Joel Freeland Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Joel Freeland Signs Deal With Trail Blazers

July 14th, 2012 at 3:44pm CST by Luke Adams

SATURDAY, 3:44pm: The team has announced the signing is official (hat tip to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando).

WEDNESDAY, 9:30pm: Freeland is expected to sign his deal Thursday or Friday, according to Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune (Twitter link).

1:06pm: Freeland's agent, Rafa Calvo, confirmed to Joe Freeman of the Oregonian that his client and the Blazers are close to a deal and that a buyout with Freeland's Spanish club is in the works (Twitter links). Freeman adds that Freeland and Calvo are trying to negotiate a lower buyout so that Freeland won't have to pay 1MM euros himself (Twitter links).

9:48am: Freeland's three-year, $9MM deal is contingent on getting his buyout finalized with Unicaja Malaga, tweets Ken Berger of CBSSports.com. However, it doesn't appear that will be a major obstacle.

8:36am: Ian Whittell of the Wardle Whittell Agency passes along word, via Spanish reports, that Freeland has agreed to a three-year, $9MM deal with the Trail Blazers (Twitter link). We'll wait for confirmation, but it appears Freeland is a good bet to join the Blazers soon.

8:10am: Unicaja Malaga officially announced that Freeland has asked to leave the club for the Trail Blazers, tweets Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. The buyout for the British forward is still being negotiated.

7:50am: The 2006 draft was an eventful one for the Trail Blazers, who came away with two of the best players of the class in LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy. Six years later, another of the team's first-round picks appears poised to finally head to Portland. According to a Tubasket.com report (translation via Sportando), Joel Freeland will buy out his contract with Spain's Unicaja Malaga and head stateside to sign a deal with the Trail Blazers.

Tubasket's report indicates that Freeland has informed Malaga of his decision, and that his buyout will be worth about 1.5MM euros. The 6'11" forward averaged 12.9 points and 7.5 rebounds in 28.2 minutes per game over 31 contests in Spain's ACB League in 2011/12, according to DraftExpress.

When a player signs with a team holding his draft rights more than three years after the draft, he can sign for either the rookie scale amount on a four-year deal or for a larger salary on at least a three-year deal. Tubasket suggests Freeland will sign for three years, which makes sense given his large buyout and the Trail Blazers' free cap space. If Freeland were to sign for 120% of the rookie scale amount for the 30th overall pick, he'd be in line for just a $1.02MM first-year salary.

Portland GM Neil Olshey spoke in late June about meeting with Freeland and watching him in international play, and indicated there was mutual interest between the team and the 25-year-old. Victor Claver is also expected to leave his Spanish club and sign with the Blazers this offseason.

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Neil Olshey Talks Workouts, Draft, Freeland

June 25th, 2012 at 2:31pm CST by Luke Adams

With the 2012 draft just three days away, Trail Blazers GM Neil Olshey spoke to Portland media today about his plans for Thursday, along with a few other topics. Among the tidbits Olshey dropped: The team has agreed to a new multiyear contract with salary cap guru Joe Cronin, whose old deal was set to expire this weekend (Twitter link via Joe Freeman of the Oregonian). Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge provides a transcript of Olshey's comments, so let's dive in and pick out a few more key quotes….

On whether the team is ready for Thursday's draft:

"[Today's workout] is the last workout…. We're just going to second-guess ourselves about 50 times between now and Thursday night. Yell and scream in the Draft room and then be convinced at about 4:45 that we absolutely made the two right picks and everybody else can tell us we made the two wrong picks."

On whether the Blazers will keep both lottery picks:

"Right now, we are. Right now, we've got No. 6 and No. 11. That's where we stand…. I may walk back in there and have three voicemails that completely change my mind. But right now, what we're going to get 6 and 11 in this draft will set up the best course of action for us going forward. That's not to say that two minutes after the draft you don't do something. I think right now, relative to where we want to go, we have a better chance of getting there using 6 and 11 than just doing one-offs to bring guys in and conveying the picks."

On meeting with former first-round pick Joel Freeland over the weekend:

"We had a really nice time with Joel. We got to see a couple of practices. We had a nice dinner with him. He played against Lithuania, which was great, because they've got [Jonas] Valanciunas and Linas Kleiza and some former NBA guys. He had a good game, he played really well. He sounds interested in coming over and we're interested in having him. It's just a matter of making sure we can work it out where his role on the team and where he fits in roster composition wise, and where his salary slot fits in, works for both of us."

