Portland Trail Blazers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Northwest Notes: Lawson, Contract Details, Exum

July 22nd, 2015 at 9:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Nuggets team president Josh Kroenke told Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports that the team had been privately trying to help Ty Lawson with his drinking issues for the past couple of years and that there had been problems for a long time. Kroenke indicated that he had repeated conversations with Lawson about his struggles, and noted that Lawson often said he would attempt to fix his issues but he could never fully shake them, Spears adds. Lawson was recently traded to the Rockets.

“He always had an affinity for burning the candle at both ends,” Kroenke said. “We want to give our players freedom to be young guys as well. We’re not going to be drill sergeants. But we want our guys to be able to handle their personal lives on their own. Ty … there were times when he was better than others. But the problems have been there for several years, going back to when we were having a lot of on-court success. I don’t want to go back too far. There were just a lot of times where you were at practice and you just know. You could smell it. You know there is probably deeper issues than he would probably let on.”

Here’s more out of the Northwest Division:

GM Tim Connelly said it was a difficult choice for the Nuggets to trade Lawson, Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post writes. “It was a tough day,” said Connelly. “Ty was a huge part of our success here. He’s certainly one of the really talented lead guards. Sometimes a change of scenery is best for both parties. Where we were, it made sense to make the move.“
Raul Neto‘s three-year pact with the Jazz will see him earn $900K for the 2015/16 season, $937,800 the following season, and $1,014,746 during the 2017/18 campaign, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders tweets. Joe Ingles‘ two-year deal with Utah will pay him $2.150MM for each season, Pincus adds.
Al-Farouq Aminu‘s contract with the Blazers will pay him $8,042,995 this season, $7,680,956 in 2016/17, $7,319,035 the following year, and $6,957,105 in 2018/19, Pincus relays (on Twitter). Ed Davis‘ three-year deal will pay him $6,980,802, $6,666,667, and $6,352,531 respectively, notes Pincus.
Jazz point guard Dante Exum knows that he needs to improve his outside shooting if he hopes to emerge as a star in the NBA, Moke Hamilton of Basketball Insiders writes. “I think just the consistency of it, being straight, being on target, even if I’m not making them—as long as it’s still a good looking shot and it feels good,” Exum said regarding the progress that he has made over the summer. “I think that’s the most important thing. … Once it gets into the game and I start playing one-on-one and five-on-five that I get that carryover.”

Northwest Notes: Lawson, Hanlan, Raduljica

July 18th, 2015 at 7:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Nuggets are “firmly behind” point guard Ty Lawson despite his ongoing struggles with alcohol and problems with the law, writes Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. Denver GM Tim Connelly issued a statement of support after Lawson was sentenced Friday to alcohol rehab by a Denver judge on a DUI charge. “When one of our guys goes through some issues we support him as a family, and we’re going to stand behind him,” Connelly said. “I don’t want to comment too much on what’s going on in his personal life, but when any of our guys has an issue we all have an issue. And we want to stand firmly behind him.” It was reported earlier this week that the Rockets, Pistons and Lakers have expressed interest in acquiring Lawson.

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

Utah’s Olivier Hanlan faces a big decision now that summer league is over, according to Jody Genessy of The Deseret News. Hanlan will probably receive a one-year, non-guaranteed contract offer later this summer, which the Jazz must tender to retain his NBA rights. Hanlan can either sign the offer and compete for a roster spot in training camp or he can leave it unsigned — becoming a “stash” player whose rights are retained by the Jazz — and seek a job with a foreign team or in the D-League. Utah already has four point guards under contract, so heading overseas may be Hanlan’s best option. “My agent knows all of this,” he said of Michael Tellem. “He’s been going back and forth with the Jazz. I’ll sit down with him. I’ll know a bit [more] in the next few days.”
Miroslav Raduljica, who played briefly with the Wolves last season, tweeted that he will play for Panathinaikos in the Greek League for the next two seasons. The Serbian signed two 10-day contracts with Minnesota in January and appeared in five games, scoring eight points and grabbing five rebounds.
Blazers coach Terry Stotts liked what he saw out of his collection of young players during summer league, according to Mike Richman of The Oregonian. Portland’s summer league standouts were Noah Vonleh, who was acquired in a June 24 trade with Charlotte, and Allen Crabbe, who played 51 games for the Blazers last season.

