LaMarcus Aldridge Denies Asking For Trade
Back in July, Blazers fans got a jolt when LaMarcus Aldridge's reps reportedly met with GM Neil Olshey to discuss trade possibilities. While it appeared from the outside that the All-Star forward was entirely unhappy with his situation in Portland, Aldridge tells Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link) that isn't quite the case.
"I wasn't ready to make a move yet. I was just frustrated in the moment. I haven't given Neil (Olshey) a chance yet," Aldridge explained.
At the time of the report, talks apparently got serious between the new GM and a number of clubs. However, the Bulls, Timberwolves, Clippers, Hawks and Pelicans declined to include Joakim Noah, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin, Al Horford and Anthony Davis, respectively, in any deal for Aldridge. The big man's salary could have something to do with it – he's owed $14.628MM this season and $15.756MM in 2014/15.
Earlier today, we asked Hoops Rumors readers if the Blazers are playoff bound in 2013/14 and opinions were more or less split.
Poll: Will The Blazers Make The Playoffs?
Dorell Wright is one of the newest members of the Blazers and he's understandably excited about his fresh surroundings. How stoked is the 27-year-old sharpshooter? He says that the Blazers can be a playoff team this season in the ulta-competitive Western Conference.
"Yeah, why not?” Wright told Alex Kennedy of HoopsWorld. “We’ve got the guys. We’ve got a star point guard that can be an All-Star next year. LaMarcus Aldridge was an All-Star last year, and you’ve got guys around them like [Nic] Batum and Wes Matthews that are solid players as well.”
A team headlined by a sophomore Damian Lillard, Aldridge, and Batum can undeniably do some damage. The Blazers also bolstered their second unit – a definite weakness last season – by adding Wright, Mo Williams, No. 10 overall pick C.J. McCollum, Thomas Robinson, Earl Watson, and Allen Crabbe. Wright, who is among the best shooters in the Association, should be a major help to Portland after they finished 20th in three point field goal percentage (35.3%) in 2012/13.
The case against the Blazers, of course, is the rest of the field. The fact of the matter is, there just aren't a lot of openings for a team like Portland – certainly good, but definitely not great – in this year's Western Conference. Barring something unforeseen, one has to imagine that the Spurs, Thunder, Rockets, Clippers, Grizzlies, and Warriors are going to the postseason. That leaves quality teams like the Timberwolves, Nuggets, Mavs, Lakers, (the dramatically improved) Pelicans, and Blazers to duke it out for the final two seeds. Is Dorell delusional or is he Wright on the money?
Will The Blazers Make The Playoffs?
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Yes 53% (247)
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No 47% (223)
Total votes: 470
Blazers Expected To Cut Terrel Harris
The Trail Blazers reportedly added one player to their training camp roster today, but will likely remove another non-guaranteed contract from their books within the next month. According to Joe Freeman of the Oregonian, the Blazers are expected to waive Terrel Harris before camp gets underway.
Harris, 26, has played for Miami and New Orleans after the past two seasons, and was included for salary purposes in the three-way deal that sent Tyreke Evans to the Pelicans, Greivis Vasquez to the Kings, and Robin Lopez to the Blazers. Considering Harris was already a throw-in for cap purposes, it seemed reasonable to assume that he'd by cut by Portland — that possibility became even more likely when the NBA announced Harris would be suspended for violating the league's drug policy.
Assuming the Blazers do release Harris, it shouldn't have an impact on the outlook of the regular-season roster. With or without Harris, the team has 15 players on guaranteed contracts, so he would have been a long shot to earn a roster spot even if he had remained with the Blazers through camp and the preseason.
Blazers Notes: Lillard, Aldridge, Roster Building
In his latest piece for Grantland.com, Zach Lowe focuses on the Trail Blazers, and the path of the franchise that hasn't gotten past the first round of the postseason since 1999/2000. As Lowe writes, Portland is aiming to follow in the footsteps of teams like the Rockets or Pacers, going from mediocre to great without bottoming out or taking on big, long-term contracts for veterans. Here are a few of the highlights from the column:
- Several rival executives who are pessimistic about the ceiling of the Blazers' core of Damian Lillard, Nicolas Batum, and LaMarcus Aldridge believe that a full-fledged rebuild, 76ers-style, would be in the team's best interest, says Lowe. However, owner Paul Allen isn't interested that approach.
- "Paul Allen has never wanted to rebuild," said GM Neil Olshey. "He does not want to take three steps backward in order to take four steps forward. So we decided we were just going to have one foot in, and one foot out." Olshey's "foot in" involves bolstering the bench enough that the Blazers should compete for a playoff spot, while the "foot out" means maintaining enough long-term flexibility that the team will have max cap space in 2015.
- Lowe wonders if the young "upside" pieces on Portland's roster would be enough to eventually land a star, in the same way the Celtics acquired Kevin Garnett or the Rockets snagged James Harden. However, without making Lillard available, the Blazers may not have the necessary assets for such a deal, in Lowe's view.
