By: Jamal Smith Sports Editor
For the past few years, the NBA trade deadline has come and gone without any notable moves for the Portland Trail Blazers. This trade deadline was much different as Neil Olshey, the Blazer’s general manager, made a few moves that have left Blazer fans scratching their heads.
Fans who had hoped that the Blazers would add a marquee name or a crafty veteran to the roster might have been disappointed, but in the grand scheme of things, the moves the Blazer’s front office made were brilliant.
Here’s what went down: the Blazers negotiated a three team trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Orlando Magic in which Portland traded a 2020 second-round draft pick for Cleveland’s Anderson Varejao and a future 2018 first-round draft pick (protected 1-10).
Then, later in the day, it was announced that the Blazer’s acquired backup point guard Brian Roberts and a future second-round draft pick from the Miami Heat in exchange for cash considerations. To make room for Roberts, Portland had to waive backup point guard Tim Frazier.
“We went into the trade deadline trying to be opportunistic. We wanted to gather assets,” said Olshey to reporters after the two trades. “Clearly this group is really overachieving. There’s a lot of young guys that have a future. We wanted to make sure we were giving them a chance to win. We didn’t want to touch that core group of guys that have exceeded expectations.”
Just an hour after the Trail Blazers acquired 33 year-old Varejao, the team immediately waived him and his $9.6 million dollar salary. Portland was able to dump his contract because the team was so far under the salary cap minimum. Essentially, the Blazers gave up money to get a future first-round draft pick.
“Go back and look at the transaction record of other teams and look at what level of player they had to give up to acquire a first-round pick,” Olshey added. “We gave up cap room. I think it’s really sexy.”
The young Blazers have defied most sports analysts pre-season predictions and are currently in the sixth spot in the Western Conference with a record of 30-27. While the team arguably didn’t get much better now, the future draft picks provide hope for the future.
This was possibly the best trade deadline move in the history of the Blazers franchise. Portland kept its young core of players together, acquired future assets, and most importantly sent a message to all the Blazer fans: “We want to win.” Bravo.
Contact the author at jsmith15@wou.edu or on Twitter @journalsportWOU