On whether adding Freeland will affect the team's draft strategy:

"No. Joel is another really good player. What we've tried to do is position him, where he would be in this draft. He's still a young guy and value him accordingly…. But we're going to take the two best players that we think can grow with the existing group of guys we have here. If you have redundancies at a position but they're strong — I go back to seven months ago, that I had too many point guards [with the Clippers] but by the time the playoffs rolled around I only had two of them on the floor. As long as guys can play, it doesn't matter what position they are at."

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Odds & Ends: Freeland, Thunder, Knicks, Bulls

June 22nd, 2012 at 4:29pm CST by Luke Adams

Joel Freeland will talk to the Trail Blazers this weekend and could agree to a contract before the Olympics, according to Ian Whittell of the Wardle Whittell Agency (Twitter links). Freeland, who was drafted by the Blazers in the first round in 2006, is "open to offers" and will have four Portland execs watching him play Lithuania at an Olympic warm-up in Houston tomorrow, says Whittell (Twitter link).

Here are a few more Friday afternoon odds and ends, including items on the top player on the market, the Western Conference champs, and the NBPA's latest victory….

Blazers Rumors: Allen, Coaches, Freeland, Claver

June 13th, 2012 at 8:04pm CST by Chuck Myron

Blazers owner Paul Allen was among the team executives in attendance for the second of two pre-draft workout sessions today, and got a chance to see Perry Jones III, John Henson and Jared Sullinger, among others, according to tweets from Joe Freeman of The Oregonian and Chris B. Haynes of CSNNW.com. Allen shot down rumors that he's looking to sell the team, as Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge writes, and CSNNW.com has more of the owner's comments to the media in two videos. Blazers beat writers have delivered plenty of news in the last hour, as we round up here. …

The team hasn't contacted the Warriors about permission to interview assistant coach Michael Malone or the Pacers about assistant Brian Shaw, leading Haynes to surmise that interim coach Kaleb Canales is the frontrunner to take over the job on a permanent basis.
In the same piece, Haynes also cites an earlier report from fellow CSNNW.com writer Dwight Jaynes that the team hasn't spoken to Jerry Sloan about an interview, either.
Haynes relays general manager Neil Olshey's comments on the slow search. "Free agent wise, Yeah, I think it affects it a little bit. But, like I said, we're going to have a process here," he said. "We're going to build this thing the right way … We'll find the right coach to coach the roster."

Earlier updates:

International Rumors: Marbury, Freeland, Koponen

May 29th, 2012 at 10:21am CST by Luke Adams

A number of this morning's items of note relate to overseas players, so let's round them up in one place:

Stephon Marbury has high praise for the Chinese Basketball Association and doesn't intend to return to the NBA even if there's interest, according to Sina.com (Chinese link; translation via HoopsHype).
British forward Joel Freeland, who was picked by the Trail Blazers in the first round of the 2006 draft, would cost $1.5MM for Portland to buy out, according to Cesar Nanclares of TuBasket.com (Spanish link; translation via HoopsHype). A number of international clubs are also interested in Freeland, though his buyout to play elsewhere would be even more expensive ($3.1MM).
Nets' 2011 second-rounder Bojan Bogdanovic confirmed to Kosarka.org (Croatian link) that he met with GM Billy King, but says coming to the NBA isn't up to him, according to HoopsHype.
Earlier this week, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando passed along an interview between Petteri Koponen and Il Corriere di Bologna, in which the point guard said he expects to talk to the Mavericks this summer. The Mavs own the rights to the 30th pick in the 2007 draft, and the Dallas Morning News looks at the possibility of Koponen coming to Dallas for next season.

Blazers Notes: GM, Drew, Freeland, Claver, Batum

May 16th, 2012 at 8:42am CST by Luke Adams

Let's follow up on Tuesday's Trail Blazers items with another round of updates today:

The Blazers have identified two or three more candidates for their general manager opening that they hope to interview soon, writes Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune. President Larry Miller says he hopes to have a "couple more" candidates meet with owner Paul Allen within the next two weeks or so, at which point the team may be ready to make a decision.
Eggers hears that Portland is having its GM hopefuls complete a written psychological test to establish leadership qualities. "I’ll just say it’s pretty extensive," Miller says. "We try to do as much due diligence as possible."
Larry Drew of the Hawks is a possibility to be the Blazers' next head coach, according to Eggers. "Word is" Drew may not have his option picked up by the Hawks after he failed to lead Atlanta past the first round, says Eggers.
Acting GM Chad Buchanan expects buyouts for former Blazers draft picks Joel Freeland and Victor Claver to be low enough that there shouldn't be an issue bringing them overseas: "We’ve had talks with both players and their parties, and we’re hopeful we can get something worked out."
Dave Deckard of Blazer's Edge takes an in-depth look at Nicolas Batum's impact on Portland's cap, and how it would affect the team if he signed an offer sheet early.

