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pdxguide.com
9/29/03
No trade rumors in the wind as Blazers open training camp
By ANDREW SELIGMAN, pdxguide.com
So now the preparations start. The players with non-guaranteed contracts and
those with fewer than four years experience officially report to training camp
today and start practicing on Tuesday.
The Trail Blazers' veterans arrive later this week.
Scottie Pippen is a Bull again. Antonio Daniels is a SuperSonic. Arvydas
Sabonis retired. But trades? There were none.
Not that this was an offseason void of news. With the change in management to
the rumors linking Maurice Cheeks with Philadelphia to the mass layoffs to the
organization's pledge for better behavior to Damon Stoudamire's marijuana
incident at the Tucson airport to the Rasheed Wallace trade rumors, there was
plenty to fill a newspaper's pages.
Now, training camp. Whether a trade is completed before the start of the
season remains to be seen. Nash is open to the idea, but not making promises.
"What we've been offered are middle-of-the-road players with longterm
contracts or players with exorbitant salaries," Nash said. "We're not anxious
to do business as has been done previously, which is to take on talent without
any regard to fiscal responsibility."
The Blazers' payroll last season climbed to nearly $106 million, an NBA record.
After the 2004-05 season, they are committed to just $25 million in salaries,
which is one reason the Blazers are reluctant to take on longterm contracts.
"That's one of the things that we're tempted not to jeopardize," Nash said.
"That's not to say that we won't make moves that will add salary to that year."
Wallace is due $17 million this season, before becoming an unrestricted free
agent. Talks of trading him and Ruben Patterson, who has asked to be dealt,
to New Jersey for Kenyon Martin and Dikembe Mutombo went nowhere.
Patterson's trade request stems from being sucker-punched by Zach Randolph in
practice last season, a blow that fractured an eye socket. Nash said the
interest in Patterson is "not significant." Patterson has a history of run-ins
with the law; he also has a trade kicker that requires a new team to pay him
15 percent of the balance of his contract.
So for now, he and Randolph have to coexist.
As for Wallace, the Blazers have said he worked out this summer, will report to
camp in better shape than he has in the past, and will be on good behavior. The
organization dismissed Wallace's recent traffic violation driving without an
Oregon license, without an insurance card as little more than a
misunderstanding and not a sign of immaturity.
"Anybody could be vulnerable to not having a valid insurance card," Nash
said. "Am I disappointed it happened? Yes. This isn't the magnitude of some
of the other problems."
The Blazers lost their leader, Pippen, and an important reserve, Sabonis. And
with that, something else is gone, too: That mantra that a team can't have too
much depth. Less-is-more seems to be the new theme.
With the roster not quite as crowded, Damon Stoudamire and Jeff McInnis figure
to be in the rotation. Randolph figures to play about 25 minutes a game, and
Qyntel Woods probably will see more time.
"(The Blazers were) what I thought was a very deep, talented team, but I also
thought they might have had too many players," Nash said. "Based on what I'm
hearing, there was some unrest in the locker room."
Can those players put aside those issues? Starting this week, the question gets
answered.
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