Portland Trail Blazers Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Western Notes: Afflalo, McAdoo, Abrines

April 10th, 2015 at 8:15pm CST by Eddie Scarito

An MRI performed on Trail Blazers guard Arron Afflalo confirmed that he has suffered a right shoulder strain, the team announced. Afflalo is expected to be out of action for one to two weeks, and if that timetable holds, the injury will likely cause the guard to miss Portland’s opening round playoff series. With the team already without Wesley Matthews, who is out for the season with a torn left Achilles, losing Afflalo puts a major dent in the team’s postseason hopes. In 25 games for the Blazers since being acquired from Denver the 29-year-old has averaged 10.6 points and 2.7 rebounds in 30.1 minutes per contest.

Here’s more from around the Western Conference:

The Warriors have assigned James Michael McAdoo to the Santa Cruz Warriors, their D-League affiliate, the team announced. McAdoo has appeared in 33 games for Santa Cruz this season, averaging 19.5 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 32.8 minutes per contest.
Alex Abrines, a draft-and-stash prospect for the Thunder, in an interview with Gigantes.com (translation by HoopsHype.com) said that he isn’t ready to make the jump to the NBA just yet. The 21-year-old swingman was the No. 32 overall selection in the 2013 NBA draft, and he is under contract with Barcelona through 2016.
Timberwolves‘ rookies Zach LaVine and Andrew Wiggins have learned much about what it takes to make it through the rigors of an NBA season, and the pair hope to take the momentum that they have gained into the summer to continue their development as players, Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune writes.

Northwest Notes: Leonard, Batum, Hood

April 10th, 2015 at 2:29pm CST by Chuck Myron

Former lottery pick Meyers Leonard appears to have turned a corner for the Trail Blazers, as Joe Freeman of The Oregonian details. That’s fortunate timing for him, as the client of recently hired agent Aaron Mintz is eligible for a rookie scale extension this summer, though usually such extensions are the domain of budding stars, like Damian Lillard, who also becomes extension-eligible in July. In any case, it’ll be an active summer for the Blazers, with LaMarcus Aldridge headlining several key free agents on the team, which has yet to commit any money for 2016/17, when the salary cap is set to spike. Here’s more on the Blazers and their Northwest Division rivals:

Nicolas Batum is still friendly with Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor, but while Batum sometimes thinks about what might have been if the Blazers hadn’t matched the offer sheet he signed with Minnesota in 2012, he tells Freeman, who writes in a separate piece, that he’s “very happy” in Portland. Then-Wolves coach Rick Adelman, since retired, was the main reason he wanted to play in Minnesota, Batum added. The small forward will be on an expiring contract next season.
It took a while for Rodney Hood to start to see consistent playing time, but last year’s 23rd overall pick is looking like a steal lately, as Ryan McDonald of The Deseret News writes in a look at the improvement that he and fellow Jazz first-rounder Dante Exum have made over the season. Hood is averaging 14.3 points in 27.0 minutes per game with 39.0% three-point shooting since March 10th.
Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman offers a peek behind the scenes at the Thunder front office, where a team of GM Sam Presti‘s hand-picked contributors work in a collaborative environment.

Protected 2015 Second-Rounders Up For Grabs

April 6th, 2015 at 5:28pm CST by Chuck Myron

The regular season ends a week from Wednesday, and by now most of the playoff spots and non-lottery draft order have been decided. A team’s place in the draft order can mean a lot when there are protections attached to a pick that’s been sent out in a trade. There are two first-round picks that could change hands or stay put based on the final days of the regular season, as we chronicled last week, and there are also second-round picks still up in the air. The protection clauses attached to some of them are complex, so we’ll dive in and analyze each of the three cases individually:

The Clippers owe their second-round pick to the Lakers if it falls from No. 51 through 55 and the Nuggets if it’s 56th through 60th. The Clips can’t finish with a record outside of the top 10 in the league, which they’d need to do to keep the pick. Still, whether it goes to the Lakers or the Nuggets is anybody’s guess. It would go to the Nuggets as it stands, but the Clippers are only a half-game better than the Spurs, with the Blazers and Cavs right behind them. So if any of those teams passes the Clippers, the pick goes to the Lakers.
The Wizards owe their pick to the Celtics, but only if it falls from No. 50 to No. 60. Washington would pick 49th if the season ended today, but the Raptors are only one game better, and the Mavericks and Bulls are tied at one game above Toronto. So, while the Wizards could improve their playoff seeding, it could cost them their second-rounder. Washington’s obligation to the Celtics would end if the pick doesn’t convey this year, so it all comes down to the final games of the season.
The Trail Blazers and Bulls will be giving up their second-rounders this year, but the teams that get those respective picks could switch places. The Magic get whichever pick is better, and the Cavaliers get the other one. Chances are that Chicago’s pick will be going to Orlando and Portland’s to Cleveland, since the Blazers have a four and a half game lead on Chicago. Still, the Bulls aren’t mathematically eliminated from passing the Blazers just yet.