Odds & Ends: Wallace, Draft, Raptors, Blazers

May 3rd, 2012 at 3:28pm CST by Luke Adams

Thursday afternoon links from around the NBA:

Ben Wallace is still on the fence about retirement, Pistons teammates Tayshaun Prince tells Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press. "One side is telling him it is time to spend time with the family and relax a little bit," Prince said. "And then the other side is saying I still have more left in the tank."
With the NBA having officially released the full list of early entrants for June's draft, Chad Ford of ESPN.com (Insider link) and Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com provide brief commentaries on each of the players in the draft pool, from Anthony Davis to Erik Austin (who?).
Speaking of the draft, this year's lottery has been officially scheduled for May 30th at 7:00pm CT at Times Square Studios in New York, as Marc Berman of the New York Post writes. You can find the tentative draft order and lottery odds here.
Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun examines a number of free agents the Raptors might keep an eye on this summer.
The Trail Blazers could look into signing one or both of former draft picks Joel Freeland and Victor Claver this offseason, acting GM Chad Buchanan told Kerry Eggers of the Portland Tribune.

Odds & Ends: Jackson, Freeland, Heat, Calderon

February 18th, 2012 at 12:13pm CST by Zachary Links

Saturday afternoon linkage..

If Stephen Jackson wants to leave Milwaukee to play with Dwight Howard in Orlando, the guard will have to give the Bucks $5MM or so back in a buyout, tweets Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun.
Former Blazers draft pick Joel Freeland denied a report from earlier this week that he agreed to a contract extension with his Spanish club, writes Nick Gibson of SheridanHoops.com. The big man also insists that he has nothing against the prospect of playing in Portland and will make the transition to the NBA “if the situation is right.”
The Heat could use an upgrade at center as they may have to face Tyson Chandler, Dwight Howard, and Joakim Noah to win the Eastern Conference in the postseason, writes Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel.
Some fans are calling for the Raptors to start tanking, but that doesn’t guarantee much for the club and would hurt the locker room culture, writes Steve Buffery of the Toronto Sun. Some are also calling for Toronto to deal Jose Calderon as the point guard has just one year remaining on his deal, but Jerryd Bayless hasn’t done enough prove that he be the team’s one-guard going forward.
A number of contenders could benefit from adding Steve Nash to the fold, but the point guard continues to stand his ground and won’t ask for a trade, writes J.A. Adande of ESPN.com.
There isn’t a trade out there that will be good enough to boost the 76ers into a finals team, opines John Smallwood of the Philadelphia Daily News.
In his piece earlier today, Rusty Simmons of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that the Warriors could use a 10-day contract as a tryout for a D-League big man. Will Foster of the Rio Grande Valley and Bakersfield’s Brian Butch could both be considered.

Minor Moves: Freeland, Lee, May

February 14th, 2012 at 2:55pm CST by Luke Adams

We'll track the day's D-League and international transactions of note right here….

Former Trail Blazers draft pick Joel Freeland has agreed to a contract extension with his Spanish team, according to La Opinion de Malaga (hat tip to Sportando). The report suggests Freeland would have to pay a hefty buyout to Unicaja Malaga if he wanted to get out of the contract to pursue an NBA career. However, Portland's acting GM Chad Buchanan told Ben Golliver of Blazer's Edge (Twitter link) that the Blazers still hope to have Freeland next year, and that nothing is finalized between Freeland and Malaga.
The Timberwolves have recalled Malcolm Lee from their D-League affiliate in Sioux Falls, according to Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune. Rehabbing following early-season knee surgery, Lee played in three games for the Skyforce after being assigned by Minnesota last week.
North Carolina basketball fans will remember Sean May, who was drafted 13th overall in 2005 by the Bobcats after graduating from UNC. May, who saw his last NBA action in 2010, has signed with Italy's Sutor Montegranaro, according to the team's official site (hat tip to Sportando).