Portland Trail Blazers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Martin, Howard, Green

February 18th, 2016 at 10:21pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Trail Blazers didn’t want to part with any of their young core of players at this year’s trade deadline, Joe Freeman of The Oregonian writes. “We went into the trade deadline trying to be opportunistic,” Portland president of basketball operations Neil Olshey told Freeman. “We wanted to gather assets. Clearly this group is really overachieving. There’s a lot of young guys that have a future and we wanted to make sure we were giving them the chance to win. We didn’t want to touch the core group of guys that have exceeded expectations. [Coach] Terry [Stotts] is comfortable with those guys, they’re doing what we need them to do on the court. But we need things in the future to continue to build the roster and that’s what we did today.”

There is a chance that the team will re-sign Tim Frazier, who was waived earlier today, Freeman adds. “Tim was a casualty. He’s been great for us,” Olshey said. “He’s great in the locker room, he’s close with our guys. We told him, ‘Look, if we don’t have an opportunity to add another player at your position, we would look at bringing you back if you clear waivers.’ I can’t speak to that right now. But at the time he was the most viable candidate to be waived to create the roster spot for Anderson Varejao.” Varejao was subsequently waived by Portland.

Here’s more from out West:

Timberwolves GM Milt Newton said the team hasn’t discussed a potential buyout arrangement with shooting guard Kevin Martin but added that it’s a conversation that will probably come up in the near future, Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune relays (on Twitter). Martin, who possesses a player option worth nearly $7.378MM for next season, was reportedly a trade deadline target of the Knicks, but the teams didn’t strike a deal. The 33-year-old has appeared in 35 games for Minnesota this season and is averaging 11.3 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 22.6 minutes per night.
The Grizzlies‘ players have let team management know that they don’t want newly acquired swingman Lance Stephenson waived, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports tweets.
Rockets GM Daryl Morey noted that the team never came close to trading center Dwight Howard, Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle relays (Twitter links). “It was going to have to take something significant to make us look at anything and even then we probably wouldn’t have,” Morey said. “Part of my job is I have to explore everything. We believe in James [Harden] and Dwight together.“
Numerous teams were interested in Howard, but any deal was contingent on the big man agreeing to opt in next season, something Howard wasn’t keen on, relays Marc Stein of ESPN.com. “Not surprisingly, as the deadline approached, several teams called stating they had worked out the trade parameters with Houston for a Dwight deal but were not prepared to give up their assets unless Dwight agreed to opt into the last year of his contract and forgo free agency. Dwight declined,” Dan Fegan, Howard’s agent, said.
Point guard Erick Green has officially rejoined the Reno Bighorns following the expiration of his second 10-day pact with the Jazz, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor relays (via Twitter). Reno is the D-League affiliate of the Kings.
The Jazz have assigned big man Tibor Pleiss to the Idaho Stampede, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. This will be Pleiss’ fourth stint in the D-League on the season.

Central Notes: Rubio, Forman, Harris

February 18th, 2016 at 9:30pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Bulls held off on making any major trade deadline moves because no offers significant enough to improve the team materialized, according to GM Gar Forman, K.C. Johnson of The Chicago Tribune relays. “We understand the frustrations. Up to this point, it has been a disappointing year,” Forman said. “We all realize — from ownership to the front office to the players to the coaching staff — we haven’t done as well as we thought we would do. We hold ourselves accountable that we haven’t met expectations. With that said, we certainly were not in any type of panic mode. We looked at the big picture. Obviously, the injuries that we’ve had have hurt. But that’s not the only reason. … We explored heavily and were very, very active with talks with a lot of teams. There wasn’t something we felt … significant enough to do something right now.”

Here’s the latest from the Central Division:

The Pistons believe that Tobias Harris is still on the rise as a player and that he will be able to help the franchise in a variety of ways, Keith Langlois of NBA.com writes. “The interesting thing is being able to look at what he was doing this season but going back to our free-agent preparation for the summer and the review of last year’s performance,” GM Jeff Bower told Langlois. “We feel that showed us a player with a variety of skills that can help a team in numerous ways. We also think that his play and the projection of his performance over the next five years is on a steady incline based on what we’re seeing and think he has a lot of room to grow as a player. We really like that this is a move that can be looked at as a long-term move as well as one that will fit with our core group of players and we’ll be able to keep them together due to contract certainty. Those are all pieces that were pretty important.”
The protected first round pick the Cavaliers sent to the Trail Blazers as part of the Channing Frye trade will become two second round picks if it is not conveyed in 2018 or 2019, Erik Gunderson of The Columbian relays (on Twitter).
The Bulls never attempted to trade power forward Pau Gasol, though the team did receive numerous inquiries about his availability, Forman insists, as Nick Friedell of ESPN.com notes (Twitter links). Forman also indicated that the team still hopes to re-sign center Joakim Noah, who will become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, Friedell adds.
Cavs GM David Griffin noted that the team had a deal in place with Frye when he was a free agent in 2014, but Cleveland couldn’t make the numbers work because it needed all of its cap space to sign LeBron James, Jason Lloyd of The Akron Beacon Journal tweets.
The Bucks made several attempts to pry point guard Ricky Rubio away from the Wolves but balked when Minnesota requested shooting guard Khris Middleton in return, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reports (Twitter link).

