Brief Case, Episode 102: Deni Avdija, Offiial Trades, Summer League Starts | Portland Trail Blazers

Brief Case, Episode 102: Deni Avdija, Offiial Trades, Summer League Starts | Portland Trail Blazers

[Music] hey Rip City this is matis thel and it’s time to open the briefcase with Casey holdall greetings wizer fans and welcome to the briefcase episode 102 of the briefcase I’m your host Casey holdall and Draft Day business is finally completed for the Portland Trailblazers officially official Denny avvia officially on the Trailblazers Summer League roster officially locked in the second round pick trades also completed and now the triplers can move forward preparing not only for summer league but for the 2024 25 season which is just a few months away on this edition of the briefcase we’ll discuss those trades finally going official we’ll check in on DeAndre Aton and his quest to get the Bahamas into the Olympics in basketball for the first time in their history and we’ll check out the summer league roster and here from Donovan kingan after his first practice with the Trailblazers on this edition of the briefcase while the public has already known all the information about these trades for the most part maybe a few details here and there that need to get fleshed out by the press releases generally everyone has known since the draft that Trailblazers had acquired Denny Avia and they also knew that the Trailblazers had traded both of their second round picks in exchange for other second round picks that they then sold for cash considerations but now that everything is officially squared away after July 6 for a number of reasons with Denny avvia you had to get to the next NBA season because of some of the stipulation in the CBA kind of the the same idea with the second round picks as well I believe the issue there was that one of the teams I think maybe the Warriors that had already used all of the money that you’re allowed to use to buy picks or to offset money in terms of buyouts I think they had already used all that money so they had to get to the next NBA season in order for that account to recoup so then they can pay the Trailblazers for those picks but either way all that stuff is now squared away everyone is where they’re supposed to be on the team that we’ve all known they were going to be on for the last 10 11 days but now now that it’s official let’s just go ahead and run them down real fast so first off Trailblazers acquired forward Denny avvia from the Washington Wizards in exchange for Malcolm Brogden the draft rights to the 14th overall selection in the 2024 NBA draft which was Bud Carrington along with a 2029 first round pick a 2028 second round pick and a 2030 second round pick the first round pick I believe is the second best of the three picks that the to Blazers have I believe one of those picks was when they got in the Bucks trade for Damen Lillard the second round ERS I got no idea it’s almost impossible to keep track of second round picks these days who has which picks which picks have been traded three or four times basically at this point you get to the draft and if you’re on the board that says you’re getting a second round pick at that time that’s how you know I mean the team knows but for those of us it’s a little hard to track sometimes but getting back to Denny Avia avvia the ninth overall selection by the Washington Wizards of the 2020 draft posted a career-high 14.7 points on 50% shooting from the field actually 51% shooting from the field and 37% shooting from three 7.2 rebounds 3.8 assists and 0.8 steals in 30.1 minutes per game in 75 games last season all those starts his field goal percentage his three-point percentage and his rebound numbers last season all career highs for Denny and assists for that matter too at 3.8 per game and minutes basically he posted career highs in a lot of the main categories had his best season I don’t know how many people saw it because of the way that the Wizards were playing last season kind of same idea with Trailblazers and I would say a guy like DeAndre Aton in the second half of the season I just feel like people didn’t realize how good he had been because I think people probably weren’t paying a whole lot of attention to T players’s game particularly in the second half of the Season Denny Avia kind of in the same situation played phenomenally last year had a career year last year I just don’t know how many people were paying attention to it Portland Trail leers obviously were went out and made that deal to get Denny in his fourth season out of makabi he has a Creed career averages of 9.8 points on 45% shooting from the field 32% shooting from three that’s one thing about Denny Avia last season a much better three-point shooting season last year than any other time in his career the hope is that’s going to continue going forward if that is the case being a 37% three-point shooter would be phenomenal particularly when you’re also shooting 50% from the field that’s very helpful for this team he will wear number eight for Chris Murray wore eight last season he is kindly giving up the Jersey to Denny Avia Chris is now wearing 10 though he hasn’t decided if he’s going to stick with 10 for next season but he is wearing it at Summer League which we’re going to talk about here in just a little bit back to Denny Avia obviously a guy who gives you a lot of pieces that you need fills a lot of holes for this team both positionally and from a skills perspec perspective the team absolutely views Avia as a part of their young core along with guys like Scoot and Shaden and DeAndre and ant a young versatile Wing that gets it done on both ends of the floor and that’s thinging defensively I I don’t know that people necessarily know how good of a Defender Denny Avia is I think they’re going to find out pretty quickly Orin my guy here who who covers the Trailblazers who’s from Israel was