Blazers Sign Papagiannis Through 2018/19 Season
MARCH 18, 12:54pm: The Blazers have reached an agreement with Papagiannis that will run through 2018/19, the team announced on its website.
MARCH 17, 7:00pm: The Trail Blazers will sign center Georgios Papagiannis for the remainder of the regular season, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The 20-year-old signed a 10-day contract with Portland last week that was set to expire. The Blazers could have made another 10-day offer to the seven-footer, but are choosing to keep him on the roster throughout the season.
Papagiannis was the 13th player taken in the 2016 draft, but he had a lackluster rookie season with the Kings, appearing in just 22 games and averaging 5.6 points and 3.9 rebounds per night. He played 16 more games for Sacramento this season before being waived at the trade deadline to open a roster space.
Papagiannis hasn’t seen any playing time since joining the Trail Blazers.
Update On Blazers' Tax Situation
- After signing Wade Baldwin to a rest-of-season contract earlier this week, the Trail Blazers remain $232K below the luxury tax line, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). That means Portland can fill its 15th roster spot with another veteran without becoming a taxpaying team, which is good news if the Blazers want to add depth for the postseason.
Trail Blazers Sign Wade Baldwin To NBA Contract
2:50pm: The Trail Blazers have officially signed Baldwin, the team confirmed in a press release.
1:52pm: The Trail Blazers have filled the open spot on their 15-man roster, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that the club has signed Wade Baldwin to a rest-of-season, minimum-salary contract.
Baldwin, who will turn 22 later this month, signed a two-way contract with the Blazers back in October, shortly after he was waived by the Grizzlies. A thumb injury kept him on the shelf for several weeks near the start of the season, but he has since returned to the court and played well in the G League.
Because Portland doesn’t have a G League affiliate of its own, Baldwin has been playing for the Texas Legends, the Mavericks’ affiliate. In 17 games for the Legends, the former first-round pick has averaged 18.2 PPG, 5.1 APG, 4.5 RPG, and 2.2 SPG. He made his Blazers debut last Tuesday, playing three minutes in garbage time against the Knicks.
I wouldn’t expect Baldwin to become a key part of the Blazers’ rotation going forward, but he could see a little more action down the stretch, and his new contract will make him playoff-eligible.
Portland now has 16 players under contract in total — Baldwin will be the 14th on a standard, full-season NBA deal. The Blazers are also carrying Georgios Papagiannis on a 10-day contract and C.J. Wilcox on a two-way pact.
Jason Quick Profiles Evan Turner
- In an interesting piece for NBC Sports Northwest, Jason Quick takes an in-depth look at Trail Blazers swingman Evan Turner, who continues to grapple with how his $70MM contract has impacted fans’ expectations for – and perception of – him.
Northwest Notes: Rose, Collison, Lillard
Derrick Rose is officially a member of the Timberwolves and made his first comments since the signing was made official. Injuries have diminished Rose’s skill set and playing time in recent seasons and there are questions about how much he can realistically help Minnesota down the stretch.
Rose told reporters, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune, that he does not need validation from anybody about his playing level.
“I mean, this is how I feel about it, the whole perspective on it,” Rose said. “You can have your perspective on me, as far as I’m a bum, I can’t play, I can’t shoot, this and that. All right, cool. I have no hard feeling with that. I’m cool with that. If that’s how you feel, that’s how you feel. But at the same time, I don’t need your validation. Like, I know who I am. I know the type of player I am. You respect that and I respect that and we should be good.”
The 29-year-old never got on track with the Cavaliers this season, averaging 9.8 PPG and 1.8 RPG in just 16 games. However, he did appear in 64 games with the Knicks last year, averaging 18.0 PPG and 4.4 APG. Rose did not play on Thursday against the Celtics but is expected to play against the Warriors on Sunday.
Check out other Northwest Division notes below:
- Thunder big man Nick Collison has been with the organization since the 2004/05 season when the organization was still known as the Supersonics. As the current team prepares for the postseason, Collison said to former teammate and NBA Soundsystem host, Brent Barry, that consistency is Oklahoma City’s biggest issue, per Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman. “Like you know, the playoffs, every possession counts,” Collison said. “Consistency’s been an issue with us this year. But we do have a veteran group and we’ve played well against the best teams. So for us, just finding that consistency and being able to play possession by possession and being able to grind out some good solid basketball for a long time. If you want to make a run, you gotta play for two months. I think consistency’s huge for us.”