Blazers Waive Tim Frazier, Anderson Varejao

February 18th, 2016 at 5:00pm CST by Chuck Myron

5:00pm: Portland has waived Varejao, the team announced (on Twitter).

3:38pm: Frazier has officially been waived, the Trail Blazers announced.

12:29pm: The Trail Blazers will waive Tim Frazier to accommodate the trade acquisition of Anderson Varejao, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), and likely waive Varejao once the trade goes through, according to Vertical colleague Adrian Wojnarowski (on Twitter).

Frazier, 25, is earning $845,059 this season, the remainder of which Portland will still be on the hook for. The point guard has appeared in 35 games for the Blazers this season, including one start. He averaged 1.5 points, 1.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 7.8 minutes per contest.

Originally inked as an unrestricted free agent last March, Frazier posted averages of 1.9 points, 1.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 8.5 minutes in parts of two seasons with the Trail Blazers.

Cavaliers Consider Trading Anderson Varejao

February 17th, 2016 at 9:43pm CST by Arthur Hill

9:43pm: The Magic aren’t interested in taking on Varejao’s contract, but they are thinking about sending Frye to Cleveland for a trade exception, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. The Cavaliers have a $10.5MM exception — enough to absorb Frye’s $8.2MM salary — they got from trading Brendan Haywood to the Blazers last summer. However, the Cavs don’t want to add Frye unless they can offload Varejao somehow, Wojnarowski writes.

Orlando is growing tired of waiting for a decision from the Clippers, who say they need until Thursday morning to decide whether to give up Lance Stephenson, C.J. Wilcox and a second-round pick in exchange for Frye, Wojnarowski reports.

Varejao still has two years and nearly $19MM in guaranteed money remaining on his contract. Wojnarowski confirms that Cleveland is looking for a teams with cap space like Philadelphia or Portland to take Varejao in a three-team deal. The third team could expect to get cash and draft picks in return. If the Cavaliers were to take on Frye’s contract without getting rid of Varejao’s, it would push their estimated luxury tax bill from $61MM to nearly $96MM.

L.A. has been looking at other trades to get rid of Stephenson’s contract, which pays him $9MM this year and $9.4MM next season, Wojnarowski reports. If the Orlando deal goes through, the Magic are expected to waive or trade him.

7:04pm: The Magic don’t plan to accept Cleveland’s offer of Varejao for Frye, tweets Sam Amick of USA Today.

6:17pm: Cleveland has offered Varejao to Orlando in exchange for stretch four Channing Frye, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The Cavaliers are hoping to trump reported trade talks between the Magic and Clippers.

4:17pm: The Cavaliers are considering a deal involving veteran power forward Anderson Varejao, tweets Frank Isola of The New York Daily News. He mentions the Blazers and Sixers as possible trade partners.

Varejao has been with Cleveland for his entire 12-year NBA career. He has appeared in just 31 games this season and is averaging 2.6 points and 2.9 rebounds in 10 minutes of playing time.

Varejao is signed through the 2017/18 season. He makes $9,638,554 this year and is due to get $10,361,446 in 2016/17, but only $9,361,446 of that is guaranteed. His $10MM salary for 2017/18 is non-guaranteed, but he will receive a $4.5MM guarantee if he is on a roster through August 1st of next year. Varejao’s contract includes a 5% trade kicker.

A Varejao deal could be connected to a rumored swap for the Pelicans’ Ryan Anderson that Isola also reported. Only the Blazers have enough cap room to take on Varejao without worrying about the league’s salary-matching rules.

Northwest Notes: Miller, Durant, Blazers

February 14th, 2016 at 1:58pm CST by Will Joseph

There is one team inquiring about Wolves veteran point guard Andre Miller, Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities hears (on Twitter). While it is unclear which team that is, Wolfson rules out the Kings, despite Sacramento coach George Karl‘s relationship with Miller. At 39 years old, Miller has played sparingly this season and likely would not return much for the Wolves. It is reasonable to think Miller would be part of a bigger package for that reason, but I speculate the Wolves are motivated to move Miller to allow rookie Tyus Jones to play more.

