Portland Trail Blazers: NBA's Latest Asset Hoarders

The Portland Trail Blazers tied up their cap space in bringing the band back together in free agency this summer, but that doesn’t mean they’re not well positioned to make big moves in the future.

Free agency is a time for being bold or conservative. Unfortunately, it’s not always so clear which strategy is the correct one in the moment.

For all the debate and discussion that could be centered around the decisions made by the Portland Trail Blazers in the past six weeks or so, it’d be tough to question the organization’s aggression in closing deals.

After an impressive season that came to an end with a spirited second round defeat to the Golden State Warriors, the Blazers faced up to a summer of uncertainty.

Having watched four of the five players who made up his starting five walk away last summer, Portland general manager Neil Olshey did an outstanding job of adding talented young players, on cheap, flexible and often short-term contracts.

Blazers coach Terry Stotts did an even better job in promoting from within, guiding his young players who were once closer to the back of the rotation into bigger roles.

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The result was that the Blazers became the envy of many around the NBA last season. Not only did they have an abundance of young talent, but they had the cap space to improve in a hurry. How quickly things change.

Instead of allowing C.J. McCollum to come anywhere close to free agency next summer, the Blazers extended the promising young guard with a new four-year deal valued at $106 million.

In spite of question marks over the demand for his services around the NBA, Portland splashed $70 million over four years on the mercurial, former second overall pick, Evan Turner.

Concerns over his injury history allowed Portland to reach a value deal with former Golden State Warriors center Festus Ezeli for $16 million over the next two years.

That in itself would have been enough to represent an expensive free agency haul, but that goes without mentioning the various deals that secured the returns of Maurice Harkless, Meyers Leonard and Allen Crabbe for another four years in Oregon at a combined price of $156 million.

In a press conference to reflect on the signing of Ezeli and much of the rest of the business Portland had done in the first week of free agency, Olsey summed the Trail Blazers’ situation up in the simplest of terms.

"“We are capped out. If my math is correct, we now have 15 guys. And we’re not going to get any roster exemptions or any more cap room, so my spending days are over.”"

For most, that will sound like bad news but it doesn’t have to be.

First of all, the Blazers will have a chance to see what the real potential of their current core group is. With an average age of 24.9 that is matched by the Toronto Raptors, only the Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks can claim to have rosters that are younger than Portland’s.

Having already seen their young group go 44-38 prior to the addition of Ezeli and Turner, there’s certainly a path centered around this youth movement that’s worth exploring for the Blazers.

As HoopsHabit’s Jordan Treske noted last week, although the Golden State Warriors seem in a world of their own at the top, the rest of the West is more wide open than ever for Portland.

"“The state of the Western Conference has rapidly changed since the start of free agency. Of course, the top of the West remains the same with the Golden State Warriors now that Kevin Durant is entering the fold, but there’s a growing chasm between the Warriors and the teams that are theoretically chasing them.Ranging from teams that have had to massively overhaul their roster like the Oklahoma City Thunder to teams that are left with big voids to fill like the San Antonio Spurs, there’s a lot of uncertainty on who makes it through to try and challenge the Warriors for the Western Conference crown.”"

If this group could become the West’s second or third best team on a consistent basis, they’re just one or two lucky breaks (or injuries to opponents) away from stumbling into the Finals.

Even if that level of faith in their players and optimism for the future was the driving force behind the decisions the Blazers made to go again with the same group, there’s another potential path to glory that has been set up thanks to the moves the front office made this summer.

Portland took a risk in spending big this summer, but as Zach Lowe noted in his excellent piece on the Blazers last week, it was certainly a calculated move.

"“To maintain even $15 million in room for July 2017, not nearly enough for one max player, the Blazers would have had to choose between Turner and Crabbe; let both Meyers Leonard and Moe Harkless walk; delay C.J. McCollum’s extension, cracking the door to funky three-year offer sheets from rivals; and fill the roster in the meantime with one-year contracts.All that for cap room in an isolated market in which undrafted Wes Matthews remains the most significant outside free-agent acquisition of the past decade.”"

