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Trail Blazers Officially Sign Carmelo Anthony

November 19th, 2019 at 10:18am CST by Luke Adams

The Trail Blazers have officially signed Carmelo Anthony to his one-year, non-guaranteed, minimum-salary contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, who notes that Anthony passed his physical and will wear No. 00 in Portland (Twitter links).

“Carmelo is an established star in this league that will provide a respected presence in our locker room and a skill set at a position of need on the floor,” Blazers president of basketball operations Neil Olshey said in a statement formally announcing the signing.

Anthony and the Blazers first reached an agreement last Thursday, but took several days to finalize the deal as the veteran forward took his physical and targeted Tuesday for his potential Portland debut. The Blazers will play in New Orleans tonight before finishing their road trip with stops in Milwaukee (Thursday), Cleveland (Saturday), and Chicago (next Monday).

Anthony, who hasn’t played in an NBA game in over a year, will look to help turn things around for the 5-9 Blazers, who currently rank 12th in the Western Conference after being blown out by the Rockets, Carmelo’s old team, on Monday night. While there’s skepticism that the 35-year-old will help improve Portland’s ailing defense, he can at least give the club some frontcourt scoring, which new forwards like Kent Bazemore, Mario Hezonja, and Anthony Tolliver have struggled to consistently provide.

Because four weeks of the NBA regular season have already passed, Anthony will earn a prorated portion of the veteran’s minimum. If he remains under contract through January 7 and has his salary for 2019/20 fully guaranteed, he’ll earn a total of $2,159,029. His cap hit on Portland’s books will be $1,364,204, though he’ll ultimately cost the team more than that due to added tax penalties.

No corresponding roster move was necessary for the Blazers, since they’d been carrying just 14 players on standard contracts, one below the NBA’s maximum.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Blazers Notes: Carmelo, Lillard, Slow Start

November 19th, 2019 at 10:04am CST by Luke Adams

In a video posted to YouTube on Monday, Carmelo Anthony spoke about reaching an agreement to sign with the Trail Blazers, a deal that’s expected to be finalized later today. According to Anthony, he and Damian Lillard had talked “off and on” for the last couple years about the possibility of teaming up, and the 10-time All-Star is excited to get that chance now.

“I always kept my eye on Portland. It just didn’t work at other times, but now it seems like it’s a perfect opportunity,” Anthony said. “… I just look at that opportunity, that team, and say, ‘Look, this is what I can bring to the team. This is where I can help.’ It will only work if all parties see it the same way.”

Here’s more on Carmelo and the Blazers:

David Aldridge of The Athletic hopes the marriage between the Blazers and Anthony works out, but is skeptical that it will. One “NBA guy” who spoke to Aldridge expressed a similar uncertainty about the partnership, but did add, “He should help some. ‘Melo can score, period.”
Anthony will be joining the Trail Blazers during a trying period for the team — Portland is coming off a blowout loss at the hands of the Rockets and is now 12th in the West at 5-9. As Jason Quick of The Athletic relays, three years ago, when the Blazers were in a similar spot, Lillard publicly said the team “sucked.” But the star point guard isn’t willing to make the same assessment of this year’s squad. “I’m just older,” Lillard said. “It’s not impossible for me to think we suck, but I just better see what can be now. Even then I felt like we were going to be fine … and now, I feel like we are going to be cool. I mean, it’s such a long season. And we’ve won 13 games in a row before. And, things can’t go much worse. They just can’t go much worse.”
CJ McCollum also weighed in on the Blazers’ struggles and why he and Lillard are reacting differently than they may have in the past, per Quick: “We were so young (in 2016), so it was more like, we would say the right things but we really didn’t know it was going to happen,” McCollum said. “Yeah, we would say, ‘We are going to turn it around,’’but in the back of your mind it was, ‘Are we really going to turn it around?’ Now, it’s like you understand the schedule, the travel, and you understand the game turns around at some point.”
As we noted on Monday, injured center Jusuf Nurkic has officially missed out on a games-played bonus in his contract for the 2019/20 season.

Nurkic Officially Misses Out On Bonus

November 18th, 2019 at 11:19pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

By missing his 13th game of the 2019/20 season Saturday, injured Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic will officially miss out on a $1.25MM games-played bonus. This will result in his future cap hits for Portland being depreciated to $12.9MM this year and $12MM in 2020/21, according to Bobby Marks of ESPN. Nurkic had to play in 70 games and Portland needed to win 50 games for the bonus to materialize.

Inside The Trail Blazers’ Signing Of Carmelo Anthony

November 16th, 2019 at 10:04pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Trail Blazers have been interested in Carmelo Anthony for years and both parties reached the point where they needed each other, writes ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who provides an inside look at the events that led to this week’s signing.