- The Blazers will keep all their options open if the 2013/14 season goes badly, but Allen's aversion to rebuilding is real, so trading Aldridge may not be viable. Lowe suggests a number of hypothetical trade partners and packages, but Olshey doesn't consider his young big man to be a trade candidate: "It's not on our mind, and it's not on his, either. LaMarcus just wants to win. He wants to win tomorrow night. He doesn't want to hear about having cap room two years from now."
Western Notes: Mavs, Kings, Hansen, Blazers
Western Conference teams gave out the two most lucrative contracts by average annual value this summer, but the next four spots belong to players who signed to play in the East. The Thunder, Spurs and Nuggets, the three Western teams with the best records last season, didn't hand out any of the 25 deals on that list. Whether that signals a shift in the balance of power remains to be seen, but in the meantime, here's the latest from the West:
- The Mavs' two most expensive offseason additions have known plenty of coaching instability throughout their careers, but the firmly entrenched Rick Carlisle figures to change that for Monta Ellis and Jose Calderon, writes Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News.
- The Kings announced that they've hired the architectural firm AECOM to design the construction of a new arena in Sacramento, a story that Tony Bizjak of The Sacramento Bee originally reported. Team president Chris Granger said he expects construction to begin about a year from now.
- The anti-arena campaign in Sacramento is still free to use the petition signatures that Seattle investor Chris Hansen bankrolled, but Hansen could also wipe those signatures out, a move that would help him engender some much-needed goodwill, The Bee's Marcos Breton argues.
- Chris Lucia of Blazer's Edge sizes up the effect that new starting center Robin Lopez and an upgraded bench will have on the Blazers rotation.
Odds & Ends: Odom, Brown, Mudiay, Mavs
A number of outlets have relayed the TMZ report last night that 33-year-old free agent forward Lamar Odom has been battling a "hardcore" drug addiction for the past two years. Odom hasn't failed an NBA-mandated drug test since 2001, but the report claims he entered a drug treatment facility in San Diego last summer and was clean during the 2012/13 season with the Clippers before beginning to use again this summer.
Odom averaged a career low 4.0 PPG and 1.7 APG in 19.7 MPG while appearing in all 82 games with the Clippers last season. Here's what else is happening around the league during a quiet, late-August Saturday night:
- Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer spent the day with new Sixers coach Brett Brown's family in Portland, Maine.
- Adam Zongoria of Zagsblog.com describes how SMU coach Larry Brown landed the top class of 2014 high school point guard, Emmanuel Mudiay, who announced his decision at halftime of Brooklyn's Elite 24 game tonight. Zongoria opines that Mudiay will be a one-and-done player and a likely lottery pick in the 2015 draft.
- The Trail Blazers made a lot of moves to improve their league-worst bench from last season. One of those additions, Dorell Wright, is profiled by the Oregonian's John Canzano.
- HoopsWorld's senior NBA writer Bill Ingram tweets that the rumors Dwight Howard issued an ultimatum that Mike D'Antoni be fired and Kobe Bryant amnestied in order to re-sign with the Lakers "seem silly" since Howard chose the Rockets early on. Ingram also wonders, via Twitter, what it says about Howard (assuming the reports are accurate) for him to think he has anything on Bryant.
- Mavericks owner Mark Cuban answered questions on the new "Fox Sports Live" program last night, as transcribed by The Dallas Morning News. He discusses flip-flopping on wanting Dwight Howard in free agency this summer, whether the Mavs are rebuilding this coming year, and the health of 35-year-old franchise star Dirk Nowitzki.
- The Mavs are also one of the eight teams wearing the new GPS tracking devices, reports The Dallas Morning News.
- ESPNNewYork.com's Jared Zwerling tweets that former St. John's star Justin Burrell, who has played overseas since graduating in 2011, will play for Italy's Montepaschi Siena this coming season.
Odds & Ends: Kobe, Sixers, Seattle, Hibbert
Kobe Bryant is celebrating his 35th birthday today, but the passage of time doesn't bode well for his chances to catch Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the top spot on the all-time scoring list. He has 6,671 points to go, notes Marc Stein of ESPN.com, who adds that Abdul-Jabbar, Karl Malone and Robert Parish are the only players to score at least that many points after they turned 35 (Twitter link). Of course, breaking records involves outperforming history anyway, so the numbers seem as unlikely to deter the Black Mamba as most of the defenders he's faced over the years. Here's more from the Association:
- Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Inquirer outlines the Sixers' priorities for the rest of the offseason, which likely include a few more front office hires. He also says Jason Richardson will likely miss the entire season and Kwame Brown will probably be waived, but that appears to be speculation on both points.