RealGM was used in the creation of this post.

2015/16 Salary Commitments: Trail Blazers

April 3rd, 2015 at 9:27pm CST by Eddie Scarito

With the NBA trade deadline passed, teams are focusing on locking down playoff spots or vying for a better chance in the draft lottery. Outside of the players who are added on 10-day deals, or those lucky enough to turn those auditions into long-term contracts, teams’ rosters are relatively set for the remainder of the season.

We at Hoops Rumors are in the process of taking a look ahead at each franchise’s salary cap situation heading into the summer, and the free agent frenzy that occurs every offseason. While the exact amount of the 2015/16 salary cap won’t be announced until July, the cap is projected to come in somewhere around $67.4MM, with the luxury tax threshold projected at approximately $81MM. This year’s $63.065MM cap represented an increase of 7.7% over 2013/14, which was well above the league’s projected annual increase of 4.5%.

We’ll continue onward by taking a look at the Blazers’ cap outlook for 2015/16…

Here are the players with guaranteed contracts:

Nicolas Batum — $12,235,750
Meyers Leonard — $3,075,880
Damian Lillard — $4,236,287
C.J. McCollum — $2,525,160

Here are the players with non-guaranteed contracts:

Allen Crabbe — $947,276
Tim Frazier — $845,069
Chris Kaman — $5,016,000 ($1MM Guaranteed)

Players with options:

Arron Afflalo (Player Option) — $7,750,000
Steve Blake (Player Option) — $2,170,465

The Blazers’ Cap Summary for 2015/16:

Guaranteed Salary: $23,073,077
Options/Non-Guaranteed Salary: $15,728,810
Total: $38,801,887

The Basketball Insiders salary pages were used in the creation of this post.

Northwest Notes: Aldridge, Durant, Contracts

April 1st, 2015 at 5:30pm CST by Chuck Myron

LaMarcus Aldridge feels as though the Blazers didn’t always support him the way they do now, as he explains to Michael Lee of The Washington Post. The soon-to-be free agent, who pledged this past summer to re-sign with the Blazers in the offseason ahead, wonders what it would have been like if he felt they were behind him for his entire career, and if the team still finds him expendable on some level.

“It’s bittersweet,” Aldridge said of his ascendance to a superstar level with the Blazers. “I think God has a plan for everybody. Maybe my plan wasn’t to be loved right away. My role was a little tougher than other franchise players, but it happens. I think it helped me build character and not take anything for granted. I know that I had to really earn it, so it makes me appreciative. It also makes me wonder how easily they can move on, too.”

Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:

Kevin Durant recently said perhaps his most encouraging words to date for the Thunder regarding his free agency in 2016, but the matter of which team he’ll sign with remains far from decided, observes Ken Berger of CBSSports.com.
The three year, minimum salary deals that Chris Johnson and Jack Cooley inked with the Jazz contain no guaranteed salaries beyond this season, Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reports (Twitter link).
Tim Frazier‘s two year deal with the Blazers calls for him to make $845,069 for the 2015/16 campaign, and includes no guaranteed salary beyond this season, Pincus tweets.

Eddie Scarito contributed to this post.

Western Notes: Durant, Kanter, Frazier, Kings

March 31st, 2015 at 10:53pm CST by Charlie Adams

Rumors are already suggesting that Kevin Durant might be eyeing an exit from Oklahoma City in the summer of 2016, but the reigning MVP spoke out and expressed an interest in spending the rest of his career with the Thunder, as Royce Young of ESPN.com transcribes.

“I love it here, man. I love my teammates, I love the city, I don’t really think about anywhere else,” Durant told Revolt TV. “I love staying in the moment, and I’m one of those guys that would love to stick it out with one team my whole career; Kobe [Bryant], Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzki type. That’s awesome. But you never know what the future holds sometimes and how teams may feel about you after a while, but I love it here and I would love to get my jersey retired here.”

