Taking on Jefferson’s contract may mean Jazz concede Matthews to Blazers

With Al Jefferson's $42 million now on Utah's books, the possibility of matching the Blazers offer for Wesley Matthews (pictured) slimmed.

Minnesota Timberwolves power forward Al Jefferson and the remaining three years and $42 million left on his contract are headed to the Utah Jazz in exchange for picks, center Kosta Koufos, and salary-cap relief. Taking on his contract puts the Jazz into the luxury tax, which hinders their ability to match the Portland Trail Blazers 5-year, $34 million offer to 23-year old shooting guard Wesley Matthews.

Utah needs Matthews, but can’t afford him at that price; especially since they need to keep center Kyrylo Fesenko, which puts them even deeper into luxury tax. They lost shooting guard Kyle Korver to the Chicago Bulls earlier this offseason, so losing two shooters depletes them drastically. Korver was a spot-up shooter, and a very good one at that. He was particularly valuable from beyond the arc, helping spread the floor adequately. Matthews contrasted Korver well as a scrappy defender with a versatile offensive game.

I like what Matthews brings to the table. I don’t like the money thrown at him. He showed a lot in his first season. Jerry Sloan moved him into the starter’s role late in the season, which says a lot about his impact. He contained Carmelo Anthony and Kobe Bryant in the playoffs. There’s a lot for Portland to be impressed about. And thinking of him alongside Nicolas Batum in some lineups as well as spelling him makes me ecstatic. What that combo could do for Portland’s defense would undoubtedly strike fear into any opponent’s heart.

He won’t start with the Blazers as long as Batum and Brandon Roy are with the team. But though vastly overpaid, he will be a terrific backup if indeed the Jazz do not match. And if Roy re-injures his hamstring or Batum tweaks his shoulder–god forbid–Matthews could bring Roy’s scoring punch to the table as well as Batum’s defense. If Matthews does become a Blazer, it’s a perfect match.

What would his signing mean for others on the roster, though? Adding him would make Rudy Fernandez expendable. Fernandez deserves minutes, but he wouldn’t get them with Matthews in the fold. I’d rather see him traded than play 10 minutes a night. If Portland wished, they could package him, Miller, and Joel Przybilla’s expiring contract for Chris Paul, if New Orleans was up to it. Portland could toss Bayless in the deal as sweetener. Paul is thought to be unhappy. New head coach Monty Williams wants him to stick around. But if the Hornets want to start the Darren Collison Era and get a solid return for him, Portland could be a good trade partner.

The point of putting that proposal out there is to make known the Blazers desire to acquire an elite point guard. Miller is, in my eyes, satisfying enough running the show, but it appears Portland’s front office thinks otherwise.

Fernandez will be moved if Matthews signs. There is no doubt about that in my mind. But, whether Miller is traded or not, I believe the Blazers will continue to be active during the rest of this offseason. They have a logjam at point guard. Five point guards are currently under contract. The final roster spot will most likely go to Johnson or Mills. That will dwindle the depth down the four. But teams don’t need four point guards. So I could conceivably see two of them being moved. Could Miller and Bayless be on their way out? Then Johnson waived if they want to acquire a PG for Miller and Bayless? Could Mills, Williams, and Paul make the roster? Who knows, but something has to be done. To keep four would be unfair to those that could get a chance elsewhere.

So why do I delve into the point guard conundrum? Because the enviable depth means Matthews deal could be the first of many more moves to come. Fernandez could be traded by his lonesome, but my guess is that Portland would like to do a package deal. And they certainly have the excess talent to put something pivotal together.

Even if their moves are minimal after Matthews, his signing is a tremendous one. He will be paid too much, but in time he could live up to that contract. Teams that have won NBA titles have done so in part because of a bench capable of making a astronomical impact. Portland’s bench will be bolstered by the complete package he will bring–the incorporation of aggression, defensive intensity, and a smooth shooting stroke.