- Trail Blazers point guard Damian Lillard is enjoying another strong season and feels he should be in the conversation for Most Valuable Player, Sean Meagher of OregonLive.com writes. “I don’t see why I wouldn’t be mentioned,” Lillard said. “But obviously James Harden is having a special season and they’re the No. 1 team in the league right now. He’s been runner-up for a few years where I feel like he could have easily won it. What he’s doing individually, and what their team is doing, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the winner.”
Blazers Depth Sets Team Apart
The Trail Blazers have surged into third place in a wild Western Conference playoff race thanks largely to an impressive level of depth, Jason Quick of NBC Sports Northwest writes. On a nightly basis, Portland’s success can be at least partly attributed to team defense and solid performances from role players.
“In the past two years, when we went on great runs, it’s always been C.J. McCollum has a great stretch, or I have a great stretch,” lone Trail Blazers All-Star Damian Lillard said. “But now, it’s much more collective – both this season and during this run.”
LaMarcus Aldridge Talks Popovich Meeting, Extension, Lillard
In an in-depth feature for Vice Sports, Michael Pina profiled reticent Spurs star LaMarcus Aldridge, who suggests that he’s “probably one of the most misunderstood people” in the NBA. As Aldridge explains, he isn’t overly fond of new environments or being around a lot of new people, so he has a “little circle of three or four people that I’m close to” and can come off as standoff-ish to those who don’t know him.
Aldridge’s personality was believed to have played a part in his departure from Portland, and at times during the 2017 offseason, it looked like a departure from San Antonio was in the cards as well. However, a sitdown between Aldridge and head coach Gregg Popovich helped smooth things over, and the Spurs big man is currently enjoying one of the best seasons of his career.
Pina’s piece is worth checking out in full, but we’ve pulled a few of Aldridge’ more notable quotes about his meeting with Popovich, the contract extension he signed with the Spurs, and his history with former Trail Blazers teammate Damian Lillard. Let’s dive in…
On Aldridge’s meeting with Popovich and his reported trade request:
“To have a heart-to-heart with a coach about me not being able to be myself … I felt like I had to have that conversation. It was like, ‘This has to happen.’ It wasn’t about being nervous, it was about going about it the right way, making sure it was professional. Making sure I respected everything about him and the organization. I feel like the way I went about it and how I communicated my feelings, he listened to me. It was about figuring out how to do it in the right way so he doesn’t think I’m some arrogant punk just trying to cause problems.
“I think a lot got lost in translation (in media reports about his trade request). I didn’t go and say ‘Hey, I want out.’ It was like, ‘I can’t be the player you want me to be, so let me help you get that person because I respect you and the organization so much.’ That’s how it really went, but people took it and twisted it.”
On whether he doubted that he’d still be with the Spurs at this point:
“I knew some work had to be done. I wouldn’t say I doubted it, but I knew a lot of things had to be worked on and I took my responsibility and I went home and got healthy and worked hard and made sure I came back with the right mentality. Pop and the organization then did their thing to try and let me be myself. So I wouldn’t say I doubted it, but I knew a lot of things had to be done. I knew it was going to be tough.”
On how he ended up signing a contract extension with the Spurs last fall:
“[Agent Jeff Schwartz] was like, ‘They might think I’m bats**t crazy, but I’m gonna call them.’ I was like, ‘Go ahead.’ He made the call just to see if they were interested, and they were taken aback. But I think they could see in my body language and my demeanor that I was happier. I felt more comfortable. Both sides went back and forth until they got it done.”
On his relationship with Damian Lillard:
“I would say him and I have learned more about each other since I left that would’ve helped us when I was there, so I’ve learned from that and I’m trying to be better and not worry if I come off a certain way, because I feel like when people know who I am as a person, they know I have no ill will. I’m more reserved, so I didn’t want to come off as trying to stifle his shine. I just got back in the corner and let him do his thing … I feel like if him and I communicated as much then as we do now, then things would’ve been totally different.”