While Durant’s comments are far from a guarantee that he’ll stick around in OKC for life, they certainly must provide a level of comfort for Thunder fans who have seen reports linking KD to several different clubs. We’ve got more on the bunch from Oklahoma City in tonight’s look out west:

The candid way in which Enes Kanter has spoken about the Jazz since Utah traded him to the Thunder at the deadline has some executives wondering if the big man will be able to land a lucrative new deal this summer as a restricted free agent, according to Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders. Concerns about his attitude coupled with his less-than-stellar defense might scare some teams off, the executive suggests.
Tim Frazier will have a chance to remain with the Blazers beyond this season, hears Joe Freeman of the Oregonian, who says Portland’s latest addition will get the opportunity to appear with the team in training camp next fall. However, it’s unclear if Frazier has a non-guaranteed year tacked on to his deal or if he’s merely a just lock to garner an invite to camp before next season begins.
Chris Mullin’s recent departure from the Kings organization isn’t a total shock, given that Mullin opposed the pursuit of George Karl, hoping he could land Sacramento’s vacant coaching position himself, as Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee observes. If Kings GM Pete D’Alessandro can’t mesh with Vlade Divac, the team’s new VP of basketball operations, D’Alessandro might not be long for the organization either, Voisin writes.
Holly Mackenzie of Triangle Offense chronicles Brandon Knight’s evolution as a player and steps through the series of events that brought him to the Suns. Knight is poised for a significant raise as a restricted free agent this summer, Mackenzie believes.

Blazers Sign Tim Frazier For Rest Of Season

March 30th, 2015 at 8:34pm CST by Chuck Myron

8:34pm: Portland has officially inked Frazier for the remainder of the season, the team announced.

4:14pm: The Blazers are planning to sign point guard Tim Frazier to a deal that covers the rest of the season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. Portland has an open roster spot, so a corresponding move wouldn’t be necessary. The D-League just named Frazier its Player of the Week for his performance with the Celtics affiliate.

The 24-year-old was with Boston’s NBA club for the preseason on a non-guaranteed contract, but the Celtics let him go before opening night. The idea was to secure his D-League rights, but the Blazers appear poised to become the second team other than the Celtics to bring him back to the NBA this season. The Sixers gave Frazier a pair of 10-day contracts in February, but they terminated the last one before it ended to accommodate their waiver claim of former Blazer Thomas Robinson. That was in spite of Frazier’s 7.2 assists in 28.6 minutes per game over six appearances, three of them starts, for the Sixers.

Frazier went back to the D-League after Philadelphia let him go, and the first-year pro who went undrafted out of Penn State this past summer continued toward averages of 16.1 points, 9.5 assists and 3.3 turnovers in 35.6 minutes per game for the Maine Red Claws. He doesn’t appear in line for much playing time in Portland, where Damian Lillard and Steve Blake man the point, unless the team is planning on resting Lillard down the stretch of the regular season. I’d imagine there’s a non-guaranteed or partially guaranteed salary for next season included as part of the arrangement, but that’s just my speculation.

Northwest Notes: Clark, Hunt, Leonard

March 30th, 2015 at 5:41pm CST by Chuck Myron

Ian Clark is on an expiring contract, but the Nuggets didn’t claim him off waivers on Saturday simply with the hopes of having him around for the last few weeks of the season, according to Christopher Dempsey of The Denver Post. The shooting guard says he’ll be in summer league with Denver, a hint that there’s mutual interest between the sides in a more formal new deal. Denver can match any offers that Clark receives from other NBA teams this summer if it extends a qualifying offer of about $1.147MM. Here’s more from around the Northwest Division:

Nuggets interim coach Melvin Hunt is a popular and well-liked figure around the league and shares a longstanding connection with Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey, who nearly hired him for Utah this past offseason, as Dempsey details in a separate piece. Hunt wasn’t widely mentioned as a candidate for Utah’s head coaching job, so presumably Lindsey was talking about an assistant’s position, but that’s not entirely clear.
Meyers Leonard is hiring the Creative Artists Agency for his representation ahead of the offseason, when he’ll be eligible for a rookie scale extension, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. The Blazers big man had been with Excel Sports Management and Jeff Schwartz.
It’s a critical summer ahead for the Thunder and GM Sam Presti, who have one last full offseason of roster construction before Kevin Durant‘s contract runs out, as SB Nation’s Tom Ziller examines. The majority of Hoops Rumors readers who voted in Friday’s poll believe the Thunder should look to make significant changes around Durant this summer.

Western Rumors: Lin, Nuggets, Matthews

March 23rd, 2015 at 9:24pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jeremy Lin will start the remainder of the season but it probably won’t affect the Lakers’ decision whether to re-sign the veteran point guard, according to Bill Oram of the Orange County Register. Oram writes that many people around the league believe it’s a given that Lin, who will be an unrestricted free agent after the season, will sign elsewhere. Coach Byron Scott told Lakers beat reporters that the team’s draft choices will affect Lin’s chances of returning. “It’s just a matter of what happens in the draft and everything else that determines what we’re going to do with the free agent market,” Scott said.