giving me the download on Denny and one of the main things he said was that he always wants to defend the other team’s best player which is something again this port TR Blazers team has needed for a while they need hard noosed defensive players who want to compete on that end of the floor Denny avvia absolutely one of those guys one of the goals heading into this offseason for the triers is to be more versatile both in terms of scoring and defense and shooting and playmaking Denny Avia again gives you some of that a guy who can absolutely playmake from that three4 position and really again they they view Denny as a long-term piece of this team so you know having to give up the 14th pick in this draft and then the 20129 first round pick whichever one ends up being again I think it’s the second of the three I I think for a lot of people the 2029 that’s that’s kind of a price that that I think some people look at and say like it feels a little steep but again on one hand you know that’s 5 years away I’m not all that concerned about those kind of things right now and really you know if he is a foundational piece for this team I think giving up a mid first round pick makes a whole lot of sense to go with the 14th pick in this draft which I mean it I know once the draft gets here there’s always this ination like w can you really trade a draft pick but you know a week before the draft if you were like hey they’re going to trade the 14th pick and they’re going to end up with Denny Avia I feel like people would be ecstatic about it and people were super excited about it anyways it’s a great tradeit for supportland TR Blazers again maybe a little Rich for some people but getting Denny Avia a guy who again I think solves a lot of problems for this team a guy who is right in that timeline where he can come in and provide some veteran leadership while also being young and growing with this team is something that I think they’ve needed a forward for so long here in Portland it just seems to me that like it’s was one of those things where it’s like whatever it takes we need to get someone in here who we feel very good about playing at the 34 who we feel like can be a starter for this team that can really be a part of this team going forward and in Denny Avia I feel like you have a guy who you can pencil into that spot for some time and feel very very good about it so that trade now done as I understand it Denny is going to be in town on Monday for a press conference so we’ll have coverage from that and a guy who I would hope maybe he’s going to spend some time here in Portland in the off season and maybe kind of built some camaraderie never hurts bit a little bit of chemistry before the season starts again Blazers still building still about Talent still about getting better not so much about wins and losses next season but it never hurts to just have a group of guys come in and all kind of get to know each other a little bit before the season starts hopefully that’ll be the case with Denny either way we are going to talk to him on Monday as I understand it so we’ll have more then all right in terms of the second trade that Portland TR Blazers executed during the draft no players involved in this one for the Trailblazers but they did acquire the draft rights to the 52nd overall pick in the 2024 draft and cast considerations from Oklahoma City in exchange for the draft rights to the 40th selection overall of the 2024 MBA draft which is oir igodo who did work out for the Trailblazers by the way in a subsequent transaction the Trailblazers sent the draft rights to the 52nd selection in the 2024 draft which ended up being Quinton post who also worked out for the Trailblazers by the way actually I think in the workout with Oso igodo oddly enough to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for cash considerations so the Trailblazers trade two picks end up with cash considerations and that’s that as I mentioned on draft night the Trailblazers with 15 players so even if they had used one of those picks potentially they might have to cut that player might have to send that player to the G League my understand is you know in terms of two-way contracts which I think a lot of people assume that a lot of guys in this draft were going to take two-way contracts particularly in late in the second round seeing as how it’s not a very well thought of draft just doesn’t really seem to be the case tro blers did sign Justin manah to a 2A contract for the second straight year congratulations Justin manah on that and I believe they have one more open maybe IBU baji has it I actually don’t recall exactly but baji not on the summer league team so I don’t know if that I don’t know what that means actually I’ll have to give you an update on that at some point in time but in regards to the second round picks that happened at the draft those are now completed those trades are done in the books cash considerations for the Trailblazers couple second round picks for the Warriors and we all move on in other non-trade non-summer League news jandre Aton and team Bahamas one game away from qualifying for the Olympics the Bahamas roster which features DeAndre Aton buddy heeld and Eric Gordon have won their first three games in the qualifiers in Valencia one more game going up against Spain the host country with a trip to the 2024 Olympics in Paris on the line the Bahamas has never qualified for the men’s Olympic tournament they’re one game away from doing so in order for them to get to the qualifiers they had to win four games in Argentina including two games against Argentina to just get to the qualifier this summer the Bahamas defeated Finland and Poland in group play to move on to the semis where they beat Lebanon 8772 Saturday afternoon Saturday morning here in Portland DeAndre aen with 24 points 15 rebounds a block assist and a steel in 32 minutes in the win DeAndre is averaging 