The Blazers Report By Jeff Robertson for HOOPSWORLD.com Aug 17, 2003, 22:29 Welcome to the brief August 18, 2003 edition of The Blazers Report. I am strapped for time this week so I can only deliver a brief report this week. Thankfully, nothing too much will change from this week to next so you will not miss much waiting for a week. Here is what is going on. The Blazers talked desperately with a number of teams last week. I was curious about John Nash’s reaction that it was too late to trade Sabas once they learned he was not coming, but the fact of the matter was that it was only the last two weeks that the Blazers thought there was a chance of him coming and had made the decision barring him turning up in great shape, to not spend the $14 million on Sabonis this season. The Blazers main partners last week were the Golden State Warriors who were offering Erick Dampier and the Nuggets with Marcus Camby. Dampier would have required minor salary cap tweaking. The Blazers made the decision that they did not want to part with the $14 million no matter who the player is to sit behind Dale Davis. The Blazers much prefer signing someone like Drobnjak from Seattle for $3-4 million than a backup center for $7-8 million. The Blazers are seriously considering Drobnjak with the mid-level exception and look for something to possibly happen next week. If the Dallas/GSW trade is true as was reported this weekend, I am simply shocked at Dallas taking on this much salary. In Jamison, the Mavericks have their third “max” player, although he will fit in very nicely. This does not include paying Steve Nash $10 million per year after this season. That’s more than $50 million in long-term deals counting LaFrentz who just misses the “max” cut. Add in Wahad, Fortson’s contract, and Bradley. The Mavericks will have an almost overwhelming salary cap number. It is very difficult for anyone to pay the luxury tax and make remotely any money and will be paying a hefty $20-30 million check at least to the rest of the NBA to still not win a championship. I am just shocked. The Blazers are looking at a lineup that will shift depending on the competition they face. The Blazers intend to use Damon Stoudamire, Jeff McInnis, Derek Anderson and Bonzi Wells in the backcourt. These players will get the bulk of the 96 minutes, with Stoudamire, Anderson and Bonzi playing around 30 minutes per game and McInnis filling in with 10-15. Where does the extra come from? Bonzi will get minutes at the 3 and Patterson, who now looks like he will remain on the roster will get approximately 20 and Qyntel Woods will get around 10 minutes assuming he learns to play defense. Zach Randolph, Rasheed and Dale Davis will get the 96 minutes at the 4/5 with Rasheed getting a few at the 3. Ruben Boumtje Boumtje is projected to play around 5-8 minutes, most in the second quarter. A player like Drobnjak would fit in well as a shooter and backup center for Dale, allowing Rasheed more minutes at the 3. We’ll touch on the Blazers intended roster as it moves toward training camp. The other player the Blazers may look at, in a trade, would be Kurt Thomas from the Knicks, who intrigues the Blazers with his leadership and toughness. The trade rumors are slowing down around most players except Rasheed, where they are heating up. The Blazers seem set to keep the current roster in tact, but Rasheed is drawing increased interest among the NBA teams, who started out trying to extract him cheap, but now the legitimate offers are coming in. As much as I have been after John Nash for his seeming lack of effort, he has done a really spectacular job of raising the price of Rasheed, which is now increasing and the Blazers have had serious discussions over the past week. Sorry about the short report, we’ll talk in more depth next week. -- 該死，我居然連續三個星期都忘了這個專欄 --

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