Portland general manager Neil Olshey conveyed that sentiment during a phone call with Anthony, Woj relays. The 10-time All-Star had been out of the league for a year and hadn’t gotten offers from any other teams. The Blazers are severely shorthanded in the frontcourt and needed to find someone who can contribute right away.

Portland’s 5-8 start can be at least partially attributed to the losses of Jusuf Nurkic, Zach Collins and Pau Gasol. Nurkic is still recovering after fracturing his leg late last season. Collins recently had shoulder surgery and isn’t expected back until March. Gasol, an offseason addition, is rehabilitating a stress fracture in his left foot that he suffered in the spring.

Olshey sees Anthony as someone who can provide scoring punch and command respect in the locker room. Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum have been proponents of adding Anthony, and McCollum worked out with him in New York over the summer. Olshey took the recommendations to heart and remained in touch with Anthony’s agent, Leon Rose of CAA Sports. The GM was interested in adding Anthony, but only if he had regular playing time to offer.

Talks got more serious this week as the need for another front court scorer became obvious. Olshey discussed the topic frequently with coach Terry Stotts and it was agreed that a non-guaranteed contract was the best option. Anthony will have a chance to prove his worth before contracts throughout the league become fully guaranteed in early January.

Wojnarowski notes that Anthony has contributed to his time as an outcast. He still viewed himself as a star when he was traded to the Thunder two years ago and wasn’t willing to accept the role that management asked. In Houston last year, a tense history with coach Mike D’Antoni prompted the Rockets to cut ties after a slow start.

Anthony may be looking at his last chance in Portland, but at least it’s off to a positive start. Olshey has a long history with Anthony and was encouraged by what he heard during their phone call, which was that Anthony still cares about winning and isn’t just looking for an NBA farewell tour. Sources tell Wojnarowski that Anthony had a physical today and could be playing by Tuesday, so we should know soon how much he has left to offer.

Community Shootaround: Carmelo In Portland

November 15th, 2019 at 10:00pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Many people were skeptical that another NBA team would take a chance on Carmelo Anthony.

Anthony and his representatives spoke openly about his desire to play again but it seemed as if he would be either forced into retirement or explore overseas options.

The call the longtime All-Star had been waiting for came from the Pacific Northwest. The Trail Blazers were suddenly thin at the power forward spot when Zach Collins suffered a shoulder injury that could sideline him the entire season. Barring a last-minute snag, Anthony is expected to sign with the Blazers this weekend and make his Portland debut next week.

Anthony struggled with the idea of being a role player last season with the Rockets and lasted just 10 games before a mutual parting. Now, he’s got another chance to show he can be an asset in the modern NBA game.

The fact that Anthony, 35, had to settle for a non-guaranteed deal reinforces the notion that this is likely his last chance to show he can blend in rather than being the star of the show.

The fact that journeyman Anthony Tolliver and Mario Hezonja have taken turns replacing Collins with limited results means that Anthony could quickly jump into the lineup. Meshing his offensive skills with high-scoring guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum will be a work in progress.

Whether Anthony can defend his position and switch out on younger, quicker players is an even bigger mystery. But there’s no denying Melo can score in bunches when he gets on a roll.

That brings us to our question of the day: Do you think Carmelo Anthony will last the whole season with Portland or will he flame out quickly as he did in Houston?

Please take to the comments section to voice your opinion. We look forward to what you have to say.

Trail Blazers To Sign Carmelo Anthony

November 15th, 2019 at 6:07pm CST by clarkcrum

NOVEMBER 15: Anthony still needs to pass his physical and won’t make his Blazers debut until at least Tuesday, Wojnarowski tweets.

NOVEMBER 14: The Trail Blazers have agreed to a non-guaranteed deal with free agent forward Carmelo Anthony, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Woj adds that Anthony, once signed, will join the Blazers on the team’s upcoming six-game road trip, and that the team hopes to have him fill the void at power forward created by the loss of Zach Collins (Twitter link).

Portland, off to a 4-8 start, has been one of the bigger disappointments of the first few weeks of this NBA season. As such, it comes as no surprise that the team would take a flyer on Anthony, 35, as the 10-time NBA All-Star looks to reinvent himself as a role player after being out of the league for the last 12 months.

Interestingly, however, the Trail Blazers suggested earlier this month that signing a 15th man was not a priority for them and that they’d opt instead to rely on depth and positional versatility. Of course, at that time, Portland was only 3-4, so the club’s top decision-makers may have changed their minds after going 1-4 over the last five games.

