Blazers Welcome Kaman, Blake to Rip City

“Having played 11 years already I’ve experienced the ups and the downs,” said Kaman, who played 39 games last season with the Lakers.

(PORTLAND, Ore. ) - Since assuming the role of Portland’s general manager in the summer of 2012, Neil Olshey has focused his efforts on keeping the players who are already on Portland’s roster happy while making cost-effective acquisitions that add talent while preserving flexibility.

Olshey continued that trend Thursday with free agent signings of veterans Chris Kaman and Steve Blake, moves which are expected to bolster Portland’s bench unit while not requiring the team to take on long-term, high-dollar value contracts.

“We had the midlevel (exception), we had the bi-annual (exception), we didn’t want to touch our core, but we knew we needed to upgrade some areas on the floor,” said Olshey. “I think the youth of our bench last year was an issue. I think we’ll see a lot of progression from those guys, but when you’re in a win now mode, you need to get guys who you know you can put on the floor and they can get it done at a high level.”

There were varying reasons why Kaman and Blake ultimately decided to join the Trail Blazers as free agents — Kaman referenced his familiarity with both Olshey and assistant coach Kim Hughes from their time with the Clippers while Blake noted Portland has been his offseason home for some time — both referenced Portland’s success last season, which culminated with the Trail Blazers advancing to the second-round of the Western Conference playoffs, as an important selling point.

“Having played 11 years already I’ve experienced the ups and the downs,” said Kaman, who played 39 games last season with the Lakers. “I wanted to go somewhere where I felt like I would fit and go actually help a team and not kind of go to a team where they’re trying to build or maybe not build and I get stuck back on the bench or playing a small, small role. I want to go somewhere where I feel like I’m going to be able to help a team.”

“I wanted to go someplace where I knew we could win,” said Blake, who was a teammate of Kaman’s in Los Angeles before being traded to the Warriors midway through the season. “I don’t think I could have went to a team that wasn’t playing for playoffs or playing for the championship and that’s what I expect to have here. There’s no better place to play basketball.”

Portland reportedly gauged the interest of other free agents, particularly Spencer Hawes and Josh McRoberts, but when it became apparent that the market for such players was more than the Trail Blazers were willing or able to commit to, Olshey quickly proceeded to explore other options.

“These are both guys we targeted early in the process,” said Olshey. “We spoke with them and their agents very early in the process. We explored other opportunities throughout the moratorium, because that’s my job from a due diligence standpoint, but we couldn’t come away with two guys that fit what we’re trying to do better given the tools we had at our disposal. More than anything, I’m a big believer in talking to players. Ninety-nine percent of the time, I think they know more than I do and guys that walk around in their suits. All I knew is that both Chris and Steve resonated with Dame, Nic, LaMarcus, Robin, Wes. They were all on board and new what these guys could bring to the table and they’re the ones that share the floor with them, so they know what they need to help compete and how guys are going to fit into how we play.”

It will now be up to Terry Stotts to fit both players into the rotation, which shouldn’t be much of an issue considering the team was without a backup point guard after Mo Williams opted out of his contract and Portland’s existing options at center have fewer years in the NBA combined than Kaman has alone.

“I’m thrilled to get both of them,” said Stotts. “They’re both, at this stage in their careers, they’re both very established. They know their game, they know what they can contribute. They fit perfectly into not only our roster, how we want to play, they’re about winning, they came here because of the year we had last year. Making it to the second-round, we have higher ambitions for next season and I think they will both be instrumental in getting that success. They’re versatile players. I think the fact that Chris can play with Robin (Lopez) and LA, the fact that Steve can run the show without Damian (Lillard), he can play with Damian. I think both of them will be very good mentors for our young players, for the bigs and the guards.”

With Portland’s roster now maxed out at 15 players, it is very possible that the signings of Kaman and Blake are the last personnel moves the Trail Blazers will make before the start of the 2014-15 season. Trades are always a possibility, but it sounds as if Olshey and Stotts would be satisfied starting next season with the roster as is.

“I think Terry and I are both really comfortable with where the roster is right now,” said Olshey. “It doesn’t mean we’re not going to explore opportunities, upgrade other areas if they come up. That’s our job. But I think we went into this offseason knowing where we had some gaps to fill. We think these guys really fill both those gaps.”