Portland Trail Blazers Sign Steve Blake
It looks like Steve Blake, who has played on seven different teams in his 11-year NBA career, is heading back to Rip City.
As first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Blake and the Portland Trail Blazers have agreed to a two-year, $4.2 million contract using the bi-annual exception. The deal has a player option for the second year.
Blake has agreed to the bi-annual exception with the Blazers, league source tells Yahoo Sports.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 10, 2014
Last year, Blake was traded from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Golden State Warriors before the trade deadline and helped provide some stability in the backcourt coming off the bench for the Dubs. He only averaged 4.4 points and 3.6 assists per game during his time in the Bay Area, but his role as the team’s primary ball handler and facilitator off the bench helped turn Golden State’s sorry second unit into one of the league’s most productive.
Blake will most likely serve as the replacement to backup point guard Mo Williams, who was the only contributor coming off the bench for the Blazers last season. Williams averaged 9.7 points and 4.3 assists per game in Rip City last season, but there’s no indication he plans on re-signing with the Blazers and the Dallas Mavericks are one of a few teams reportedly interested in him.
Mavs hope they can talk Mo Williams into taking minimum. Why would he do that? Lives in area and wants to be near wife and five sons.
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) July 10, 2014
Though he’s probably a bit of a downgrade from Williams, Steve Blake is capable of orchestrating an offense, as he showed in Golden State and Los Angeles, where he averaged 9.5 points and 7.6 assists per game for an injury-decimated team before being traded away midseason. Plus, once you dive deeper into the numbers, you’ll notice that Blake and Williams weren’t too different in their advanced stats:
| Rk | Player | Season | MP | PER | TS% | eFG% | FTr | 3PAr | TRB% | AST% | STL% | BLK% | TOV% | USG% | ORtg | DRtg | WS | WS/48 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Steve Blake | 2013-14 | 1498 | 11.0 | .508 | .489 | .122 | .595 | 5.7 | 28.8 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 21.5 | 13.8 | 103 | 109 | 1.8 | .058 |
| 2 | Mo Williams | 2013-14 | 1834 | 11.8 | .507 | .478 | .132 | .335 | 4.5 | 26.7 | 1.5 | 0.4 | 17.3 | 20.5 | 102 | 110 | 2.2 | .056 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/10/2014.
More good news for Blazers fans already mourning the loss of Mo Williams: Steve Blake is an excellent three-point shooter who will fit in well in Portland. He’s a career 38.8 percent shooter from downtown and it was only a year ago he knocked down 42 percent of his long range attempts with the Lakers. Blake isn’t the sexiest addition in the world, but he’s got a ton of heart, is a good team player and he’s about as good as it’ll get in replacing Williams.
Since joining the league in 2003, Blake has played for the Washington Wizards, Portland Trail Blazers, Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. This will be his third stint in Portland after playing with the team in 2005-06 and then again from 2007-2010.