Complete 2018 NBA Free Agency primer for OKC Thunder and all 30 teams
Portland Trail Blazers:
Free Agents:
- Pat Connaughton (RFA)
- Ed Davis (UFA)
- Shabazz Napier (RFA)
- Jusuf Nurkic (RFA)
Team Profile and Ranking:
Key Ranking Stats to end season:
Offense: 15th (106.5)
Defense: 9th (104.5)
Net: 106.5 (15) DefRtg: 104.5 (9) NetRtg:+2.0 (10)
NBA Power Ranking at 2017-18 season end: 6th
ESPN Power Ranking post playoffs: 15th
Vegas odds to win 2018-19 title as of June 26: 100 to 1
Committed Salary: $112,000,975.00 as of June 29th
Average attendance: 19,398
Attendance rank: 8th
Arena: Moda Center
Management:
General Manager: Neil Olshey – 2010
Head Coach: Terry Stotts – 2012
Salary Profile:
The Blazers will need to extend an offer to Wade Baldwin prior to the moratorium launch to retain him as a restricted free agent. Two other contracts are currently non-guaranteed: Jake Layman ($1,544,951) and Georgios Paagiannis ($1,544951) which Portland has a bit longer (July 19th) to make a decision on.
In addition to the bi-annual ($3.4 M) and the non-tax midlevel ($8.6) exceptions, the Blazers have a healthy $12.9 M and $3.4 M trade exception they can utilize.
| Sala | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Age | 2018-19 | Signed Using | Guaranteed |
| Damian Lillard | 27 | $27,977,689 | 1st Round Pick | $115,560,020 |
| CJ McCollum | 26 | $25,759,766 | 1st Round Pick | $106,633,450 |
| Evan Turner | 29 | $17,868,852 | Cap Space | $53,606,557 |
| Maurice Harkless | 25 | $10,837,079 | Cap Space | $32,511,235 |
| Meyers Leonard | 26 | $10,595,506 | Cap Space | $31,786,516 |
| Al-Farouq Aminu | 27 | $6,957,105 | Cap Space | $14,276,140 |
| Zach Collins | 20 | $3,628,920 | 1st Round Pick | $6,686,160 |
| Caleb Swanigan | 21 | $1,740,000 | 1st Round Pick | $3,205,920 |
| Jake Layman | 24 | $1,544,951 | Cap Space | $1,312,611 |
| Andrew Nicholson | 28 | $2,844,429 | $19,911,003 | |
| Anderson Varejao | 35 | $1,913,345 | $7,653,380 | |
| Festus Ezeli | 28 | $333,333 | $1,000,000 | |
| Team Totals | $112,000,975 | $407,325,570 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 6/29/2018.
Draft 2018:
Round 1:
With the 24th pick, the Blazers selected IMG Academy guard Anfernee Simons
Rookie Profile: Anfernee Simons – the wild card
Round 2:
With the 37th pick, the Blazers (from Kings) selected Duke guard Gary Trent Jr.
Rookie Profile: Gary Trent Jr. could be perimeter sniper OKC Thunder need
Free Agency – Offseason Mandate:
Clearly the Blazers are stuck in a bad situation with an extremely high salary but mired with players who can’t push them over the top. Because of this CJ McCollum’s name has been rumored as being shopped in order for the Blazers to reconfigure and add players around their star Damian Lillard.
One free agent sure to get some attention is Ed Davis who often provided better frontcourt activity on the boards and rim protection than his counterpart (Nurkic) in the starting unit. As for their own needs, the Blazers need to address their main big man questions and add serviceable depth off the bench.