Pritchard staying aggressive: Blazers in talks with free-agent Miller

Andre Miller is 33 years old. In his current 10-year career, he has never reached the second round of the playoffs. Last year, with the Philadelphia 76ers, he took only fifty-three three-pointers and made just fifteen. He averaged nearly three turnovers per game, and didn’t run a particularly up-tempo style offense. So, why would the Portland Trail Blazers open discussions with him?

Well, he has been a steady scorer in his career, and, given his abysmal three-point shooting, has wisely lived predominately on the mid-range jumper. Because of his successful perimeter game and unselfishness (he averaged nearly seven assists last season, a tad lower than his career mark) he has been a borderline All-Star and very dependable.

Evidently, Portland is desperate to make a big splash, and evidently, they don’t trust Steve Blake, nor are they completely sold on Jerryd Bayless as their point guard of the future.

Blake helped the Blazers win 54 games last season. He averaged 11 points, 5 assists, and was fifth in the NBA among guards with a 3.22 Assist/Turnover Ratio. That’s not good enough for Portland.

They want a veteran, which Blake is. But they want someone who is more veteran, Miller, to replace him, someone that is on his last legs who has something left in the tank. Though this swap of sorts may seem to make little sense, Miller, even at his old age, can lot of things better than Blake: he runs an offense better, runs the pick-and-roll better, shoots better, even if his range is eighteen feet, and has a more versatile game; he posts up, and is more physical.

So, based on his upsides, General Manager Kevin Pritchard may not be as crazy for targeting him as I originally thought. I think the Blazers could improve upon their 54-win season with Blake as their starter, mainly because, overall, he succeeded in their scheme, and forged a substaintial amount of chemistry with teammates that will only get better. But I’m not sure that they could challenge the beasts of the West and make a run in the playoffs with him as their starter.

This is Pritchard’s thinking. Miller would be a gamble, but, like I said when the Blazers were targeting small forward and current Toronto Raptor Hedo Turkoglu, he could take the pressure off Brandon Roy scoring-wise, and be able to consistently answer a run by the opposition with a burst of his own. So, perhaps he’s a gamble worth taking.

Throughout this free-agency period, I have wondered why Pritchard hasn’t expressed interest in younger guards such as restricted free-agent Ramon Sessions or current Charlotte Bobcat Raymond Felton. Now I know why. He doesn’t want to block Bayless out entirely. He has faith in him, and still thinks, despite his scorer’s mentiality and iffy point guard skills, that he could take the reigns down the road. So, by signing Miller to, say, a two-year deal, Bayless has a mentor, a veteran and a proven star to look up to, and, once Miller’s contract expires, can take over at the sprightly age of 23.

A signing of Miller, an unrestricted free-agent, isn’t imminent, but is a distinct possibility. There had been rumblings that a sign-and-trade could be hashed out, meaning Miller would sign with Philadelphia, then be traded to the Blazers for Blake. Now, it appears Pritchard is looking at Miller solely as a free-agent, and wouldn’t acquire him. So, instead of trading Blake for him, he could get another player of need, a backup power-forward perhaps, for Blake and presumably Travis Outlaw.

If the Blazers feel the need to upgrade, and think Miller would fill their need, then pull the trigger. After all, given what he could bring to a team full of youth, he’s not a bad player to go after.

The Blazers point guard conundrum: Who backs up Blake?

Jerryd Bayless thinks he can start for the Portland Trail Blazers. Pooh Jeter, pictured, hopes to make the roster, and give both Bayless and Steve Blake a run for their money.

Portland Trail Blazers guard Jerryd Bayless is confident he can assume the duties as the team’s point guard. He was asked before the Summer League began if he could do so, and answered, “Yeah, no question.”

The point of the Summer League is for teams to evaluate young talent and pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses. Many of the players are trying to make the roster, hoping that their performance and style is to a team’s liking. Bayless, unlike a majority of his Summer League teammates, has experience in the NBA, albeit a tumultuous rookie season. He had something to prove, like his comrades, and needed to show Portland that he has the qualities a point guard must possess.

