| Magloire On the Way? Authored by Billy Ray - July 29, 2006 - 6:35 pm
Reports are surfacing out of Milwaukee that the Portland Trail Blazers and Milwaukee Bucks have agreed to a trade that will send center Jamaal Magloire to the Portland Trail Blazers for point guard Steve Blake, forward Brian Skinner, and center Ha Seung-Jin.
The trade has been rumored since Thursday afternoon when Portland radio station 1080 The Fan's Ian Furness reported that the Bucks and Blazers had been talking about a trade.
The trade comes as a bit of a surprise for a few reasons. The first being that acquiring a 28 year old center in the last year of his contract who started all 82 games for his previous team could be acquired for the players the Blazers are sending. Secondly the deal adds to a front court that has gone from skimpy to overloaded in a matter of a month with the Blazers adding Raef Lafrentz and LaMarcus Aldridge during the NBA Draft. Lastly, acquiring a player like Magloire seemed to be a perfect way of dealing Darius Miles—but that obviously will not happen.
If the deal is approved Magloire brings career averages of 9.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. Excluding the 2004-05 NBA season when Magloire was limited to only 23 games because of injury, Magloire has not missed since his rookie season in 2000-01.
It is unclear what Portland's plans with Magloire might be. He is in the last year of his contract and is scheduled to make roughly 8.3 million dollars. Although his contract is due to expire, Blake and Seung-Jin were in their last years of their respective contracts and Brian Skinner had a team option that almost surely would not have been exercised by the Trail Blazers.
The acquisition of Magloire in the short term relieves any worries about the Blazers not having two true centers on the roster capable of contributing. This will allow Portland to not be forced to play LaFrentz out of position at center, while also opening up the possibility of making a trade down the road whether it be with Magloire, Lafrentz or power forward Zach Randolph. |
