Blazers Winning Now, But Aim For Future (Steve Kelley - Seattle Times)

[ABM]

From: Seattle Times

PORTLAND — As the trade deadline passed Thursday, general manager Kevin Pritchard gathered his nervous team around him for the breaking news.

Pritchard told the players who encircled him that the Portland Trail Blazers weren't making a deadline deal. No Vince Carter. No Richard Jefferson. No Gerald Wallace. The breaking news was no news.

Pritchard had resisted the temptation to trade forward Travis Outlaw, or rookie guard Rudy Fernandez, deciding to stand pat and push toward the franchise's first playoff appearance since 2003 with the guys he had.

Cheers erupted when the players heard the no-news.

"There was a feeling of relief." third-year forward LaMarcus Aldridge said after Friday's win over Atlanta. "We've been together and we've built chemistry. Guys wanted to keep this together. I think we feel comfortable with that, and we didn't want to deal with bringing someone else in."

Any deal Pritchard makes, and you can be sure he'll make one, will come in the offseason.

"I'm happy with the team we have," Blazers All-Star guard Brandon Roy said. "If there had been a way for us to improve, then I would have liked a trade. But after hearing all the trades that were out there, I think we did the right thing by staying with what we have.

"That doesn't mean I'm not open to us improving because there is room for our team to grow. I think it's in the area of adding a little experience, but if it's not the right experience, then it won't work."........................

 

[chris_in_pdx]

I agree with Brandon and this article 100%. Don't trade just to trade. Let it Bake until it won't rise anymore.

 

[ABM]

I agree with Brandon and this article 100%. Don't trade just to trade. Let it Bake until it won't rise anymore.

More Of The Same

In the end, Raef LaFrentz's expiring contract was more like a baby carrot than the big, dangling carrot it was considered.

Portland did not bite on offers for the insurance-protected contract. The Trail Blazers have the youngest rotation in the NBA and are 14 games over .500. Why mess with that? Young players Rudy Fernandez, Jerryd Bayless and Nicolas Batum were once thought to be available but were protected down the stretch, leaving the Suns to ponder sending Shaquille O'Neal to Portland for a package that included LaFrentz and Valley native Channing Frye.

Portland chose to not land Richard Jefferson, mess with its chemistry or deny itself the $6 million of cap space it can have this summer. However, that won't prevent the Blazers from being in one of the NBA's few teams in position to buy rather than sell this summer.