30.3 points on 68% shooting from the field 11 rebound Downs 1.7 assists and 1.3 steals in 34.7 minutes per game for the Bahamas and as I mentioned to get into the Olympics they’re going to have to beat Spain in Valencia on Sunday morning here in Portland 11:30 start time for that one you know usually in years past beating Spain would be a difficult enough task as it is let alone Spain in Spain but the Spaniards have fallen off quite a bit kind of their their golden generation not a lot of the guys that we associate with Spanish basketball so players you know like the gals and Rudy Fernandez and Sergio Garcia and Wan cardos navario and Sergio lul and the Hernan Gomez’s that generation is starting to kind of they’re they’re on the way out and uh they haven’t looked great in the tournament so the Bahamas with a real chance to qualify there would be such a phenomenal thing for DeAndre aen and the Bahamas to get that trip to the Paris Olympics and actually let’s go ahead and hear real fast from DeAndre Aton after their win versus Lebanon talking about the importance of the win for the Bahamas for himself for his teammates how important is this win for Bahamas basketball it’s truly important um you know we making history as we go on throughout this tournament you know the better team won tonight we stuck together it was a tough game and you know hats off to our opponent what do you expect for tomorrow’s final tomorrow final is going to be the toughest game probably of our career um you know best thing we can do is just go back and get off our feet and watch film and be ready for those guys um we know tonight is going to be a big game for whoever wins this game and we just got to be ready for him tomorrow you have been played for a long time but how important is this Final in your career ah this is really big um you know this is bigger than any uh Western Conference Finals you know you’re fighting for your country and you know it’s guys like us that don’t get paid for this you know we just trying to set a bar high for our Our Generation and you know just trying to you know set that basketball Mark and get opportunities out our little island the Bahamas and you know show that we can you know us too can make it out and come to Big opportunities like this talked a lot about when he got to Portland about being a leader and wanting to wanting to kind of do a better job of that and you know I really saw it in Portland I feel like he’s doing that with the Bahamas as well you know they’re putting on the line to try to get something accomplished and again like as I mentioned they had to win four games including being Argentina twice in Argentina just to get to the point where they could play in the qualifiers for the Olympics so if they end up actually winning versus Spain I think they’ll have gone 8-0 in pre-qualifiers and qualifiers to get to the Olympics which when you’re a team that’s never been there before to have to go through the gauntlet they’ve been through in order to even have the chance to qualify is pretty impressive so really hoping that the Bahamas able to get that done by the time you listen to this we might know actually but either way by Sunday afternoon we’ll know whether or not DeAndre Eon and the Bahamas are heading to Paris for the Olympics or if they’re heading home and Spain is going back for one more try best of luck DeAndre and the Bahamas all right last but certainly not least Portland tra Blazers had their first summer league practice Saturday afternoon at the facility into wallon team released their summer league roster a few days ago Chris muray Ron repair and Donovan clinging the only players who under contract for next season who are playing for Portland summer league team and just manah who’s on a two-way contract as I mentioned earlier so no Shaden sharp no scoot Henderson no tone kamaro though all three of those players were at practice on Saturday at the practice facility for the most part just taking in the practice so they’re going to be around the team if they’re not necessarily going to play with the team which also too like not at all surprising for me and and I know that and I know that there’s some fans who would like for scoot to play which I completely understand but between the injury that he suffered after the first three quarters of last year’s summer league and the minutes he already played last year the role that he already played last year year would it hurt for scoot to play in Summer League I mean if he got injured yes is he going to gain a whole lot from it I don’t really think that’s the case I never thought that scoot was likely to play at Summer League I mean I would like to see him play cuz I always want to see young players play but it’s not at all a weird thing that he’s not playing and I know that people are like well Brandon Miller is going to play if Brandon Miller plays more than two games at Summer League I would be very surprised my understanding is he’s playing for the select team as they prepare the Team USA to head to Paris so I know he’s on the roster I doubt that he’s playing a whole lot lot of minutes if any if scoot hadn’t got injured in last year’s summer league I imagine he probably plays this time around if he hadn’t played whatever 68 games and a ton of minutes I imagine he plays this time around but between those two things the the risks probably outweigh the reward which is why he’s not playing kind of same thing with the other two guys as well shayen healthy but probably a little bit too good at this point in time for summer league and also a guy too where you know you really need him to go into the season healthy after having his season ended early by that core muscle surgery last year so not at all surprised to me that shayen isn’t playing actually I don’t really think anyone thought shayen was likely to play you know he was doing some stuff with Team Canada he was at