Scola, Wiliams join POR

We are extremely excited to announce the addition of Luis Scola and Louis Williams to our team.

First of all, we are grateful to Tyreke Evans for a phenomenal All-Star season and wish him all the best as he joins a fantastic team in Charlotte.

It was a difficult decision to give up Evans. As we progressed through last season however, we saw how effective we were with Avery Bradley on the floor. First, he dominates on defence and second, he does not take shots away from Damian Lillard. We also really like Tobias Harris at SF. So a change had to be made

We looked at a few possible scenarios and we really liked this deal. We were dead last in 3PT made last year with Lillard making more than half of them. Enter Williams – a combo guard with great range. Williams will take on a role of key scorer off the bench. He will play the majority of his minutes at SG but also some PG. We will have to hide him defensively though. He is a decent defender but only 6-2 and will struggle against taller guards. Having said that he is a clever player offensively and defensively and is highly disciplined, so we expect big things from him.

Scola is a savvy veteran who will play backup minutes at PF and C. We already have Aldridge, Henson, Dalembert and Leonard as key players in the front court. However, we are confident that Scola will find a role and play solid minutes off the bench. He brings offense and veteran leadership that we badly need.

Also, worth mentioning that we are acquiring two players with 14 years of combined CSL experience. We were one of the youngest teams last season and I felt that we needed to inject some veteran presence into POR locker room.

Looking at the trade from a strategic perspective – it allows us to shed a lot of salary and makes us instant players in this year’s and next year’s free agency. We are highly likely to wait though, as we need to re-sign some of our key players during the upcoming two seasons.

Good move with Lillard, Bradley, Harris, and Henson all looking to get paid in the next couple of seasons.

I think the team has better balance overall and is better fitting around Lillard.

Again - nice trading with you sir!

Very excited to see your team continue to grow! Lock that boy Bradley up this offseason and you're in great shape.

Nice read. Man that team is young and good

Yeah, Tyreke was definitely the guy who needed to go. He averaged 3.4 turnovers per game which would be understandable if he was a high-usage PG, but high-usage at other positions needs to be better at hanging on to the ball.

Loved it for you. Getting out of Tyreke's contract is huge, especially with you needing to pay Lillard, Henson etc. in a few years. Scola and Lou will also be able to help your team contend, as well as bring a veteran presence to the locker room.

That's not to say I don't like it for Charlotte. Tyreke is still a very good player, even if he is overpaid. But I wonder, does this mean no more Kobe in charlotte?   

I have a feeling that you losing LMA for the playoffs also helped prompt this move - you needed some serious depth one he went down. I don't like Tyreke at all so I like this trade for you, especially given his contract.

Young and hard team with tremendous future in my division.
portland will give war a lot of years.