Having reportedly chased Hassan Whiteside this summer and missed, and having come close with Greg Monroe 12 months ago but ultimately having nothing to show for the chase, Lowe’s point about Portland’s struggles as a free agent destination is a valid one.

In speaking to Lowe for the aforementioned article, Neil Olshey reflected on the moves his team had made within the new landscape of the cap-rich NBA and possibly even hinted at his plan B.

"“Good players on favorable contracts are more valuable to us than cap room. Especially in an era where all 30 teams have cap room — or the ability to get it.”"

The ability for teams to create cap space at a whim, or even to just inherit it naturally through the rises that occur before the effect of the new TV money has finally smoothed out, has birthed a new marketplace.

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It’s led to the idea of a superteam being taken to levels that would have previously been seen impossible in Golden State.

It’s afforded traditional big markets greater resources than ever before to pay role players salaries that far surpass their abilities (I’m looking at you Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng).

Perhaps more significant than any of those factors for smaller teams around the league, it’s negated many of the benefits that small market teams could gain from prudent roster and cap management.

Many were quick to declare a new era, when the Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers battled it out for Greg Monroe last summer, leaving the Knicks and Lakers in their wake. In reality, that was only a temporary parity.

Until the cap normalizes at a new rate, and remains there for multiple years to allow contracts to be measured on a level playing field again (which may never actually happen), smaller market teams could well be better served by treating talent rather than cap space as their currency to improve and make deals.

Evan Turner’s deal would seem comfortably the most difficult to move, but outside of that Portland’s flexibility as a trade partner will be better than most others around the league could boast.

Portland has gambled on Allen Crabbe taking major strides forward, yet if he manages to do so, he could have a future as the Blazers’ missing third option or as the trade chip that could be used to find that player.

Apr 6, 2016; Portland, OR, USA; Portland Trail Blazers forward Maurice Harkless (4) dunks the ball during the third quarter of the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at the Moda Center at the Rose Quarter. The Blazers won the game 120-115. Mandatory Credit: Steve Dykes-USA TODAY Sports /

Moe Harkless and Meyers Leonard are good role players, who in earning approximately only $10 million per year could be important pieces if the Blazers ever looked to make a major trade.

With Al-Farouq Aminu and Ed Davis only being owed in the region of $21 million and $13 million over the duration of their respective three and two remaining years, they also represent the kind of steal that could hook teams to pull the trigger in a trade with the Blazers.

Portland also hold all of their own first round picks in the coming years, as well as being owed a first-rounder from Cleveland in 2018.

They may not have the necessary cap space to absorb contracts in smaller deals any more, but the Blazers have more assets to execute a deal for a big star than arguably any other NBA team who is already competitive.

Sam Hinkie’s approach to team-building in Philadelphia was given many unsavory labels due to the losing methods he had to introduce to kickstart his team’s future.

The truth is that tanking was little more than accruing assets, and how teams manage to get their hands on them is all relative to where they sit in the standings at their ground zero.

In that sense, there are clear similarities between Hinkie’s masterplan and the path now being taken by Neil Olshey.

Olshey, though, has had the fortune of never having to bottom out to pack his roster with assets.

His plan A wasn’t to take this route, but in finding multiple diamonds in the rough, Portland has understood retaining those pieces and approaching the salary tax can be worth more to the team in both the present and the future than just making clean breaks for salary space.

Are the Trail Blazers ready to contend now or in the near future?

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Of course, they aren’t, but they’ve given themselves a clear direction to proceed with, and one that has many more routes to glory than it first appears.

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Portland Trail Blazers Are The NBA’s Latest Asset Hoarders

By Adam McGee | Aug 8, 2016

The Portland Trail Blazers tied up their cap space in bringing the band back together in free agency this summer, but that doesn’t mean they’re not well positioned to make big moves in the future.

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