Here’s more out of the Northwest Division:

Steve Novak is a potential trade chip for the Thunder because of his expiring contract, Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports writes in one of his latest deadline primers. Expiring contracts, however, are not as valuable as they have been in previous years because of the salary cap’s expected rise, as Marks points out.
That’s another reason why the Thunder would much rather prefer to have Kevin Durant than the expected $19MM in cap space this summer if Durant signs elsewhere and team decides against bringing back restricted free agent Dion Waiters, Marks adds in the same piece.
Speaking of Durant, Draymond Green told Sam Amick of USA Today Sports (audio link) that although the star players are friends, Green will not be trying to recruit Durant to sign with the Warriors this summer during the rest of All-Star weekend (h/t Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman).
With close to $20MM in cap space, the Blazers are in position to take on contracts with the goal of obtaining a future pick or significant asset and thus should be viewed as a sleeper team at the deadline, Marks writes in his look at Portland.

Western Notes: Green, Rockets, McDaniels, Lillard

February 6th, 2016 at 10:58pm CST by Arthur Hill

Erick Green won’t mind missing the D-League All-Star Game next week after signing a second 10-day contract with the Jazz, writes Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune. Green has only seen nine minutes of playing time in three games with Utah, but the 6’3″ guard has managed to impress coach Quin Snyder. “We felt like he’s done everything we’ve asked of him and the minutes that he has played he’s played pretty good,” Snyder said. “Some of it is a question of we’ve had a couple situations where guys are getting bumped and banged up a little bit and we feel good about what he brings.”

There’s more from the Western Conference:

Today’s lopsided loss to the Blazers is the latest evidence that the Rockets need a complete makeover, according to Calvin Watkins of ESPN.com. Houston is 27-26 a year after reaching the Western Conference finals, and there have been rumblings for some time that changes are needed. The Rockets are over the luxury tax threshold and facing a hard cap, so GM Daryl Morey is limited in what he can do.
The Rockets have assigned K.J. McDaniels to their D-League affiliate in Rio Grande Valley, the team tweeted today.
New teammates surround the Blazers‘ Damian Lillard this year, but the move that bothers him most is LaMarcus Aldridge‘s decision to sign with the Spurs, according to Sam Amick of USA Today. “I would have loved nothing more than to have him back,” Lillard said of Aldridge. “To have another All-Star on the team was good for me. I was happy with it. I reached out to him a bunch of times [before and during free agency], but I think he had got to the point where he thought maybe the organization was choosing me over him. And to this day, I still tell people that it’s not my team, it’s [owner] Paul Allen’s team, and I was willing to be the best complement I could to LaMarcus Aldridge. I expressed that to him multiple times, but I think it just came down to him being ready to move on to a new situation.” Portland lost four of its starters over the offseason, with Wesley Matthews signing with the Mavericks, Robin Lopez signing with the Knicks and Nicolas Batum being traded to the Hornets.

Western Notes: Howard, Pecherov, Simmons

February 4th, 2016 at 9:32pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Rockets center Dwight Howard has heard the trade rumors regarding himself, but insists that he isn’t concerned about his immediate future, Frank Isola of The New York Daily News relays. “There’s always going into be rumors and speculation,” Howard said. “I don’t want to pay attention to it. I didn’t say it. What can I do? There’s nothing I can say. Teams are going to say what they have to say. It doesn’t matter what I say. I’m here now. I’m a Rocket. That’s the only thing that matters. People are always going to have rumors and say certain things. It doesn’t matter. It’s just a distraction. Nobody thinks about that stuff. I know my mind is on trying to get better every day. I feel like I was in a good stretch and got hurt. I’m going to try to get back. That’s my mindset. We don’t sit around and talk about what’s going to happen next year because that means you’re really not in it. You don’t want to have those thoughts.”

Here’s more from out West:

Nuggets camp cut Oleksiy Pecherov has signed with the Lebanese team Sagesse, Orazio Cauchi of Sportando reports. Pecherov, 29, has been out of the NBA since the 2009/10 campaign when he appeared in 44 games for the Timberwolves. The center has career NBA averages of 3.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.2 blocks to go along with a slash line of .386/.290/.793.
Based on the Spurs‘ track record of developing players, the team should think twice about trading away Jonathon Simmons and Kyle Anderson in any potential deals, as both have reasonably high upsides, Bobby Marks of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports opines in his trade deadline primer for San Antonio.
Blazers big man Ed Davis says he has found a home in the NBA for himself in Portland and admits he had some maturing to do after a difficult experience being buried on the Grizzlies bench during the 2013/14 campaign, writes Jason Quick of CSNNW.com in his profile of the player. “I think I grew up quicker after that,’’ Davis said. “I didn’t carry myself as well as I should have when I was there. I wish I would have communicated more with coach [Dave] Joerger. I never got into it with him – was never suspended, fined or had a skirmish in the locker room – but I wish I would have been more outspoken, like asking him what was going on, and what did he expect from me.’’