2015/16 Roster Counts: Portland Trail Blazers

July 18th, 2015 at 11:37am CST by Eddie Scarito

During the offseason it’s OK for teams to carry as many as 20 players, but clubs must trim their rosters down to a maximum of 15 by opening night. In the meantime, some teams will hang around that 15-man line, while others will max out their roster counts. Some clubs may actually have more than 15 contracts that are at least partially guaranteed on the books. That means they’ll end up paying players who won’t be on the regular season roster, unless they can find trade partners.

With plenty more movement still to come, here’s the latest look at the Blazers’ roster size, the contract guarantee status of each player, and how each player came to be on Portland’s roster.

(Last Updated 2-18-16, 4:00pm)

Fully Guaranteed (15)

Cliff Alexander (F) — 6’8″/19 years old. Free agent signing.
Al-Farouq Aminu (F) — 6’9″/24 years old. Free agent signing.
Allen Crabbe (G/F) — 6’6″/23 years old. Draft rights acquired via Cavaliers.
Pat Connaughton (G/F) — 6’5″/22 years old. Draft rights acquired via Nets.
Ed Davis (F) — 6’10″/26 years old. Free agent signing.
Maurice Harkless (F) — 6’9″/22 years old. Acquired via trade from Magic.
Gerald Henderson (G) — 6’5″/27 years old. Acquired via trade from Hornets.
Chris Kaman (C) — 7’0″/33 years old. Free agent signing.
Meyers Leonard (C) — 7’1″/23 years old. Drafted with No. 11 overall pick in 2012.
Damian Lillard (G) — 6’3″/25 years old. Drafted with No. 6 overall pick in 2012.
C.J. McCollum (G) — 6’4″/23 years old. Drafted with No. 10 overall pick in 2013.
Luis Montero (G) — 6’7″/22 years old. Free agent signing.
Mason Plumlee (F/C) — 6’11″/25 years old. Acquired via trade from Nets.
Brian Roberts (G) — 6’1″/29 years old. Acquired via trade from Heat.
Noah Vonleh (F) — 6’10″/19 years old. Acquired via trade from Hornets.

10-Day Contracts (0)

None

TOTAL ROSTER COUNT (15)

Northwest Notes: Malone, Lillard, Harkless

July 17th, 2015 at 11:40am CST by Chuck Myron

Nuggets coach Michael Malone didn’t have too much to say about Ty Lawson, other than that he’s been in contact and that he still considers the point guard “part of the Denver Nugget family,” but Malone, in his conversation with Grantland’s Zach Lowe, provided a glimpse into Denver’s draft night war room.

“It’s very rare when you’re picking No. 7 to get the guy you target. I kid you not, when I got the job, [GM] Tim Connelly said, ‘Emmanuel Mudiay. That’s the guy,'” Malone said.

The team’s other target was Duke small forward Justise Winslow, Malone admitted to Lowe with hesitation. Winslow slipped to the Heat at No. 10. The coach also spoke with Lowe about his time hanging around the Timberwolves last season, and Malone “absolutely” had interest in becoming the head-coach-in-waiting under Flip Saunders in Minnesota, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. He would have considered such an opportunity over the Nuggets gig, Wolfson adds. Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:

Damian Lillard is a fan of Portland’s trade acquisition of Maurice Harkless, GM Neil Olshey says, and it’s with Lillard in mind that the Blazers are going after players like the former Magic small forward, as The Oregonian’s Mike Richman chronicles. Lillard signed a five-year max extension this month. “When LaMarcus [Aldridge] warned us he wasn’t coming back we went full bore with guys on the same career arc as Damian Lillard,” Olshey said. “Damian’s our best player right now, he’s a two time All-Star. We’re going to bring in players that compliment his skill set, how we want to play and that can grow with him as he continues to improve.”
The Nuggets were reportedly one of three teams interested in signing Sergio Rodriguez, but it doesn’t look like he’ll leave Spain for the NBA again, as Real Madrid wants him to stay, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter links). The contract reportedly contains an NBA buyout clause, but Real Madrid will fight to keep him, Pick says.
The precise value of Jameer Nelson‘s three-year contract with the Nuggets is $13,621,575, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
The cap hits in the four-year deal the Nuggets gave Nikola Jokic come to $5,551,000, and year four is a team option, Pincus also shows (Twitter link).

Northwest Notes: Lawson, Wolves, Montero

July 16th, 2015 at 9:00am CST by Chuck Myron

The Nuggets were requesting a first-round pick and a young player in trade talks about Ty Lawson days before his latest DUI-related arrest, reports Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. Opposing teams were showing little to no interest, Spears adds, advancing a report from Yahoo Sports colleague Adrian Wojnarowski, who said that clubs were waiting for Lawson’s price to come down. Now, after the arrest, the Nuggets are in a position where they’re better off waiting for Lawson’s value to bounce back, an assistant GM tells Spears. We asked for your feedback about Lawson on Wednesday night. There’s more on the Nuggets amid the latest from around the Northwest Division:

Denver is scanning for trades that provide greater financial and roster flexibility, league sources tell Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. The search is unrelated to Lawson, as Dempsey makes clear. In any case, the report would suggest that the Nuggets are looking to unload a player in a deal that doesn’t bring back anyone in return.
Coach/executive Flip Saunders, with the $2.139MM biannual exception and roughly $1.7MM left on the mid-level exception, sounds open to adding a veteran point guard to the Timberwolves, according to Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune (Twitter link via Tribune scribe Jerry Zgoda).
The Timberwolves had their choice of three trade exceptions with which they could take in Damjan Rudez from the Pacers, and Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders says they used the $1.5MM Ronny Turiaf exception to do so (Twitter link). That reduces the Turiaf exception, which expires December 19th, to $350,500, essentially exhausting its value.
The Oregonian’s Mike Richman chronicles the unusual journey of Luis Montero to his partially guaranteed contract with the Blazers, adding the Knicks, Sixers, Suns and Thunder to the list of teams that previous reports indicated he worked out for prior to the draft.
A virtually unusable $88K sliver of the Thunder‘s Thabo Sefolosha trade exception expired Wednesday. Oklahoma City used most of what was originally a $4.15MM exception to trade for Dion Waiters in January.
Jazz power forward Trevor Booker‘s salary, which had been partially guaranteed for $250K, is now fully guaranteed for $4.775MM, as our list of salary guarantee dates shows.

Western Notes: Cousins, Levien, Montero

July 15th, 2015 at 10:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Kings coach George Karl admits talking hypothetical DeMarcus Cousins trades “behind closed doors,” but Karl tells Ken Berger of CBSSports.com that he rejects the notion that he was actively trying to trade the center. “As a coach, in meetings every year and maybe four or five times a year, you talk about what-ifs,” Karl said. “And 99% of what-ifs never happen. But isn’t it our job to talk about what-ifs? Does this make us better? Does this get us in a better place? That’s our job. There was never a discussion in that area even close to happening, in my opinion. … Never in the whole time of this experience did I ever think that I wasn’t going to coach Cuz.”