In other news around the Western Conference:

Interim coach Melvin Hunt has taken an upbeat approach to improve the Nuggets, Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders reports. Hunt has used positive reinforcement to inspire his players, a stark contrast to predecessor Brian Shaw, who often criticized players in his postgame press conferences, Kyler continues. Ty Lawson told Kyler that he appreciated the change in philosophy. “He is giving everybody confidence,” Lawson said. “He is a very upbeat person. I think he just wants everybody to succeed; you feel it when he walks into the room and when he talks to us. He has us all on the same page, that’s helping us out right now.”
Wesley Matthews‘ season-ending Achilles injury has had a major impact on the Trail Blazers’ defense, Mike Richman of The Oregonian writes. Portland has gone 3-5 since Matthews suffered the injury and its defense has ranked 27th in defensive efficiency in those games, allowing 110.5 points per 100 possessions, Richman notes. The Blazers were No. 3 in that category up to that point, Richman adds. While all of the Blazers’ defensive problems cannot be attributed to Matthews’ absence, backcourt partner Damian Lillard tells Richman that he definitely sees a difference. “His ability to lock guys up defensively and kind of spark us at that end of the floor,” Lillard said of what the team is lacking. “His passion. Just the fire that he brought to our team is something that we definitely miss.”
Jazz coach Quin Snyder is less concerned about making the playoffs than showing improvement the remainder of the season, Ryan McDonald of the Deseret News reports. Utah has made a late run but Snyder isn’t worried about wins and losses, McDonald adds. “I don’t think playoff awareness is necessarily going to improve our play as much as a focus on game to game, moment to moment,” Snyder said.

This Date In Transactions History: Gerald Wallace

March 15th, 2015 at 5:13pm CST by Zachary Links

On this date three years ago, the Nets paid a hefty price to give star guard Deron Williams some additional help. New Jersey, gearing up for their long-anticipated move to Brooklyn, acquired Gerald Wallace in exchange for Mehmet Okur, Shawne Williams, and a top-three protected 2012 pick. Of course, the trade deadline is typically weeks earlier than March 15th, but the cutoff was pushed up in the 2011/12 season thanks to the NBA lockout, which resulted in an abbreviated 66-game season.

While Crash still had a great deal to offer talent-wise, the deal raised some eyebrows for a lot of people from the Nets’ perspective. For starters, Wallace held a $9.5MM player option for the following season and, theoretically, this trade could have amounted to a ~20 game rental for the Nets, who were certainly not headed to the postseason. Not only were the Nets not playoff bound, but they had the sixth-worst record in the league at 15-29, so they were giving away a highly valuable asset in their first-round pick, even though it was top-three protected. On the plus side, GM Billy King managed to shed Okur’s expiring $10.89MM contract and avoid Williams exercising his $3.1MM option for the following year.

In the offseason, Wallace would decline his player option and the two sides instead inked a brand new four-year, $40MM pact. While Wallace became a fan favorite with his hard-nosed style of play, it was clear that his approach to the game wasn’t the best thing when it came to his longevity. In the following season, Wallace averaged 7.7 PPG (his lowest posting since 2003/04) with an 11.6 PER that put him well below the league average. The Nets finished the 2012/13 season with 49 wins, but they were sent packing early when the Bulls knocked them off in the opening round of the playoffs. Months after that, just one year after the small forward signed that lucrative new deal with the Nets, Wallace was shipped to the Celtics in the blockbuster deal that would bring Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce to the Barclays Center. Later on, as a member of the C’s, Wallace would comment on how that deal was also ill-fated.

“It was one of those stories of a get-rich-quick scheme. You either hit it big or you don’t,” Wallace said, according to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News. “They took a gamble. It backfired.”

The Blazers, in essence, took advantage of the Nets’ desperation to fast forward their timetable for contention while taking on very little ($3.5MM thanks to Williams’ option) in future salary. That first round pick from the Nets gave Portland the No. 6 overall choice in the 2012 draft, which they used to select guard Damian Lillard. The pride of Weber State shot up draft boards in the weeks leading up to the draft and he has obviously proven to be worth the hype. Lillard has blossomed into a two-time All-Star and one of the very best point guards in the NBA today. Meanwhile, the Nets have watched Deron Williams decline sharply just three years after signing him to a five-year, ~$100MM deal.