Trail Blazers Sign Georgios Papagiannis To 10-Day Deal
MARCH 8, 12:16pm: The signing is official, the Blazers announced on their website.
MARCH 6, 7:15pm: The Trail Blazers are signing center Georgios Papagiannis to a 10-day contract, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Kings waived Papagiannis on February 8 after completing a three-team trade with the Cavaliers and Jazz.
Papagiannis, 20, was one of the Kings’ first-round picks (13th overall) in the 2016 draft after the team traded down from the eighth overall pick. He struggled in 38 career games with Sacramento, averaging 4.2 PPG and 3.2 RPG; his field-goal percentage also took a hit this season, going from .549 to .415.
The 7’1″ center’s agent, Marios Olympios, criticized the Kings’ treatment of Papagiannis after he was waived. Olympios cited Papagiannis’ performance with the G League’s Reno Bighorns, where he averaged 13.5 PPG and 9.7 RPG in 10 contests, as a sign that can perform at a high level.
“He (Papagiannis) never got a chance by the Kings,” Olympios said on the Greek radio station Sport FM, Aris Barkas of Euro Hoops writes “He had a double-double every time he played in the G-League. He had to travel for two and a half hours everytime he was assigned to Reno and still he performed. There are many details that prove that he never got a real chance”.
Papagiannis figures to battle for playing time with the likes of Jusuf Nurkic, Ed Davis and Zach Collins present on the depth chart.
Neil Olshey Discusses Wide Array Of Topics In Podcast
- Trail Blazers president of basketball operations Neil Olshey discussed the Western Conference playoff race, the challenges of operating without a direct G League affiliate and the plan to add more talent around Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum in a podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Corey Brewer Signs With Thunder
MARCH 3: Brewer’s signing with the Thunder is official, per the NBA’s official transactions log.
MARCH 1, 10:39am: Brewer has committed to sign with the Thunder once he clears waivers, tweets Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports. Brewer talked to Oklahoma City coach Billy Donovan and GM Sam Presti and considered three Eastern Conference teams before deciding.
FEBRUARY 28, 6:50pm: Brewer is likely to sign with the Thunder after all, tweets ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The Lakers officially waived Brewer earlier today, meaning the veteran swingman will be free to sign a contract with Oklahoma City as early as Friday.
3:03pm: One source tells David Aldridge of TNT (Twitter link) that while the Thunder are definitely in the mix for Brewer, the veteran is more likely to land with an Eastern Conference team.
10:44am: Amick (via Twitter) adds the Jazz and Pelicans to the list of teams that could also be in the mix for Brewer, noting that several of the teams he has mentioned are also keeping an eye on the Trevor Booker situation in Philadelphia.
10:28am: The Lakers and veteran swingman Corey Brewer have reportedly reached an agreement on a buyout, which means he could become a free agent as soon as Friday. When Brewer does hit the open market, a deal with the Thunder is a “serious possibility,” according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
As Wojnarowski notes, the ex-Gator is likely to be drawn to Oklahoma City by the presence of his former coach at Florida, Billy Donovan, who is now the Thunder’s head coach. Even aside from the Donovan connection, Brewer would be a logical fit for OKC, since the team has been on the lookout for one more option on the wing since Andre Roberson‘s injury, tweets ESPN’s Royce Young.
While the Thunder may be the frontrunners for Brewer, he’ll talk to other teams too, per Wojnarowski. The 31-year-old is unlikely to rush his decision, according to Sam Amick of USA Today, who tweets that the Cavaliers, Wizards, Trail Blazers, and Bucks have also shown interest. Amick adds that Brewer – averaging a career-low 12.9 minutes per game this season – will be seeking a “legit role,” which figures to impact his decision.
Although several playoff teams have already been linked to Brewer, his mediocre outside shot (.280 career 3PT%) will limit his appeal to some contenders. For instance, he’s not likely to be a fit for the Raptors, notes Josh Lewenberg of TSN (Twitter link). Meanwhile, Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News tweets that Minnesota has “kicked the tires” on the former Timberwolf, but says not to count on a reunion.