Here’s what else is happening around the Western Conference:

Jason Levien has become an unofficial adviser to Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com tweets. Levien was formerly the CEO of the Grizzlies, as well as a former Sacramento assistant GM, Howard-Cooper notes.
The Wolves were able to create a traded player exception worth $5MM as a result of dealing Chase Budinger to the Pacers, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders notes (Twitter link).
Danny Green said that LaMarcus Aldridge contacted him during the free agent process to pick his brain about the Spurs, Jeff McDonald of The San Antonio Express News tweets. Green also noted that the possibility of playing alongside Aldridge factored heavily into his decision to re-sign with the Spurs, McDonald adds.
The Trail Blazers‘ deal with Luis Montero is a three year arrangement with the first season partially guaranteed, according to former Nets executive Bobby Marks (Twitter links).
The Thunder have removed forward Steve Novak from the trading block, Chris Mannix of SI.com relays. OKC was reportedly seeking financial relief and was willing to flip Novak in exchange for a future draft pick.
Wilson Chandler‘s contract renegotiation and extension with the Nuggets will pay him $10.4MM in 2015/16, $11.2MM for 2016/17, $12.0MM in 2017/18, and $12.8MM during the final season, Pincus notes (Twitter links).

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Blazers Acquire Maurice Harkless From Magic

July 14th, 2015 at 3:58pm CST by Will Joseph

Courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

3:58pm: The Blazers have followed with a press release of their own, identifying the pick going to Orlando as a 2020 second-rounder. That pick is top-55 protected, according to Casey Holdahl of Trailblazers.com. It’s Portland’s own pick, and if it doesn’t convey to Orlando that year, the Blazers don’t have to give the Magic anything, as RealGM notes.

TUESDAY, 3:46pm: The deal is official, the Magic announced via press release. Orlando refers to its acquisition as a conditional second-round pick, suggesting that the protection on it is such that it may never convey to the Magic.

SUNDAY, 5:27pm: The Magic are trading forward Maurice Harkless to the Blazers for a future second-round pick, reports Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski (on Twitter).

The move does not come across as a complete shock because Orlando was reportedly willing to deal Harkless at the deadline. However, at that time, the team was seeking a first-round pick or talented young player in return. The 22-year-old former first-rounder out of St. John’s is set to earn $2,894,059 during the 2015/16 campaign. Despite being a high draft pick, Harkless has not met his full potential. In his third year, Harkless averaged only 3.5 points per game and only received 15 minutes of playing time per game.

Both Orlando and Portland are below the cap, so it’s a move that essentially transfers a measure of cap flexibility from one team to the other. It’s another move in a busy offseason for the Blazers. With LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews gone, Portland has done a decent job of retooling with athletic young players. Portland signed Al-Farouq Aminu and signed Ed Davis.

Joel Freeland To Play In Russia With CSKA Moscow

July 13th, 2015 at 8:05am CST by Chuck Myron

MONDAY, 8:05am: The deal is official, the team announced (hat tip to Pick).

FRIDAY, 11:05pm: Freeland has signed a two-year deal with CSKA Moscow, and the pact contains no NBA out clause, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link).

1:33pm: A source tells Michael Scotto of Sheridan Hoops that Freeland hasn’t agreed to a deal just yet, and will decide within the next two days (Twitter link).

THURSDAY, 8:51am: Joel Freeland has agreed to sign a guaranteed deal with Russia’s CSKA Moscow, reports David Pick of Eurobasket.com (Twitter link). Freeland had reportedly set a deadline of Friday to find an NBA deal before he committed to playing overseas, but it appears he’s making the jump a day early. The British big man’s contract with the Blazers ended last month, and Portland didn’t make a qualifying offer.

The Rafa Calvo client didn’t expect the Blazers to make that offer, but he expressed a preference to stay in the NBA. He’ll instead move to one of Europe’s most prominent clubs. Chema de Lucas of Gigantes del Basket first reported CSKA Moscow’s interest.

Freeland, 28, didn’t have much of a role during his three seasons with the Blazers, though he did make eight starts this past year while averaging 3.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in 12.8 minutes per game.