- Brier Dudley of The Seattle Times thinks Steve Ballmer's announcement today that he's retiring as Microsoft CEO is a boost to Seattle's effort to land an NBA team. Dudley also wonders if Ballmer will follow Paul Allen, another tech magnate, as owner of the Blazers (hat tip to Golliver).
- USA Basketball executive director Jerry Colangelo would have interest in making Roy Hibbert part of the program, but Hibbert's appearance with Jamaica during a game in 2010 likely precludes the Pacers center from ever joining Team USA. Michael Pointer of the Indianapolis Star provides further explanation.
- Ben Golliver of SI.com gives the Thunder a grade of D+ for their offseason moves, but he's high on first-round pick Steven Adams, doesn't think the departure of Kevin Martin will hurt too much, and believes the team could again win 60 games this season.
- Doc Rivers hasn't been with the Clippers for long, but the onus is on him to convert the team's potential into accomplishment, as Zach Harper of CBSSports.com examines.
Western Notes: Batum, Rivers, Clippers
In an interview with Jorge Sierra of Hoopshype, Nicolas Batum said he likes what the Trail Blazers have done during this offseason and thinks a playoff berth is the most realistic goal for the team heading into this year. When asked about rumors that LaMarcus Aldridge had privately requested a trade from Portland, Batum had this to say: "I heard that too and I laughed when I read that. He doesn't want to get traded, he wants the team to get better. LaMarcus is a winner
Asked if Aldridge had told him that directly, Batum continued: I mean, I know that's what he wants. We had two bad seasons and missed the playoffs and wants the team to improve. I think he didn't ask for a trade. He wants to stay and win with the Blazers. He just wants a better team around him so we can get back to the playoffs."
Here's more out of the Western Conference tonight:
- Helene Elliot of the Los Angeles Times touches base with Clippers head coach Doc Rivers on the team's high expectations this year, how he's reached out to his players this summer, what he wants to carry over from Vinny Del Negro last season, and what he'd like to change.
- Kevin Arnovitz and Jordan Heimer of ClipperBlog join ESPN.com's Henry Abbott and Ethan Sherwood Strauss, along with Royce Young of the Daily Thunder to talk about how the Clippers will fare next season (ESPN LA's Clippers podcast).
- J.A. Adande of ESPN praises the election of Chris Paul as union president, saying it "signals a level of commitment to the union by prominent players that hadn't existed in recent years." He also looks at what Paul has positively brought to the Clippers organization as a promising sign of how he can effectively lead the NBPA.
- Hoopsworld's Jabari Parker believes the Lakers can win between 44-47 games next season and thoroughly discusses how the team and the franchise overall should function in order to get back on track.
- The purple and gold also unveiled their new black alternate jerseys for next season (hat tip to USA Today).
Blazers Sign Dee Bost
The Trail Blazers have signed Dee Bost to a contract, according to Joe Freeman of the Oregonian (via Twitter). Freeman hears from a source that the deal is non-guaranteed and that Bost is expected to ultimately land with the Idaho Stampede.
The point guard graduated from Mississippi State last season and averaged 15.8 points and 5.6 assists as a senior. Bost is the school's all-time assist leader with 633 dimes, good for eighth all-time in the Southeastern Conference.
Bost got a training camp invite from the Blazers at the end of July and made a strong impression on the club early. The 23-year-old went undrafted in 2012 and spent last season overseas with Budućnost Podgorica in Montenegro, averaging 8.3 PPG, 1.8 APG, and 1.3 turnovers in 21.5 minutes per contest.
Poll: Which Western Team Finishes Higher?
After the new five-year $60MM contract Nikola Pekovic agreed to earlier this week, the Timberwolves have their three core players, Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and Pek, healthy and ready to compete for a Western Conference playoff spot this season. Sam Tongue of Blazers Edge, compared the 'Wolves with another team in a similar spot out West, the Trail Blazers.
During their podcast on Friday, Matt Moore and Zach Harper of CBS Sports (by way of the Dallas Morning News) discussed two more teams that are on the Western Conference playoff periphery coming into the new season: the Pelicans and Mavericks.
With most NBA observers confidently predicting playoff spots (barring a significant injury) for the Rockets, Thunder, Spurs, Grizzlies, Clippers and Warriors out West, that leaves 2 slots open for the rest of the Western Conference's remaining 9 teams.
The Nuggets, Timberwolves, Mavericks, Trail Blazers, Lakers and Pelicans, all either made moves this offseason to improve, or in the case of the Nuggets and Lakers, lost enough personnel to be considered a fringe contender with the rest of these teams despite making the postseason last year.
So which of these teams on the cusp of the Western Conference playoffs, finishes higher during the 2013/14 season?
Which Western Team Finishes Higher?
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Los Angeles Lakers 25% (423)
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Minnesota Timberwolves 22% (376)
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Denver Nuggets 21% (354)
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Dallas Mavericks 12% (208)
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Portland Trail Blazers 12% (196)
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New Orleans Pelicans 9% (146)
Total votes: 1,703