He was a scorer during his lone year in college, at Arizona, with a poor assist-to-turnover ratio. The assist-to-turnover ratio carried over into the NBA, but his scoring did not. When he played, he was aggressive, but also hesitant, and all too often dribbled aimlessly on the perimeter, clearly indecisive. Though the Blazers would have loved for him to consistently produce, and be pass-first, as a 20-year old in a new environment, his tentative play was expected.

Nonetheless, Blazers fans, many of whom disapproved of Steve Blake’s backup, Sergio Rodriguez, wanted to see him play, to see what he could do. He had a few bright spots, which mainly involved him scoring, predominately on dunks. But, as his fans knew, for him to be an integral part of Portland’s future, and start for years to come for the Blazers, he had to play as a point guard should. But he didn’t know how.

Portland, after watching him average 28 points per game in the 2008 Summer League, thought of him as the scorer he was, and took it in stride, thinking he could, down the road, develop a point guard’s unselfish mentality. But, though he possessed an explosive burst, with a incredible leaping ability at 6-foot, 3-inches tall, he failed to trust a shot that made him a touted NBA prospect. Instead, he was all too predictable on offense; he had poor court-vision, and when he did pass, he rarely hit his teammate in stride. He passed up too many perimeter shots, and when he did make an impact, it was usually because of his aggressiveness. But he was aggressive too much of the time.

Yet, it’s all part of the learning process; unless you have NBA-ready talent, a game suited for the position without much need for improvement, you have to fail in some way before you can ultimately succeed. Usually this is the case. Very few rookies are like the Chicago Bulls’ Derrick Rose, who lit up the opposition with his scoring and passing ability from the onset of the 2008-09 season. Bayless wasn’t like Rose, who was inserted into the starting lineup from the beginning; Bayless was a bench-warmer, and when he did play, he tried to do too much and ended up doing too little.

But, as a cocky kid, he says he now ready to do exactly what’s asked of him. He was a turnover machine in the four Summer League games this summer, but for his growth, his turnovers were a good sign. It meant he was trying to make plays for others. There were spurts when he looked to score, but, unlike at this time a year ago, he kept his head up and made an effort to make passing his first priority.

Another point guard, Eugene “Pooh” Jeter, was a four-year star at the University of Portland and, unable to find a home in the NBA, made a name for himself with the Colorado 14ers of the NBA Developmental League. After leaving the 14ers, Jeter played for BC Kyiv, a Ukranian team, and, by averaging 14 points and 7 assists per game, was named the league’s top point guard. After a failed attempt to make the Toronto Raptors 12-man roster in 2008, he played in the ACB League, a league highly regarded as the second best in the world, behind only the NBA.

There he played with ViveMenorca, and played against some stellar competition, including Ricky Rubio, who was drafted fifth overall by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2009 NBA Draft, and averaged 16 points and 3 assists per game. This caught the Blazers eye, and earned him an invite to their training camp with an opportunity to make his dream a reality.

Once the 25-year old Jeter stepped on the floor, it was clear that the 5-foot 11-inch guard, with much more experience than Bayless, was entirely the opposite of the rookie season version of Bayless. He was unselfish, and looked to score only when the opportunity presented itself. With that said, he didn’t dish a single assist in his first game (the blame, like in Bayless’s case, could go on the recipients). Over the final four games, however, he showed his true colors, accumulating 6, 5, 4, and 8 assists.

With Patrick Mills, a fellow rookie point guard, hurt, and expected to miss all of the 2009-2010 season, Jeter should make the roster, and certainly deserves to.

Bayless, unphased by Jeter’s emergence, had this to say regarding his role with the Blazers:

“Obviously, Steve [Blake] is the starting point guard but I don’t think Steve would want it any other way [than a battle]. I don’t think he just wants me to come in and just mess around. I’m going to come out there and battle him. You never know what could happen…I’m in a different place… Last year I kind of knew I was bound to be a backup. This year, Coach [Nate McMillan] is giving me an opportunity and it’s up to me.”

I am glad Bayless feels he can give Blake a run, but, he will soon find Jeter breathing down his neck. He may think he’s fighting for first. But, given the doubt surrounding him and the play of Jeter, he may be in a bigger fight for second.