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Thunder Match Blazers’ Offer For Enes Kanter

July 12th, 2015 at 8:10pm CST by Will Joseph

8:10pm: Oklahoma City has announced the move is official via press release.

7:40pm: The Thunder have informed the Trail Blazers they have matched Portland’s $70MM offer sheet for restricted free agent Enes Kanter, reports Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski (on Twitter). Enes’ deal includes a player option on the fourth year and a 15% trade kicker bonus, Wojnarowski reports in a full story.

The expectation around the league was that the Thunder would match, according to Royce Young of ESPN.com (on Twitter). The deadline is today. The Blazers signed Kanter on Thursday to an offer sheet worth the max over four years, with a player option on year three. It was an easy decision to match, Wojnarowski tweets, because Oklahoma City offered Kanter about $62MM and always planned for the possibility of a max offer sheet.

Oklahoma City has about $79MM in salary commitments for this coming season. That puts them well above the $70MM cap, and the new deal for Kanter pushes the team far beyond the $84.74MM tax threshold. If they don’t make any other moves, the Thunder would have roughly a $24MM luxury-tax payment due at the end of next season, Young writes in a full story. The Thunder, according to Young, who cites league sources, are likely to shop forwards Steve Novak and Perry Jones III to help alleviate some of the pending financial hit.

Kanter, 23, excelled after Oklahoma City acquired him from the Jazz. He averaged 15.9 points per game and 8.9 rebounds per game last season with the Thunder and Jazz. Thunder GM Sam Presti had expressed interest in re-signing the big man.

“We traded for Enes last season with the intention of keeping him as a member of the Thunder for several years to come, and we are excited that he will continue with us,” Presti said the press release. “He adds valuable depth to our roster, diversity to our frontcourt and the dimension that he brings offensively will positively impact our team.”

Blazers Sign Enes Kanter To Max Offer Sheet

July 12th, 2015 at 2:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

2:14pm: The deadline is today, but Oklahoma City still hasn’t notified Portland about its intentions, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports.

JULY 12TH, 1:50pm: The Thunder intend to match the offer to Kanter, tweets David Aldridge of TNT.

JULY 9TH, 4:17pm: Oklahoma City has received Kanter’s signed offer sheet from the Blazers, and have until Sunday to make a decision regarding the player, Wojnarowski tweets.

3:02pm: The offer sheet is worth the max over four years, with a player option on year three, Aldridge reports (on Twitter). It’s expected to include a trade kicker, too, Wojnarowski adds (Twitter link). That means a starting salary of $16,407,500 this season and a total value of around $70MM.

2:22pm: The Trail Blazers are set to sign Thunder restricted free agent Enes Kanter to an offer sheet, as TNT’s David Aldridge reports and as Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports confirms (Twitter links). The expectation around the league is that the Thunder will match, according to Royce Young of ESPN.com (on Twitter). Grantland’s Zach Lowe suggests that the Thunder will also intensify their efforts to trade Perry Jones and Steve Novak to clear salary (Twitter link). Lowe also mentions D.J. Augustin along with Jones and Novak, but it’s not clear if that’s just speculation.

USA Today’s Jeff Zillgitt reported last week that the Blazers were eyeing the big man. Thunder GM Sam Presti told Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman this spring that he was committed to re-signing his team’s trade deadline acquisition, and while they met to discuss a deal approaching the max, and both sides were reportedly eager to complete a deal, it appears Oklahoma City has let the market dictate his terms. The Knicks were also reportedly in contact with the Max Ergul client.

Oklahoma City has roughly $79MM in salary commitments for this coming season, counting the team’s deal with Kyle Singler. That puts them well above the $70MM cap, and a new deal for Kanter would likely push the team far beyond the $84.74MM tax threshold. The Blazers have nearly $30MM in cap flexibility after the exodus of LaMarcus Aldridge and Wesley Matthews.