“I feel like that’s what we need on this team to take the next step,” interim general manager Chad Buchanan said. “We need another high-caliber, top-30 player in the league, preferably in the backcourt, with LaMarcus, who we already have in the frontcourt.”
The moves allow the Blazers to both conform with, and to use to their advantage, the new collective bargaining agreement.
The Blazers’ most pressing need seems to be in the backcourt, where production has fallen greatly after the retirement of Brandon Roy. It seems clear that Portland needs to add a top playmaker either at point or shooting guard. Although the Blazers will remain flexible in how they go after such a player, the most likely scenario seems to be via a trade.
Thursday’s deals helped the Blazers clear salary cap space for the off-season. Buchanan estimates Portland could be between $15 million to $20 million under the cap, although that number go as low as $12 million and as high as $27 million, depending on a variety of factors.
The Blazers also gained New Jersey’s top-three protected pick, which means if the Nets don’t finish with one of the top three draft spots in the May 30 draft lottery, Portland gets the pick. The Blazers, if they do not make the playoffs, also will have their own lottery pick in the June 28 draft, which is considered one of the deepest in years.
“It’s a very strong draft class coming up,” Buchanan said.
That gives the Blazers the opportunity to make a trade for a star player by dangling one or both picks. By getting themselves under the cap, they will be able to execute uneven picks in which salaries do not match. Teams under the cap can take back more salary than they send to trade partners, who receive what’s called a trade exception.
