Free agency has gotten off to a slow start this summer. Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James have yet to make their respective decisions, and that seems to be holding everything up. Once they decide where they will sign, everything else will fall into place for the rest of the NBA.
Free Agency
With the Portland Trail Blazers not in the running for big name/high paid players, they presumably made quick use of their MLE (Mid-Level Exception). Reports surfaced Thursday evening that Chris Kaman had reached an agreement to a two-year $10 million dollar contract with the Blazers.
Once Kaman officially signs after the NBA’s free agent moratorium ends on July 10, this will leave the Blazers with 1 remaining roster spot. With that roster spot, it is looking more likely that the Blazers will bring back Mo Williams.
On Saturday, CSNNW’s Chris Haynes reported that Mo Williams’ return to the Blazers was still a possibility.
Haynes breaks down the possible deal that he would be able to sign with Portland:
“The Trail Blazers can bring Williams back by using the non-bird exception. It is 120 percent of his previous salary or 120 percent of the NBA minimum, whichever happens to be greater.”
Williams opted out of his two-year deal with Portland that would have paid him nearly $2.8 million this upcoming season. According to RealGM Basketball, it looks like Williams’ eligible minimum salary figure would come out to be just under $1.5 million. Taking the larger of the two, Mo would be able to sign with Portland for around $3.3 million.
Shortly after Haynes’ report, word came out that the Dallas Mavericks (Mo’s other option to that point) were closing in on a deal to bring back Devin Harris. This would give the Mavericks two point guards in Harris and newly acquired Raymond Felton – likely pushing Williams out of the picture in Dallas.
With Dallas’ three-year signing of Harris, Williams’ return to Portland becomes more feasible.
Unless the Blazers make a trade, the roster will look similar as last year’s, with the addition of Chris Kaman and loss of Earl Watson. The addition of Kaman gives Portland some much needed frontcourt depth. A veteran big is something that I felt they needed last year.
Summer League
The Blazers will kick off their 2014 Las Vegas summer league on Saturday, July 12, at 1:00 PM against the New York Knicks. All of their summer league games will be aired on CSNNW.
Assuming the roster sits as mentioned, it will be up to Portland’s young players to step up if they wish to improve as a team, and those improvements start with summer league. The addition of Kaman will help, but the addition alone doesn’t transform them into a role as a championship contender. In a deep Western Conference, they will likely need a massive improvement from one or more of their young guys to have similar success, or even go further in the playoffs.
Other Notes
As of writing this, I saw that Mo Williams was still planning to meet with the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday, July 7. Although, it still seems unlikely to me that he would go to Dallas. They would then have 3 point guards who are fairly equally talented. If he in fact does sign with Dallas, that would set Portland back a little bit, while also opening up that final roster spot. We’ll have to wait to see how this plays out. That spot could then be filled by either a free agent with Portland’s bi-annual exception or by one of the guys from the summer league roster. Two players that I’m looking at to potentially make the roster during summer league are Keith Appling and Davion Barry.
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