ABM
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Whoa
From: Chad Ford - ESPN
From: Chad Ford - ESPN
The NBA trading frenzy that normally seizes teams come February could be arriving a little early this season. Assigned to write a column on who could be traded during this season, I was surprised by the number of teams that seemed "open for business" on the trade front.
Typically, significant trades don't go down in preseason, or the first month of the season. It usually isn't until December, with a month or more of games under everyone's belts, that we start hearing the trade drums. But this year, from the sound of things, the talk may be coming faster and more furiously than in years past..............
10. The Portland Seven
The Blazers head into the next summer with the potential to have major cap space, with seven players hitting the free-agent market. But there's a catch.
First, Darius Miles, with Boston this preseason, could mess up Portland's plan. If he plays in 10 games this season, his $9 million salary goes right back on the Blazers' books.
Second, they are going to have to make some difficult choices about a number of their young players. Martell Webster, Channing Frye, Ike Diogu, Sergio Rodriguez and Travis Outlaw can all become free agents, along with veterans Steve Blake and Raef LaFrentz.
Because of NBA collective bargaining rules, each player is assigned a "cap hold" that serves as a salary placeholder for the summer. Because Webster, Frye and Diogu were all drafted in the lottery, their cap holds are very high -- likely higher than their actual salaries will be in their new contracts. The only way for Portland to get rid of those cap hold numbers is to sign those players to contracts during the free agent period or to not make qualifying offers to them.
If Portland chooses to sign them, not only will those players eat into the cap space, but the team, while working out the new contracts, will lose precious time during the early days of July's free-agent frenzy. If the Blazers choose not to make qualifying offers, those players become unrestricted free agents.
So I expect GM Kevin Pritchard to be very proactive (as always) this winter and to move at least a couple of those young players.

