After being traded from the Hawks to the Trail Blazers in the offseason, Kent Bazemore has become rejuvenated, writes Jason Quick of The Athletic. As Quick writes, the veteran wing had become frustrated playing in Atlanta last season as the team – which won 60 games during his first year as a Hawk – fully embraced its youth movement.
“The game is changing with the young guys coming in and getting an opportunity right away,” Bazemore said. “It wasn’t like that when I first came in. I’m old school in that respect. All you have to do is be respectful, work your way up. But the league is changing in that respect, and that frustrated me.”
According to Quick, before Bazemore was traded, he provided the Hawks with a list of preferred destinations. The Blazers were number one on that list. Now, his new teammates can see that Bazemore is enjoying the opportunity to get a fresh start in Portland.
“The environment here will light him up,” Rodney Hood said. “And you can already tell with him, coming from Atlanta and not playing competitive basketball, that he wants to taste it again, that he’s hungry, prepared and ready. He was telling me last year he was so frustrated that he got a lot of technicals. But we can all see he’s excited about the season.”
Here’s more from around the Northwest:
- Before Kyle Lowry signed an extension with Toronto, the Timberwolves looked into his availability, tweets Darren Wolfson of SKOR North. There has been no indication that the Raptors were considering moving their All-Star point guard, so it may have been as simple as an inquiry that went nowhere. Still, as Wolfson points out, it shows that new president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas will kick the tires on every potentially available impact player — even those that don’t necessarily fit Minnesota’s timeline.
- The battle for the Nuggets‘ starting small forward job appears to be down to Will Barton and Torrey Craig, writes Nick Kosmider of The Athletic. Barton, who was more effective in Denver’s final preseason game on Thursday, has said he’d “prefer to start,” as Mike Singer of The Denver Post relays.
- Joe Ingles may have emerged this preseason as the de facto backup point guard for the Jazz, says Tony Jones of The Athletic. Dante Exum is still making his way back from knee surgery and Emmanuel Mudiay hasn’t shown the ability to consistently run an NBA offense, so Ingles figures to take on some ball-handling responsibilities for the second unit, Jones explains.
Dante Exum is not worth the 10 mil they are paying him for the next few years. He’s the only bad deal they have on their books too. I like the Jazz team they have got this year but I think Exum is the odd one out.
I’d swap Exum for Courtney Lee.
Courtney Lee is on an expiring deal but would give this team a solid 3 and D wing. He’s a career 45-39-85 shooter. He’s also a decent defender.
Maybe you feel having Conley and Mudiay makes you a little light at PG well then you can go after a vet minimum back up like Devin Harris, Raymond Felton or Jose Calderon.
1. Conley. Mudiay. Harris
2. Mitchell. Lee. Collinsworth
3. Ingles. O’Neale. Niang
4. Bogdanovic. Green
5. Gobert. Davis. Bradley
Mavs would love to get rid of Lee, but not in exchange for addl years to Exum. Mavs already have 3 PGs and that doesn’t even count Doncic who will play lots of point forward, and their 2 guards on 2 way contracts.
Exum is on 10 mil for 2 years and Lee is on 1 year 12 mil maybe the Mavs take that. Mavs might see Exum as having more value to trade and swapping him for Lee saves them money this year and gives them time to see what it can get for Dante.
With regard to the Northwest’s Division, Minnesota Timberwolves ( NOT considered NORTHWEST by most of the USA), new PBO Rosas; ANY idiot while blindfolded can throw a handful of darts at a board and land one on the board. (Refer to Kahn, David, GM). It takes somebody head and shoulders above the rest to devise and execute a plan for creating a successful and competitive team. Jury is still out on Rosas being that person…
I must tell you that Minnesota is up north from where I live & far west, so to me it is North West, sorry to burst your bubble.
Hawks fans were frustrated and wanted bazemore gone too
Joe Ingles: PG, PF, whatever
Go Joe!