NBA rumors: Trail Blazers to be aggressive in offseason

By Bryan Rose | Jun 28, 2014

May 2, 2014; Portland, OR, USA; Blazer fans cheer during introductions in game six of the first round of the 2014 NBA Playoffs between the Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets at the Moda Center. Mandatory Credit: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports /

The Portland Trail Blazers don’t have a lot of room for improvement considering their impressive 2013-14 campaign, but general manager Neil Olshey would likely disagree with such a sentiment and sees plenty of holes he’d like to patch. Given that, Olshey says he plans to be aggressive during the upcoming offseason.

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“We’re going to be aggressive; we’re going to be opportunistic,” Olshey stated recently. “There’s a lot of ways to improve your team.”

As it stands right now the Trail Blazers sit with a payroll of $64 million dollars, though that total could drop closer to $61 million dollars assuming there are no team/player options exercised. Still, Portland doesn’t have any available cap space to make free agent moves so they’ll need to use NBA’s provided mid-level or mini-level exception if they’re to add a free agent or two.

Of course, that might not be very difficult considering the Blazers have emerged as one of the top teams in the Western Conference and should be a relatively attractive destination to a player looking for a new zip code.

Olshey stated that he’s looking to upgrade the bench, so in addition to potential acquisitions in free agency there’s also the idea of trades as well.

As if that won’t be enough for Olshey and the Portland Trail Blazers front office, there is also talk about extending the contract of LaMarcus Aldridge, who will be entering the final year of his contract.

Portland has multiple players on expiring deals as well, which they could use as assets to facilitate trades.