practice as I mentioned on Saturday so I don’t know if that means that he’s not with Team Canada anymore if Team Canada is taking a break I know he’s not going to play with Team Canada this year but I believe he was at least practicing with them I don’t know exactly what the status of that is shayen should be on that team by the way um so not taking him I think is a odd decision by the Canadians but hey best of luck guys but either way Shaden also not playing summer league but I’m guessing is going to be in twon and probably in Las Vegas as well at least taking in some of those games maybe even practicing with the team from time to time I don’t know if that’s the case necessarily but I could see that happening and then in regards to Tani who also had a season injured last year early just a little bit early with that rib injury at practice today great to see him again I don’t think that tumani is likely to play uh you know the summer league roster they can make changes to that in fact I was already told that tumani was going to play at summer league so I’m just going to assume that that’s the case that hasn’t changed but again those guys are around still and so they’re getting an opportunity to practice with the team and to kind of build a little bit of chemistry both on and off the court with guys like Donovan kinging guys like Chris Murray guys like R repair but particularly with Donovan kingan a guy who is going to be incredibly important for the guards and vice versa getting those guys in the same building having them again getting to know each other a little bit build some chemistry build some camaraderie whether that’s on the court or off the court a great thing and that’s really the most important part is just getting a little familiarity at Summer League those are the takeaways for me at Summer League not necessarily like a what did scoot do and four games at Summer League or what did tumani do in four games at summer league for me it’s really how did you get better did you improve did you show some growth and those are the kind of things that I think you can do in practices maybe not as well as in games but almost as well as in games at least in a summer league game where you’re going up against a lot of guys who are not going to end up in the NBA anyways and in regards to the Trailblazer schedule at the Las Vegas summer league first game Saturday July 13th versus San Antonio Spurs 6 o’cl start time Thomas macarina on ESPN 2 Donovan kingan versus Steven C couple of teammates at Yukon in that one going up against each other for the first time Monday July 15th Philadelphia 76ers 5:30 start time also Thomas and macarina that one on NBA TV next day Tuesday versus the Washington Wizards 5:30 start time Thomas and macarina also on NBA TV and then finally they wrap up their group play Friday July 19th versus Charlotte Hornets 8:00 pm Cox pavillon on ESPN 2 that is actually the last game of group play at the Las Vegas summer league before it goes on to tournament play which is really just the top four teams playing against each other in a semi-final than those two teams playing each other in the final the winner of which wins the Las Vegas Summer League Championship with the Portland TR blers have done twice and for the other 26 teams they play one more game and then head home so the Blazers guaranteed at least five games check out Las Vegas if you haven’t ever been out for summer league great time hey if you came on Monday morning you could catch two games and then leave Tuesday night no one would ever be the wiser Portland’s first practice a pretty long practice today the team said they were going to open up around 5:00 didn’t open up till around 5:45 so getting into good sweat a good burn and for Donovan kingan this is the first chance for him to really get out there and play since a national championship game guy like Donovan kingan working out solo workouts during the pre-draft process so hasn’t played a whole lot of versus actual opponents since that national championship game versus Purdue had an opportunity to do that today at The Practice Facility in Toton first time practicing since signing his contract with the Trailblazers on July 4th so let’s go ahead and hear from Donovan kingan after its first practice as a Portland Trailblazer Saturday into wton as a team prepared for the Las Vegas summer league so first practice uh how’d it go it was great um you know just to be out there with the guys and get ready to go out and you know battle in summer league you know it felt great you know just you know I dreamed of you know being here being in this moment so you know I’m not going to take it lightly not going to take it for granted and you know I gave my all and I’m just here to learn and get better every day what are maybe some of the things you you’re working on or focusing on during this this couple weeks of play here going into Vegas yeah really just understanding the you know the style of play how they play um you know how they they wanted how they see me you know being impactful on both sides of the ball um you know I just really really just trying to pick up on little things you know pick up on you know how certain teammates play when you know off certain reads off you know you know really just trying to pick up on a little things that you know could help build those connections you know in in Vegas that you know helps me and you know my teammates you know perform at highe level anybody in particular stand out to you I mean it was fun I mean it was a lot of fun just to be out here and you know battle again feel like the last time I went live was the national title game so you know just to come out here and battle um you know Chris uh Justin you know everyone really I mean it it was just fun you know I’m just very happy to be here I’m excited to keep you know working keep getting better keep learning and you know really excited