| Get Your Score Cards Ready Authored by Billy Ray - August 8, 2005 - 9:09 pm
The summer isn't over yet but it's been very busy in Blazerland. While some of you might have been able to keep track of all of the craziness surrounding the Blazers since draft day here is a quick run down of what has transpired for the Portland Trail Blazers:
In a draft day trade the Blazers sent the third pick overall to the Utah Jazz. In exchange the Blazers received the sixth pick overall, the 27th pick, and a future first rounder via Detroit in 2006. With the 6th pick the Trail Blazers selected prep star Martell Webster, a 6'7” shooting guard from Seattle Washington. Webster was considered to be one of the top shooters in the draft. After a workout deemed to be one of the best ever between Webster, North Carolina shooting guard and fellow lottery pick Rashad McCants, and the 21st overall pick, a 5'9” speedster out of the University of Washington Nate Robinson, the Blazers decided to draft the high school guard.
The Blazers then packaged the 27th pick and their own 35th pick in the second round and shipped the picks to Denver in exchange for Jarrett Jack—the 22nd pick overall. Jack a 6'3”, 202lb point guard out of Georgia Tech was considered one of the top point guard prospects in college. Jack was the emotional leader for the Yellow Jackets helping lead the team to the 2004 Final Four losing to eventual National Champion Connecticut in the Championship game.
The Blazers next off-season move was possibly the biggest to date: convincing the top coach that was never really on the market to leave the up-and coming Seattle Supersonics to coach the Portland Trail Blazers. The coach? Nate McMillan.
McMillan who is known as Mr. Sonic after nearly 20 years of being involved with the Sonics organization either as a player, assistant coach, or head coach, had done the unthinkable and joined the I-5 rival Trail Blazers to the tune of a 6 year contract.
While luring McMillan to the Blazers was considered a coup at its finest, possibly the most interesting development was that an established coach who is considered one of the top coaches in the league was willing to assist in the rebuilding of a team from scratch. Rarely do established head coaches join a team until most of the pieces are set. McMillan is taking a similar approach to Scott Skiles who immediately turned the floundering Bulls organization into a playoff contender within a year and a half of his arrival by taking on a team in it's earlier stages. While the Bulls may have been further along in player development the Blazers are hoping for similar results.
Shortly after McMillan's arrival he secured his top assistant: Dean Demopoulos. Demopoulos was a former assistant with the Sonics and had been rumored to be close to accepting a position with Dwayne Casey's new staff in Minnesota. Demopoulos is considered a strong coach in both fundamentals and player development.
A couple weeks following McMillan's arrival the Blazers were met with yet another arrival—this time the 23rd overall pick from the 2004 NBA draft—Sergei Monya. Monya considered a small forward who can play shooting guard had a tough time seeing playing time with his Russian team CSKA Moscow. In 2004 it was widely expected that the Utah Jazz would select Monya with the 14th pick overall. But when news surfaced of a contractual buyout that made it unfeasible for Monya to come to the United States for another year, the Jazz went in a different direction and Portland snapped him up nine picks later.
The first of August was the eve before the player movement moratorium was lifted. While rumors of two impending Blazer free agent moves were in the air, the real news was the arrival of two assistant coaches: Maurice Lucas and Monty Williams.
The enforcer was back in Portland after a 1 year stint as an assistant during the 1988-1989 season. The airwaves were full of nostalgia as Blazer fans and media members alike recounted memories of Lucas' playing days in Portland. Lucas is expected to work primarily with the big men focusing on rebounding and defense. Lucas will also hope to add a mean streak to Joel Przybilla, Theo Ratliff and Zach Randolph.
The other assistant coach added was Monty Williams who had spent the prior year as a coaching staff intern to Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. Williams looks to fit in right away with the players as he himself is only 2 years removed from his own NBA career. At only 34 years of age Williams is only one and a half years older than the Blazers oldest player Theo Ratliff.
August second marked the first day that the Trail Blazers could officially complete any impending trades or free agent moves. While it was greatly anticipated that the Blazers would announce the signing of combo guard Juan Dixon and the return of shooting guard Charles Smith—the Blazers had other plans.
The Blazers quickly acted and cut two veteran guards—Derek Anderson and Nick Van Exel. While Nick Van Exel had one year remaining on his contract the Blazers will not have to pay a dime thanks to the year being non-guaranteed. The move immediately saved the Blazers a little over 12 million in salary expenses while further lowering lowering payroll and brining the team closer to cap room.
The removal of Derek Anderson was expected but still a bit of a surprise. Anderson was the first player in the NBA cut using the “Amnesty” provision. The provision essentially states that a team can cut a player for the purpose of removing that players salary in luxury tax computations. The luxury tax—a dollar for dollar tax for any team above a specified salary threshold—is a primary motivator of many teams personnel moves.
The move essentially allows Portland to exceed the luxury tax threshold and not have to pay the tax for the remaining two years of Anderson's contract, as long as the team does not exceed the yearly value of Anderson's contract, which is on average about 9 million. That means that Portland should be allowed to have a payroll of 68 million this year and next and not have to pay the tax—but Portland is not expected to carry that kind of payroll.
The freshly opened roster spots couldn't even begin to collect dust before the Blazers had found a way to fill them. One day after cutting Anderson and Van Exel the Blazers finally secured Juan Dixon and Charles Smith to free agent contracts. While Smith's contract is expected to be for one year at the veteran minimum, Dixon's contract is three years in length and around 8 million.
Dixon lead Maryland to the National Championship in 2002 and was drafted by the Washington Wizards on the advice of Michael Jordan. While Dixon has had an up and down career, there is little debate when it comes to his scoring abilities. Dixon has a knack for getting the ball in the basket and the Blazers are hoping he will help an offense that looked plain offensive at times during last season.
Smith comes back to the NBA after a two year hiatus. His last stint was with the Blazers but he received little playing time in only three games. Last season Smith averaged a Euroleague best 22.2 points per game, while adding in 3.7 rebounds. Smith worked with the Trail Blazers summer league team in Las Vegas and the Blazers front office quickly realized he would be an excellent mentor for the NBA's youngest team.
This off-season has also marked the end of Damon Stoudamire's seven and a half year tenure with the team. Stoudamire signed a four year offer sheet with the Grizzlies but has not been introduced as a member of the team at this time. Stoudamire whose up and down time with the Blazers epitomized the teams' same pattern, did leave his mark with the franchise. Among them being his 54 point franchise record against the New Orleans Hornets, and NBA record 21 three point attempts against the Golden State Warriors. Stoudamire also ranks second all time in franchise history in three pointers made, second all time in three point attempts, and third all-time in assists.
The Blazers also have one deal still awaiting approval by the New Jersey Nets. The trade would send forward Shareef Abdur-Rahim to New Jersey in exchange for a 5.1 million dollar trade exception and a lottery protected first round pick. Abdur-Rahim was expected to be introduced to the New Jersey media August 4th, but the Nets had questions regarding an MRI on Abdur-Rahim's knee that turned up scar tissue. The trade is still expected to be completed.
So there you have it, the Trail Blazers off-season thus far in a nut shell. While it's widely expected that most of the Blazers moves have been completed, it would be impossible to say that the team has not been active this off-season. Four team departures and four player additions as well as a new head coach and three new assistants has made for a very busy off-season. |