According to Woj (link), Blazers’ GM Neil Olshey and Anthony’s agent, Leon Rose, had stayed in contact on Carmelo since the preseason, with conversations picking up over the past couple days. Olshey and head coach Terry Stotts talked directly with Anthony before reaching today’s agreement.

It will be interesting to see how Anthony meshes with the Blazers’ backcourt pairing of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. According to Chris Haynes of ESPN, Lillard was notified of the potential signing last night and made it clear that he’s always been supportive of bringing Anthony into the fold in Portland.

Jason Quick of The Athletic, who has covered the Blazers for the past 20 seasons, seems skeptical of the fit, opining that the team’s biggest deficiency at this point seems to be on the defensive end of the floor (i.e. – not Anthony’s strength). However, given the team’s poor start, Quick also appears to concede that the signing is worth a shot.

As Bobby Marks of ESPN notes, Anthony will earn $14,490 per day while a member of the Blazers, which mean he’s signing for the league minimum salary for a veteran with 10+ years of NBA experience. The Blazers only have 14 players on their roster currently, so no corresponding move will have to made, but the team will see its luxury tax bill grow with the signing.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Reactions To Blazers’ Deal With Carmelo Anthony

November 15th, 2019 at 11:16am CST by Luke Adams

A week after reiterating his desire to return to the the NBA, Carmelo Anthony is getting his chance, as a Thursday report indicated that the Trail Blazers are signing the 10-time All-Star.

While it’s great news for Anthony, the move has received mixed reviews from those in Portland. Jason Quick of The Athletic views the signing as a “why not?”-type move for the Blazers, writing that even if Carmelo can provide some offense, he’s unlikely to help the team on the defensive end, which Quick argues has been the source of many of Portland’s problems in the early going. The longtime Blazers beat writer adds that the signing seems “forced” and “desperate,” though he acknowledges that it will at least make things more interesting after a disappointing start to the season.

While I agree with Quick to some extent, I’d point out that the Blazers haven’t been much better on offense (15th in NBA in offensive rating) than defense (19th) through 12 games. I do think they could benefit from adding more offense at the forward spots.

Outside of Rodney Hood, the club has gotten very little out of its forwards so far, with offseason additions Kent Bazemore (8.2 PPG on .358/.340/.667 shooting), Mario Hezonja (5.5 PPG, .319/.320/.824), and Anthony Tolliver (3.2 PPG, .244/.242/.778) all struggling on offense. Anthony gives Portland a more dynamic scoring option in its frontcourt.

Here’s more on the Carmelo signing:

John Hollinger of The Athletic and John Canzano of The Oregonian make similar arguments to the one put forth by Quick. Hollinger is skeptical that Anthony can help the Blazers, but admits there probably weren’t better options out there, while Canzano considers the signing a “Hail Mary” that will make the Blazers’ season more compelling, even if it doesn’t ultimately work out.
It may be in Anthony’s best interests to emulate Dwight Howard, writes Kurt Helin of NBC Sports. Howard, once a perennial All-Star, has accepted a modest, complementary role and is thriving with the Lakers this season. It’s possible Anthony could have a similar trajectory in Portland if he’s willing to accept his limitations.
Whether or not his stint with the Blazers goes well, Anthony deserves this shot after all he’s done in his NBA career, says Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today. Zillgitt adds that it’s a low-risk move for the Blazers, who could simply release Carmelo by early January without guaranteeing his full-season salary if things don’t work out.

Al-Farouq Aminu Discusses FA Decision, Magic’s Goals

November 14th, 2019 at 8:54am CST by Luke Adams

After finishing last season with a top-10 defense and a bottom-10 offense, the Magic made the decision to double down on their strengths in the offseason. Rather than using their mid-level exception to add a play-maker or shot creator, Orlando used the full MLE to bring aboard Al-Farouq Aminu, a veteran forward best known for his perimeter defense.

As Aminu recently explained to Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype, improving that defense and making it one of the NBA’s very best units is a priority for the Magic.

“We discuss it every day. We want to be a top-five defensive team, if not No. 1,” Aminu said. “I think it’s definitely something that this team has the ability to do and we just have to continue to click together and understand where we need to be in order to do it. I think the more and more we play together and get that cohesiveness, the better we’ll become on defense. And out of the gate, we’re already talented on defense. Now, it’s just getting that continuity and that will take us over the top.”

Although the Magic currently rank third in defensive rating, the team has the NBA’s second-worst offensive rating, which has contributed to a slow start (4-7) this season. Those struggles have prompted head coach Steve Clifford to experiment a little with his rotation, and that experimentation hasn’t benefited Aminu, who only played two minutes in Orlando’s win over the Sixers on Wednesday. After averaging 24.1 minutes in the team’s first seven games, Aminu has played just 11.9 MPG in the last four.