for Vegas what’s been the the first kind of like big adjustment for you um for Pace I mean I feel like you know they they pushed that ball up the floor quick um off you know the the the uh defensive glass you know getting down on offense getting back on defense you know both both sides of the ball they’re going to push as hard as possible so really just you know just being able to be able to go up and down up and down I feel like is what you know the biggest wake up so far how how how far long you were just in terms of kind of get to know some of these guys obviously you know been on that camaraderie in the summertime is it’s pretty important yeah I mean I feel like you know every day you come in you talk to them in the locker room you talked to on you know in the training room weight room we talked to about you know just walking around um you get to know everyone a little more every day and you know I feel like what I’ve seen so far you know we got a great locker room with a bunch of great guys and you know I’m really excited to you know build great relationships with these dudes how how much of a chance have you had to settle in or like let it hit you because what 10 days ago you’re Drafting and now you’re here practicing play um I mean I feel like it’s settled in you know I’m here I’m practicing I feel like that’s when it really settled in but you know I’m right to work right to you know just trying to get better trying to pick up as much as I can right now the summer and you know bring it into the season um really just just try to get better and just be the best person I can be the best player I can this year especially in Vegas what do you want to get out of Summer League um you know really just get better um you know get a feel for how you know the NBA you know is played um you know I want to see what I I need to work out leading into this the season um you know see what I you know need to keep getting better at you know things that I did well that you know maybe I just need to keep getting better at um you know so I’m just excited to go out there and compete you know I haven’t really competed since the national title like I said so you know I’m excited to go out there compete and you know just battle I know it’s only been a couple days youve probably been in the gym a lot but what are your first impressions of a of Oregon I love it I mean I feel like you know I’m an outdoors guy so you know I mean it’s just it’s it’s a beautiful state um you know I don’t have my car up here yet so I really can’t explore too much so and you know it’s been a little hot these past couple days but it’s just just getting me ready for Vegas you played out here a couple years ago for PK right yeah uh last year yeah we played out here last year um won that tournament that was awesome I love winning thank you thank you great stuff there from Donovan kingan super excited that was my main takeaway from Donovan kingan is he’s just very excited to get this thing started it’s always great when guys come to Portland and are excited about it you know we always hear so much or not so much but you know the whole thing is always like oh guys free agents they don’t want to come to Portland so on and so forth so when you have guys who are very excited about the opportunity to play here it always just feels a little nice always makes you appreciate those guys a little bit more Donovan Kling and absolutely stoked to be here really looking forward to get on the court I think you guys are going to be maybe I don’t know if I’d say surprised but uh I think Donan Clingan is a better player than a lot of people think that shot of his man it uh and I know that people don’t I know that there’s always this kind of back and forth about whether B man should shoot threes the guy’s got a really clean stroke he’s going to be shooting some threes I already lost that bet with Joe Freeman way back when about youf nerkish shoting three-pointers so I probably shouldn’t dip my toes back into that again but I’ll say uh Donovan kingan averages 1.5 3o attempts per game at Summer League not exactly a uh crazy prediction but for a guy didn’t take hardly any at Yukon maybe none in his two seasons at Yukon taking almost two a game it’s the NBA it’s what bigs do and that’s going to do it for this edition of the briefcase thank you so much for joining me as always we’ll have coverage from practice we’ll also have coverage from the Danny Advia press conference which is scheduled for Monday just go to trailblazers.com to find all that content and more follow us on social whichever things you’re using these days and please please please be sure to subscribe to the briefcase wherever you get your podcast or on YouTube If you Haven to be watching this new shows throughout the week both from twon from Portland and from Las Vegas I’ll be there from most of the teams run in Las Vegas and if they happen to get hot maybe I’ll just stick around for the whole thing so until we talk to you next time thank you very much for joining me on this edition of the briefcase we will talk soon I’m Casey holdall go Blazers and go Bahamas

On this edition of The Brief Case podcast, Trail Blazers beat reporter/Insider Casey Holdahl discusses…

• The Draft Night trade for Deni Avdija finally going official

• Thoughts on how Avdija’s fit and place on the Trail Blazers going forward

• The second round pick trade also being finalized

• Deandre Ayton and the Bahamas National Team trying to qualify for the Olympics in basketball for the first time

• The Trail Blazers’ 2024 Summer League roster that includes Kris Murray, Rayan Rupert and Donovan Clingan

• Shaedon Sharpe, Scoot Henderson and Toumani Camara NOT being on the Summer League roster but still attending the first day of practice

• Rookie center Donovan Clingan’s comments about his first practice as a Trail Blazer

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