| Friday, April 28
By Frank Hughes
Special to ESPN.com |
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Throw another name into the Tim Duncan Sweepstakes.
|  | | Might Duncan be heading to the Pacific Northwest this offseason? Don't laugh... |
The Portland Trail Blazers.
If the Blazers do not win the NBA championship, expect the Blazers'
general manager, Trader Bob Whitsitt, to at the very least contact the San
Antonio Spurs about the possibility of a sign-and-trade deal that would bring
Duncan, the most coveted free agent on the market, to the Pacific Northwest.
As one person close to the team said: "Whitsitt is a shark. And if there
is blood in the water, he is going to swim over and see what it is."
Consider this: The Spurs do not want to lose Duncan outright, getting
nothing in return for the future Hall of Famer.
If it appears that Duncan is going to leave via free agency, you better
believe Gregg Popovich is going to do all he can to get a return on his
investment.
And who has more to offer than the Portland Trail Blazers?
Absolutely nobody. Their team is so deep, they are about the only
franchise in the league who could overpay for Duncan.
So how about this scenario? Duncan to Portland for Rasheed Wallace, Steve
Smith and Jermaine O'Neal.
It gives the Spurs a replacement for Duncan in Wallace, a shooting guard
that they have lacked this entire season and a young player to groom as a
replacement for David Robinson upon Robinson's retirement.
In Portland, it gives the Blazers a bona fide superstar. No team in the
NBA in probably 22 years -- the 1978 Seattle Sonics, with Gus Williams and
Jack Sikma -- has won a title without a real, quality superstar.
The Blazers like to say that Wallace is their go-to guy, but how can a
player that amasses 38 technical fouls be the team's leader? He's not even in
there half the time, after getting ejected.
The Blazers would not mind seeing Smith depart because Bonzi Wells, his
backup, is actually a better player, a future All-Star, and has shown a great
deal of patience, more than most, for agreeing to come off the bench this
entire season. That is not going to happen next season, believe me. This kid
will get major time.
And O'Neal continues to languish on a team that has superior players in
front of him. He needs time. And plenty of it to develop. And he is not
getting it in Portland.
Of course, the salaries don't match up, so the Spurs would have to throw
in some extra players to make it work. Antonio Daniels, Duncan's best friend,
is a possibility. Or even Jerome Kersey, who can return to the team with
which he started.
Getting to the Western Conference finals is not good enough for Portland.
Not with a payroll that is twice as much as most teams'. And Trader Bob never
has stood pat in his six seasons in the Rose City. He has completed a shakeup
each season there.
Even when Portland made the conference finals last season, he broke up
part of the team and added two huge pieces -- Smith and Scottie Pippen, as
well as Detlef Schrempf.
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What Portland has going for it is it does not care about the NBA's luxury
tax. While other teams are shying away from players because they don't want
to be punished by such a harsh financial deterrent, billionaire Paul Allen, the
Blazers' owner, could care less.
The hard part, of course, would be convincing Duncan to agree to come to
Portland.
He has virtually ruled out Chicago because of its weather, and Portland's,
while more mild, certainly has its drawbacks for somebody from the Virgin
Islands.
But if Duncan is about titles, he certainly has a chance at winning
another one in Portland a lot faster than he does in Orlando.
Meanwhile, national reports that Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy may lose his
job if the Blazers don't make it to the NBA Finals are, according to a
source, drastically premature.
In fact, Whitsitt is telling confidantes, he is feeling more pressure than
Dunleavy. His contract is up this summer -- one more reason to pull off a
blockbuster deal for Duncan -- while Dunleavy's runs two years beyond this
season.
And it was Whitsitt, after all, who put together this squad, and has as
many rings to show for it as the Clippers.
It seems highly unlikely Allen would get rid of a man with a penchant for
acquiring talent like Whitsitt, particularly since Whitsitt also runs Allen's
football team, the Seattle Seahawks.
And it is Whitsitt who has staunchly supported Dunleavy in the face of
what appear to be erroneous reports.
Imagine what the two could do if they had Duncan on their roster.
Frank Hughes covers the NBA for the Tacoma (Wash.) News-Tribune. He is a regular contributor to ESPN.com. |  |
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