Aminu is in the first year of a three-year contract worth over $29MM, so it’d be a surprise if he’s removed from the rotation altogether. However, it may be a while before we see him match the 29 minutes he logged on opening night.

Still, when the 29-year-old spoke recently to Kennedy, he was happy with his decision to join the Magic in the summer and optimistic about what he could bring the team. Here are a few highlights from that conversation, which is worth checking out in full:

On why Aminu chose the Magic in free agency:

“I like that they’re a young team and I thought that I could bring some veteran leadership to them. Also, they went to the playoffs last year, so I knew they had a good team. I like their style of play and different things like that. I’m glad I made that decision.”

On whether he’s excited about the Magic’s young core:

“Yeah, for sure. I really wanted to play a part in molding them. In a couple of years, when these guys are in their prime and doing their thing, it’ll be cool to be able to say that I put my touch on that. That’ll be cool. I was talking to them the other day and I told them, ‘Y’all are going to make a lot of money! Y’all play the right way, y’all are young and the league is just changing. Guys are getting paid.'”

On leaving Portland after spending four seasons with the Trail Blazers:

“It was [tough] because I’m leaving the guys I was playing with, but a lot of the guys ended up leaving anyway, so it was kind of like, ‘Well, nobody is there.’ Not ‘nobody,’ but you know what I mean. The gang’s not even there anymore anyway, so it wouldn’t have been the same even if I had stayed.

“It’s not the organization, it’s the people that you get to work with every day that you end up [getting close with]. … Sometimes, it’s just one person; like, I remember the first time it was Ed [Davis]. Me and him came into Portland together and we became really cool. Then, after three years, he was gone and that was tough. Then, I started becoming really cool with Moe [Harkless] and Evan [Turner] and now they’re gone, so it’s like, man… It’s kind of already tough to make friends in this industry anyway and then guys move on. And you still get to talk to them and stay close, but it’s different. But I think that’s why it isn’t as traumatic because those guys are in different places anyway, so the gang is gone.”

Lillard Prefers Staying With One Organization

November 11th, 2019 at 10:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Zach Collins hasn’t given up on playing this season, Casey Holdahl of the team’s website tweets. “For sure, it’s very realistic,” Collins told Holdahl. However, the Trail Blazers big man faces a long rehab after undergoing shoulder surgery last week. He’s expected to miss at least four months, which leaves only about a month before the end of the regular season in a best-case scenario.

Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard is content to stay the course with the Trail Blazers rather than joining forces with superstars in other organizations, as he explained to Medina in a separate story. Lillard signed a four-year, $196MM extension during the summer. “I just feel like there’s always a reward at the end. When you do things the right way and you do the work, you’re going to get the results,” Lillard said. “I really believe that. We’ve gotten the results. Even after failures, we come back and answer to it. We’re staying the course. That’s worth it to me.”

Hollinger’s Latest: Blazers, Warriors, Load Management

November 8th, 2019 at 8:36pm CST by Dana Gauruder

There hasn’t been an NBA trade since mid-July but the Trail Blazers appear to be a prime candidate to make a deal, according to John Hollinger of The Athletic. Zach Collins‘ shoulder injury, which is expected to cost him most of the season, creates an even bigger need at an already thin position. Journeyman Anthony Tolliver is the only true power forward remaining on the roster, Hollinger notes. The Blazers could also use another small forward in their rotation.

Portland has some desirable assets, including expiring contracts, young players and draft picks, in order to upgrade its forward spots. One offshoot of the Collins injury that the Blazers are playing with smaller, faster lineups and that could prove beneficial.

There’s more from Hollinger:

The Warriors may trade one of their free agent additions on expiring contracts in order to add one of their two-way players to the 15-man roster. Golden State is pushed up against the hard cap and could free some money by dealing center Willie Cauley-Stein or guard Alec Burks. Any potential deal involving a free agent signed this summer can’t happen until mid-December.
Waiving Marquese Chriss‘ non-guaranteed deal is also a strong possibility for Golden State, considering Chriss has already had his role reduced after a strong preseason. The Warriors have already used up eight of the 45 days on the service clock of two-way players Damion Lee and Ky Bowman and can’t convert either to a standard contract unless they make another move.
People who criticize load management fail to realize that the modern game is much more taxing on players’ bodies than in past decades, Hollinger writes. The goal is to maximize the number of high-quality games the player can play and that makes it a sound strategy.