Western Notes: Pierce, Martin, Bass, Batum

February 1st, 2016 at 4:45pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Clippers signed Paul Pierce to a three-year deal in the offseason, but the 38-year-old has shown the ravages of age this season, and coach/executive Doc Rivers admits the team’s maintenance plan for him isn’t foolproof, as Dan Woike of the Orange County Register examines. Pierce hasn’t ruled out retirement after the season.

“It has to be [hard for him],” Rivers said. “You could see he didn’t have great rhythm tonight and he didn’t practice and he takes the days off. Again, it’s an imperfect science. I think at the end of the year it will be great for him because now the rhythm will start and he’ll start playing, but I really don’t know. I’m just trying to do the best with him so we can preserve him.”

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

Some teams with interest in trading with the Timberwolves for Kevin Martin would prefer that he picks up his player option worth nearly $7.378MM for next season, but a larger and more seriously intrigued bunch of teams wants him to turn down the option, as Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders hears. The same is true among suitors for Lakers power forward Brandon Bass, who has a $3.135MM player option, Kyler adds.
Soon-to-be free agent Nicolas Batum said after Friday’s game that he “loved” playing for the Trail Blazers, but Portland’s victory over the Hornets, in which Batum struggled, was in large measure about the Blazers moving past Batum and the other players the team didn’t bring back from last season, as The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman details. The Charlotte swingman was the last of the four former Blazers starters to play a game with his new team in Portland.
The Rockets have recalled Donatas Motiejunas and K.J. McDaniels from the D-League, the team announced (Twitter link). Motiejunas, set for restricted free agency at season’s end, gave his consent to the D-League trip as a rehab assignment, and he said he’ll again join Houston’s affiliate later in the week, notes Mark Berman of Fox 26 Houston (on Twitter). Motiejunas has three previous years of experience, so the Rockets need his permission as well as the union’s to send him to the D-League.

Northwest Notes: Batum, Malone, Singler

January 29th, 2016 at 2:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

Nicolas Batum‘s former Trail Blazers teammates Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum have fond memories of the small forward whom Portland traded to the Hornets this past summer, and Batum admits it will be “weird” Friday when Charlotte plays at Portland, The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman observes. Batum is a free agent at season’s end, and the Blazers will have plenty of cap space this summer, but there’s been no talk of a reunion.

“He was a really good teammate,” Lillard said. “I always remember my rookie year and my second year, when it would get to five minutes or less in the game, he would always come tap me on my back and be like, ‘Dame, it’s your time. Take over the game.’ Just being so young and having somebody who’s been a part of this team come to me and have that much confidence, that always meant a lot to me. He was always that type of person. He was unselfish. Just a good dude to play with.”

See more from the Northwest Division:

Michael Malone still stings from having been fired from the Kings in 2014, but he’s fully engaged with the Nuggets and he and former Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro, who was Malone’s boss at the time of the firing and is now in the Nuggets front office, don’t feel any “angst or hate” toward one another, Malone tells Michael Lee of Yahoo Sports.
Thunder coach Billy Donovan has said repeatedly that he’s a fan of what Kyle Singler can do on defense with his 6’8″ body, and the absence of the injured Andre Roberson will challenge Singler to live up to the five-year, $24.3MM deal he signed this past summer, observes Erik Horne of The Oklahoman.
Tyus Jones hasn’t played in 12 consecutive games for the Timberwolves, but he’s not complaining, and he prefers sitting on the bench and getting practice reps with his NBA teammates to playing on D-League assignment, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune details. The rookie spent much of December with the Jazz D-League affiliate.

Keith Bogans Joins Knicks D-League Team

January 29th, 2016 at 11:30am CST by Eddie Scarito

JANUARY 29TH, 11:30am: The Knicks affiliate has added Bogans, the team announced (Twitter link). Bogans signed with the club after he went unclaimed via D-League waivers, according to Marc Stein of ESPN.com (on Twitter).

JANUARY 27TH, 4:35pm: Bogans has signed with the D-League and is now subject to its waiver process, Reichert tweets.

JANUARY 14TH, 5:02pm: Veteran shooting guard Keith Bogans intends to sign with the NBA D-League in the near future, Chris Reichert of Upside & Motor relays (on Twitter). Bogans, once he officially signs, will be subject to the league’s waiver process to determine which team he will play for.

The 35-year-old last appeared in an NBA regular season game during the 2013/14 campaign when he made six appearances for the Celtics, averaging 2.0 points in 9.2 minutes of action per contest. Bogans’ career numbers through 11 NBA campaigns are 6.3 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists to accompany a slash line of .394/.353/.716.

Bogans was on the Blazers’ summer league roster this past offseason, though he failed to impress, averaging just 0.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists while shooting an abysmal 11.1% from the field, which likely explains why he didn’t secure a training camp invite. Joining the D-League is likely the best course for the veteran if he hopes to land a 10-day contract in the NBA this season, though he will certainly need to perform better than he did over the summer if he hopes to garner any NBA interest.