Sizing up the Blazers

ON THE NBA • Roster spots, roles need to be sorted out as team gets younger

By kerry eggers

The Portland Tribune, Jul 3, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (27 Reader comments)

Greg Oden hugs girlfriend Candyce Brown, a Butler University basketball player, during a Pioneer Courthouse Square rally Friday to introduce him to Blazer fans.

Jim Clark / Portland Tribune

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Questions and answers about recent happenings with our local NBA quintet …

• Did Portland really get numerous offers for Zach Randolph?

Sort of. It wasn’t easy getting rid of Randolph, at least because General Manager Kevin Pritchard wanted to get something of value in return.

Pritchard had conversations about Randolph with representatives of seven or eight clubs and got offers from several — but he felt only one gave the Blazers close to Randolph’s value.

The Blazers had had enough of Randolph’s off-court issues and didn’t want his considerable presence around the flock of young players who are now the club’s nucleus. Additionally, coach Nate McMillan wanted to open up plenty of playing time for No. 1 draft choice Greg Oden and second-year pro LaMarcus Aldridge, who will transition from a center/power forward to almost strictly a 4.

“Now we have a core of young guys in the middle (Oden, Aldridge and Channing Frye) who can develop together,” McMillan says. “There won’t be anyone in front of them slowing their process down.”

A key to New York’s offer for Randolph was a $3 million trade exception that allowed the Blazers to acquire small forward James Jones from Phoenix — a move that can’t be made official until next week. Jones, 26, makes $2.9 million next season and can then opt out of a contract that calls for him to make $3.15 million in 2008-09, the final year of his deal.

The 6-8, 225-pound Jones is a four-year veteran who averaged 6.4 points and 2.3 rebounds in 18.1 minutes through the regular season, shooting .368 from the field but .378 from 3-point range and .877 from the line. Jones started six of Phoenix’s 11 playoff games, averaging 5.0 points and shooting .528 from the field in 15.5 minutes per game.

The Suns, with Amare Stoudemire, Shawn Marion, Kurt Thomas and Boris Diaw on their front line, obviously considered Jones expendable. Blazer brass likes Jones’ athleticism and long-range shooting and believes he can contend for the starting spot next season.

• What are the odds of a buyout of Steve Francis’ contract?

Very high. The veteran guard, 30, has two years left on his deal at $16.44 million next season and $17.18 million in 2008-09. Blazer execs won’t know for a while, but it is believed Francis would accept something less than that — $25 million, perhaps? — to be out of the deal and become a free agent.

Good thing Paul Allen isn’t a bread-liner.

• What does Isiah Thomas think about taking on a player with the baggage of Randolph? Evidently, the Knicks’ president is very comfortable with it.

“We did our homework and stayed on top of it and did our background search and everything else, as we do with all the players we’re going after,” Thomas tells the New York media. “Everything we heard and saw made him one of the guys we wanted to pursue.”

Thomas says he told New York owner James Dolan that “we really needed to get (Randolph) out of Portland, because he seems to run into a lot of problems in Portland. We need to get him to New York because he’d be in a safer place.”

Uh-huh. Clearly the temptations in Portland are greater than they will be for Randolph in the Big Apple.

More Thomas: “He’ll definitely be under the microscope. We all are here. That’s just New York. But I don’t think the issues he’s run into in Portland … we’ll try to avoid those issues here.”

• Who do I think McMillan will have for the start of training camp in October?

Centers: Greg Oden, Joel Przybilla and Raef LaFrentz

Power forwards: LaMarcus Aldridge, Channing Frye, Josh McRoberts and Joel Freeland

Small forwards: James Jones, Travis Outlaw and Darius Miles

Shooting guards: Brandon Roy and Martell Webster

Point guards: Jarrett Jack, Sergio Rodriguez and Taurean Green

Oden (19), Aldridge (22), Roy (23), Jack (24 on Oct. 28) and either Jones (26) or Outlaw (23 on Sept. 18) would comprise one of the, if not the, youngest starting fives in the NBA.

“But I really like our timeline,” Pritchard says. “There are some great teams in the West, and it’s very difficult to compete with them on our timeline. We have to emphasize there’s no pressure to win now. We have to have some patience and let the young guys develop.”

What does that mean for next year?

“We’re fighting for an eighth seed (in the playoffs) with these guys,” assistant coach Bill Bayno says. “The expectations should be tempered by the youth. We’re coming out with a lot of babies, but we’re definitely headed in the right direction.”

• What are the chances that Miles comes to camp?

If the much-maligned veteran — set to make $26.25 million over the next three years — were to miss another season due to the effects of knee surgery a year ago, he could be declared retired, insurance would cover his salary for his final two seasons and he would be off the Blazer books.

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