheet with the Nets, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (on Twitter). Crabbe had signed the offer sheet on July 7th, and this was the final day the Blazers were able to match the deal.

Portland’s decision does not bold well for the Nets, who may also see their offer for Tyler Johnson matched by the Heat That would leave Brooklyn with plenty of salary room, but not many intriguing options. The Blazers, meanwhile, have made it clear that they are all-in for this season, as Wojnarowski tweets. Portland has added Evan Turner and Festus Ezeli while returning Meyers Leonard.

In Crabbe, the Blazers now return one of the team’s best shooters and defenders. The third-year shooting guard had a breakthrough season this year as a Trail Blazers reserve. He appeared in 81 games and averaged 10.3 points and 2.7 rebounds per night while shooting 39% from beyond the arc.

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Northwest Notes: Crabbe, Ezeli, Wade, Thibodeau

July 9th, 2016 at 10:59pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Blazers will have until Sunday at 8:59 p.m. Portland time — or 11:59 p.m. Brooklyn time — to decide whether to match the Nets’ offer sheet for Allen Crabbe, tweets Jason Quick of CSNNW. Crabbe, a restricted free agent, signed a four-year, $75MM offer from the Nets on Thursday. League rules give the Blazers three days to decide whether to match, and GM Neil Olshey isn’t offering any clues about his decision. (Twitter link). Crabbe is coming off his best NBA season, averaging 10.3 points in 81 games.

There’s more news from the Northwest Division:

  • Festus Ezeli‘s deal with the Blazers contained less money than expected because of concerns about his knees, tweets Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated. The former Warriors center signed a two-year, $16MM contract with Portland on Friday, with a team option for the second season. Ezeli had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in February, and a source told Spears that teams are worried about his durability.
  • Even though they didn’t land free agent guard Dwyane Wade, the Nuggets came away from the pursuit feeling good about their future, tweets Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Nuggets officials had a meeting with Wade, and the team was considered a serious suitor until the Bulls came in with an offer. “It was enjoyable to hear what he thought about our situation,” said Denver GM Tim Connelly. “It was pretty encouraging.”
  • The Timberwolves are taking a cautious approach when it comes to free agency, according to John Krawczynski of The Associated Press (Twitter link). New Minnesota coach/executive Tom Thibodeau addressed the topic during a conference call with media members today. “It’s our first year; it’s important for us to be patient in evaluating the players that we do have,” he said, “but if it’s [necessary] for us to go after people, we will.” Thibodeau also expressed excitement about the addition of free agent Brandon Rush, tweets Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News. The coach likes Rush’s versatility, but says he needs to improve his shooting.
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