Trail Blazers Clean House At Trade Deadline; Send Wallace And Camby Packing

A recent 3-7 slide into 12^th in the Western Conference was all General Manager Chad Buchanan needed to begin rebuilding for the future.

At the trade deadline on Thursday, the Blazers first sent forward Gerald Wallace away to the New Jersey Nets, acquiring forward/center Mehmet Okur and forward Shawne Williams, and a pair of expiring contracts that are not expected to be retained after the season.  The Blazers also received a conditional first round pick in next year’s draft.  The fire sale continued with center Marcus Camby being sent to Houston for center Hasheem Thabeet and guard Jonny Flynn, two former top-six picks in the draft, as well as a future second-round pick.

With these moves, the Blazers may have surrendered the season, but the two deals save a combined $21.2 million dollars to use during the upcoming free agency period.

Wallace was averaging 13 points and 7 rebounds a game for the Blazers, playing the most minutes of anyone on the team.  The oft-injured Camby managed to stay healthy to this point, and was averaging 3 points and 8 rebounds.

Okur is an 11-year veteran, and a former all-star.  He has been limited most of this season by injuries, averaging 8 points and 4 rebounds game.  He is currently injured.  Williams has only played in limited action, and had a career plagued with trade after trade, as well as a pair of arrests.

Thabeet was the second overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft by the Memphis Grizzlies, but has failed to live up to those expectations at this point.  He has only appeared in five games for the Rockets after being acquired at the deadline last year.  Flynn was the sixth overall pick by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2009 draft, but fell into a clogged point guard situation in Minnesota, and was traded to Houston after his numbers fell in 2011 after hip surgery.  He has also only appeared sparingly, averaging 12 minutes a contest.

The pick the Blazers received in exchange for Wallace is only top-3 protected, and expected to be a top 5 to 10 pick, which would be a tremendous haul for the Blazers.  With the additional cap space, the Blazers can also afford to add someone like an Aaron Brooks at guard, which would be a great upgrade over Raymond Felton and Jamal Crawford.  Add a proven center like Chris Kaman, and the Blazers could have a tremendous team going into the future.