teams that will not say who they leave unprotected

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this is the thread that there has been no leaks yet:(

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The Trail Blazers won't say who they protected from Charlotte in the expansion draft later this month, but here's a good assumption: Zach Randolph is not available.

And here's a bad assumption: The Blazers protected their top eight players.

"That would not be a good conclusion," general manager John Nash said Thursday.

The expansion draft is scheduled for June 22, but would be pushed back a day if the NBA Finals go to a seventh game. Teams have to protect at least one player who is either under contract or a restricted free agent, and no more than eight.

Charlotte will select at least 14 players no more than one from a team. That means it's far from a given that Portland will lose anyone. If they lose one under contract, the Blazers would receive a trade exception equal to that player's salary for next season.

Nash said the Blazers never considered protecting fewer than eight players before finalizing the list on Thursday. Exactly which of their 15 players are on that list is unclear.

One strategy would have been to protect the top eight: Damon Stoudamire, Derek Anderson, Darius Miles, Zach Randolph, Theo Ratliff, Dale Davis, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Ruben Patterson. That would have left Omar Cook, Dan Dickau, Desmond Ferguson, Eddie Gill, Travis Outlaw, Vladimir Stepania and Qyntel Woods available.

But Nash indicated the Blazers did not follow that strategy.

Another school of thought had the Blazers dangling Davis, who has one year and about $10 million remaining on his contract remaining.

But Davis' agent, Chubby Wells, said his client was protected.

"It would not have been a good idea if they did not protect Dale," Wells said.

Portland could have paid the Bobcats as much as $3 million to select Davis had they not protected him. Then, they could either saved money or used that exception.

Davis, 35, might be attractive to other teams looking for help in the post or salary-cap relief. He has made it clear that he doesn't want a repeat of what happened this season, when his role disappeared after the Blazers acquired Ratliff, Abdur-Rahim and Dickau from Atlanta in the Rasheed Wallace trade.

But Davis has also said he is not demanding a trade.

"I think the only way we'd ask to be traded is if Portland makes it clear it's going to be the same situation next year," Wells said.

Abdur-Rahim's situation was similar to Davis'. He saw his role diminish after the trade, and has made it clear he does not want a repeat of this season. For that to happen, Abdur-Rahim almost certainly would have to be traded, since it's unlikely Randolph would be dealt.

Agent Aaron Goodwin, who represents Abdur-Rahim and Stoudamire, said he wasn't sure if his clients had been protected. But he was adamant about this: "We're serious in the fact that Shareef has no intention of coming back to Portland in the current situation," Goodwin said. "We're quietly sitting back and allowing them to do what they can do. We're hopeful (president Steve Patterson) and John can make something happen."

It's possible the Blazers left one of their higher-priced players such as Abdur-Rahim (one year, $14.6 million), Anderson (three years, $27.2 million), Stoudamire (one year, $15.75 million) or Patterson (three years, $19.1 million) unprotected, assuming the Bobcats wouldn't select him.

That would allow Portland to protect other players. But the risk is this: Charlotte, in a prearranged move, selecting and trading that player.

"What Charlotte's plan is had nothing to do with us," Nash said. "What we did is protect the players we thought would be most valuable to us."

Goodwin made it clear he does not want his client in Charlotte. In fact, he asked the Bobcats not to take Abdur-Rahim if he's left unprotected.

"He's played in Vancouver already," Goodwin said. "He played in Atlanta. Going to Charlotte would be taking another step backward. ... The last thing they need is for a negative situation with us trying to get him out of there." www.columbian.com/0611200...54797.html (http://www.columbian.com/06112004/sports/154797.html)

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Pacers won't reveal expansion list


By Mark Montieth
[email protected]
June 11, 2004


The Indiana Pacers today turned in their list of protected players for the NBA expansion draft.

Unless names leak from Charlotte, however, the list will remain a secret. Neither the Pacers nor the NBA will reveal the players available to the Bobcats in the expansion draft.

"I'm not going to confirm or deny anybody on the list," Pacers CEO Donnie Walsh said Thursday from Chicago, where he and other team officials are viewing the league's pre-draft camp.

The expansion draft is June 22, or on the 23rd if the NBA Finals goes seven games. Charlotte must take at least 14 players from the other 29 teams, and can't select more than one from any roster.

The deadline for submitting protected lists is Saturday, although most teams were expected to do so today. Detroit and the Los Angeles Lakers have until the day after the NBA Finals end to submit their lists.

Existing teams can protect no more than eight players, excluding free agents.

Pacers officials believe they have nothing to gain from revealing players they make available because they might not lose anyone.

The protected lists are complicated by the fact teams can make deals to secure unprotected players as well. They can pay the Bobcats up to $3 million or future draft picks, for example, not to take a certain player. Or, for that matter, to take a high-salaried player.

Charlotte's general manager and coach Bernie Bickerstaff, however, has stated he will be hesitant to accept cash payments to allow teams to in effect protect a ninth player.

Walsh refused to comment on how the Pacers will handle the status of 38-year-old guard Reggie Miller. Miller probably wouldn't be attractive to the Bobcats given his age, but the Pacers wouldn't want to risk losing the franchise's all-time leading scorer and most popular player.

Walsh gambled that neither Vancouver nor Toronto would select Byron Scott in the previous expansion draft, in 1995, but Vancouver did.

"I was surprised they took him, but that doesn't have anything to do with this situation," Walsh said. "Our team is different."

The Pacers lost Clinton Wheeler to the Charlotte Hornets in the 1988 expansion draft.

Pacers most likely to be protected include Ron Artest, Jonathan Bender, Jeff Foster, Al Harrington, Fred Jones, Jermaine O'Neal and Jamaal Tinsley.

If they compensate Charlotte for not selecting Miller, they could protect another player from the group of Primoz Brezec, Austin Croshere, Anthony Johnson, James Jones and Scot Pollard.

Croshere and Pollard are unlikely to be drafted because of their high salaries, unless Charlotte has a prearranged trade. Bickerstaff has stated his team will avoid players with high salaries.

Johnson might not be attractive to the Bobcats because he can opt out of his contract this summer. If they selected him and he chooses to become a free agent, he would be available to every NBA team but the Pacers.

The Pacers' two free agents, Kenny Anderson and Jamison Brewer, are not eligible to be selected.

Call Star reporter Mark Montieth at (317) 444-6406.

link (http://www.indystar.com/articles/5/154077-2085-094.html)

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Elsewhere, we reported yesterday that Dale Davis was protected by the Blazers, and now the New York Times says Damon Stoudamire was protected as well:
Others who were expected to be on the list but were protected included Portland's Damon Stoudamire, who is entering the final year of his contract and will earn $15.7 million, as well as the Blazers' Dale Davis, who will earn $9 million next season.link (http://www.oregonlive.com/weblogs/blazersblog/)